SAFE IN THE SUN: HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH?

SAFE IN THE SUN: HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH?

The sun gets such a bad rap, but it is a crucial and necessary element in the role of health and well being.  Here in the Pacific Northwest we are blessed with lush green landscapes and an abundance of watering holes in all shapes and forms.  The cost of this beauty is a lack of sunlight and severe decrease in our production of Vitamin D.  Vitamin D is essential in helping to prevent us from such conditions as osteoporosis and bone growth, rickets, heart disease, depression, prostate cancer, breast cancer , diabetes. obesity, and the list goes on and on. 

Vitamin D is perhaps the single most underrated nutrient in the world of nutrition. That's probably because it's free: your body makes it when sunlight touches your skin. Drug companies can't sell you sunlight, so there's no promotion of its health benefits. Truth is, most people don't know the real story on vitamin D and health. 

A common misconception is that your multi-vitamin will provide you with enough Vitamin D.  It wont, not unless you live in Mexico year round..  In addition to my multi-vitamin, cod liver oil, sunshine (when I can get it) and during those three crucial, sunless seasons out of the year I use an additional pure Vitamin D supplement along with the mulit-vitmains and Cod Liver Oil.  And still recent blood testing identified somewhat lower than optimal Vitamin D levels in my system.  Seriously! 

This is where it gets a little tricky:  Yes, too much sun does cause skin cancer, though too little sun causes many more diseases and conditions you don't wanna mess with.  The fine line lies in getting just enough sun, and not too much of it.  I am a firm believer that half as much time in direct sunlight that it takes for your skin to start turning a little pink, without sunscreen, is the best way to get the natural absorption of Vitamin D.  For me and my fair skin, this is approximately 10 minutes per day.  

"The skin cancer risk is there but the health benefits from some sun exposure is far larger than the risk," said Johan Moan, a researcher at the Institute for Cancer Research in Oslo.. "What we find is modest sun exposure gives enormous vitamin D benefits."

 Following are some helpful tips about the benefits of Vitamin D:

1. Vitamin D is produced by your skin in response to exposure to ultraviolet radiation from natural sunlight.
2. The healing rays of natural sunlight (that generate vitamin D in your skin) cannot penetrate glass. So you don't generate vitamin D when sitting in your car or home.
3. It is nearly impossible to get adequate amounts of vitamin D from your diet. Sunlight exposure is the only reliable way to generate vitamin D in your own body.
4. A person would have to drink ten tall glasses of vitamin D fortified milk each day just to get minimum levels of vitamin D into their diet.
5. The further you live from the equator, the longer exposure you need to the sun in order to generate vitamin D. Canada, the UK and most U.S. states are far from the equator.
6. People with dark skin pigmentation may need 20 - 30 times as much exposure to sunlight as fair-skinned people to generate the same amount of vitamin D. That's why prostate cancer is epidemic among black men -- it's a simple, but widespread, sunlight deficiency.
7. Sufficient levels of vitamin D are crucial for calcium absorption in your intestines. Without sufficient vitamin D, your body cannot absorb calcium, rendering calcium supplements useless.
8. Chronic vitamin D deficiency cannot be reversed overnight: it takes months of vitamin D supplementation and sunlight exposure to rebuild the body's bones and nervous system.
9. Even weak sunscreens (SPF=8) block your body's ability to generate vitamin D by 95%. This is how sunscreen products actually cause disease -- by creating a critical vitamin deficiency in the body.
10. It is impossible to generate too much vitamin D in your body from sunlight exposure: your body will self-regulate and only generate what it needs.
11. If it hurts to press firmly on your sternum, you may be suffering from chronic vitamin D deficiency right now.
12. Vitamin D is "activated" in your body by your kidneys and liver before it can be used.
13. Having kidney disease or liver damage can greatly impair your body's ability to activate circulating vitamin D.
14. The sunscreen industry doesn't want you to know that your body actually needs sunlight exposure because that realization would mean lower sales of sunscreen products.
15. Even though vitamin D is one of the most powerful healing chemicals in your body, your body makes it absolutely free. No prescription required.

On the issue of sunlight exposure, by the way, it turns out that super antioxidants greatly boost your body's ability to handle sunlight without burning. Astaxanthin is one of the most powerful "internal sunscreens" and can allow you to stay under the sun twice as long without burning. Other powerful antioxidants with this ability include the superfruits like Acai, Pomegranates (POM Wonderful juice), blueberries, etc.

Diseases and conditions caused by lack of Vitamin D definciency:

• Osteoporosis is commonly caused by a lack of vitamin D, which greatly impairs calcium absorption.
• Sufficient vitamin D prevents prostate cancer, breast cancer, ovarian cancer, depression, colon cancer and schizophrenia.
• "Rickets" is the name of a bone-wasting disease caused by vitamin D deficiency.
• Vitamin D deficiency may exacerbate type 2 diabetes and impair insulin production in the pancreas.
• Obesity impairs vitamin D utilization in the body, meaning obese people need twice as much vitamin D.
• Vitamin D is used around the world to treat Psoriasis.
• Vitamin D deficiency causes schizophrenia.
• Seasonal Affective Disorder is caused by a melatonin imbalance initiated by lack of exposure to sunlight.
• Chronic vitamin D deficiency is often misdiagnosed as fibromyalgia because its symptoms are so similar: muscle weakness, aches and pains.
• Your risk of developing serious diseases like diabetes and cancer is reduced 50% - 80% through simple, sensible exposure to natural sunlight 2-3 times each week.
• Infants who receive vitamin D supplementation (2000 units daily) have an 80% reduced risk of developing type 1 diabetes over the next twenty years.

The sun is out, be mindful of the pros and cons and go enjoy it!

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