Won’t you be my Sunshine?
The sun is shining a little more consistently now that it’s November, which is lovely. BUT. I recently had to have two little sunspots removed, more to be cautionary, but still, with the results I received back from the path lab made me glad I got rid of them. So I thought I’d dedicate this little article to the wonderful thing we call the sun, when to embrace it and how to keep your skin safe while doing so.
The Vitamin D Debacle
We’re all down with the fact the we need the sun to make vitamin D, right? It gets complicated when you start to think about all the other factors that hinder vitamin D generation – get this:
- We need the UVB rays from the sun, which are only available when the sun is elevated enough, usually around noon.
- Because of our geographical location, ie. how close we are to the South Pole, these healthful rays are only available to us at certain times of the year
- The type of skin we have is a factor in vitamin D generation too, the fairer our skin, the better we are at making vitamin D.
- The slip, slop slap campaign was so effective that we might actually be covering up too much, you need to have a good portion of skin exposed to get your dose of vitamin D – got your cosie ready?
- Gained a few kgs through Winter? That’ll make it harder for your body to make vitamin D too
- As your age increases, the ability for your body to make vitamin D declines too.
Not great news if you are tanned skinned, overweight, 60 year old who works inside, doesn’t don a bikini often and lives in Albany.
So how does the average Joe like me and you figure out how long and when we should get some sun?
There’s an app for that.
The ‘D Minder’ app takes all of the above into account and lets you know the best time, date and how long you can safely stay in the sun. This isn’t a paid endorsement, by the way, I’m just an advocate for a good dose of vitamin D!
Here’s a general guide for people living in the Great Southern:
December – January: Spend 6-8 minutes in the sun at 10am or 2pm
July – August: Spend 26-28 minutes in the sun at 10am or 2pm OR 16 minutes at Noon.
Adjust slightly for every other month of the year.
But what about skin cancer?
Yep, burning to a crisp is not ideal, but if you’re like me and have some dubious looking sun spots, as well as getting them checked with your GP, it might be worthwhile looking into taking a Vitamin B3 (nicatinimide) supplement or at least using it topically in a moisturiser. This research shows that using B3 can help to mend the DNA in the skin and might even reduce the risk of non-melanoma skin cancer.
My beloved turmeric might also come in handy as the wonderful chemicals in this spice have been shown to be protective against melanoma (and many other tumour growths, actually).
Prevention is far better than trying to find a cure, so covering up from the harmful UVA is important but lets find a balance and not be fearful of the firey ball we roll around everyday. I’ll save the sunscreen issue for another time, but for now, aim for something only with ingredients you can pronounce, like zinc oxide to Slip, Slop, Slap.