Following up a bit on my post regarding hormesis, is an article I read regarding the importance of getting sun exposure for creating Vitamin D from U.S. News. Points of note from the article:
- There may be a connection between reduced risk of heart disease and Vitamin D, which can only be created by our bodies if they are exposed to UV-B rays from the sun.
- You don’t get enough sun exposure in the winter to create Vit D if you live north of Atlanta. This brings to mind the correlation between skin color and proximity to the equator.
- Fair-skinned folk like me only need a paltry 10 minutes in the midday sun to generated more than enough Vitamin D. Yeah! At last a benefit to being so susceptible to sunburn!
- Glass stops UV rays, which is why you don’t get a tan from riding with that moon roof open or having your arm on the car door window sill.
In thinking about sun exposure, I think about cancer and sunburns. Furthermore, I’m reminded of the commonly held tenet that its your worst sunburn that gives you cancer. Somewhere between sunlight causing cancer and lack of sunlight being unhealthy must be a happy middle ground — perhaps one met with as little as ten minutes a day.
In other sunlight-and-health news, one health editorial wonders if its lack of sunlight on certain areas of the body leads to the worst, most untreatable types of cancer (link). [H/T PF]