The Sun And Vitamin D

Vitamin D is not like any other vitamin, it is a substance that the body converts into a hormone and your body can generate it from sunlight.

Vitamin D keeps your blood pressure low, reduce inflammation, helps the immune system to improve and its a beneficial for keeping your heart healthy. Some studies shows that it fights off cancer as well. The common use of vitamin D is for bone health because it helps your bones to absorb calcium and it plays an important role in many other functions of the body including brain development.

There are two forms of vitamin D:
- D2 ergocalciferol which is an organic molecule that is found in plants and yeast, and
- D3 cholecalciferol - is formed from exposure to UVB rays and can be found in several kinds of food especially fish and fish liver oils specifically tuna and salmon also can be found in eggs and most milk are fortified with D3.

The sun is the main source that helps our body to form Vitamin D but we must know when and how much we can stay in the sun to get vitamin D without causing skin damage or sunburn. A little bit of sun exposure is linked to a better mood, while tanned people commonly report feeling more relaxed than non-tanned people, researchers are now discovering that vitamin D may play an important role in mental health and in depression. But we must be careful and take into consideration that over exposure to the sun uv radiation can cause skin cancer and the UVA radiation may actually destroy vitamin D.

When you are indoors yet exposed to sunlight, filtered through window glass for example, you are increasing your risk of a variety of conditions, primarily skin cancer, because the UVA's are effectively destroying your vitamin D3 levels while you're getting none of the benefits from UVB which generate when skin is in direct contact with sunlight and not through filtered objects such as window glass..

Most typical American believes that they should avoid the midday sun. So we must know how and when we are exposed to the sun and benefit from vitamin D. Keeping skin moisturized while sitting in the sun is very important also drink lots of water and fluid. For getting the benefit of sunlight and Vitamin D generation, skin should be exposed to direct sunlight, however this should be done for the right time and amount of sunlight. Keeping eyes and face protected is essential. The more skin is dark the less vitamin D you will absorb so people with darker skin will need to spend longer time in the sun to produce the same amount of vitamin D.

We must always check our vitamin D level because any deficiency in Vitamin D may cause health risks like increase risk of death from cardiovascular disease, cognitive impairment in older adults, severe asthma in children and cancer.

for more information about Vitamin D, available supplements, exposure to the sun, and skin protection it is advisable to seek professional advise for best outcome and results.