Vitamin D versus Sunlight

Ken Anderson

Ken Anderson

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Staff member
Interestingly, we've been led to believe that we need to believe that we need to take steps to protect ourselves from the sun with sunscreens and apparel designed for that, while at the same time, finding that we need to take Vitamin D, which we were designed to acquire from natural sunlight. I'm not saying that skin cancer isn't a thing, or to argue that tanned skin is healthy, but I have never once used sunscreen lotion. Of course, some people's skin burns more easily than others, and the sun can be particularly harsh in some parts of the country compared to others.

I have always believed that it's best to acquire the necessary vitamins and minerals from natural sources, rather than tablets or injections, and I think that's true about Vitamin D, as well. We are intended to acquire the necessary Vitamin D through exposure to the sun, but since a lot of people actively avoid sunlight or live lives that don't allow for adequate exposure to the sun, we have Vitamin D supplements. Vitamin D is absorbed through the skin by exposure to sunlight, so I think the best idea is to obtain a healthy balance between what might be not enough and too much exposure.
 
Along with getting me up and about more and carrying heavy stuff around, my hobby solar experimentation also gets me sunlight exposure. With the heat I'm out there shirtless in shorts at times.

I've rarely had any sunburn, and only bad once when quite young (too many hours on a white beach one week ended in fever and chills for a day). But yes, everyone's skin reacts differently, and may change with age.

One odd thing I've noticed is that my wristwatch skin tans more slowly than the area around it. I very seldom wear a watch today, but went for decades wearing one 24x7. That suggests to me that some of how skin behaves in reaction to sunlight can be "earned behavior" in a sense. Perhaps covering the skin too much can actually be detrimental over one's lifetime? A sort of "hot-house flower" effect?
 
I have never ever used sunscreen either, and I have read articles that suggest that some of the chemicals that are in sunscreen can cause skin cancers. Back when I was growing up, I don’t remember ever even seeing anything that was a sunscreen, and if there was, it was not considered necessary.
I remember the ads for that Coppertone suntan lotion with the little girl and the dog grabbing her bathing suit, and the ad was to show how well she had tanned, not how she was protected from the sun.
Even sunglasses are maybe not such a good thing, according to some people. I seldom have worn those either. I defnintely try to be outside (weather permitting) and get my suntan and vitamin D.
 
I am also not a user of sunscreen. I am a heavy sweater and the thought of putting that stuff on and turning slimy while I’m working outside is not appealing. I am also not someone who burns easily..

That said I have read that anyone over 70 should have some additional vitamin D because our skin does not synthesize Vitamin D as good as it did when we were young, from the sunshine.

This from pub MD if we can believe them:

“Seniors require extra Vitamin D because aging reduces the skin's ability to synthesize it from sunlight and the kidneys' capacity to convert it into its active form. ”
 
Being very fair skinned and red headed (was) I will burn, freckle up sitting in the shade with 45 screen lotion on.
I have suffered many a bad sunburn in my youth due to lack of knowledge to some degree of parents.
Plus now on certain med I must not be in the direct sun far too long. I have without thought became a hermit in this house. Only due to lack of mobility off and on,an no real interest in much around town.
I have started going out side early of mornings, or opening the front door and standing in the sun for 10 minutes, The sun is suppose to help regulate several things.
 
Natural sunlight activates:
  • Vitamin D synthesis
  • Nitric oxide release (lowers blood pressure)
  • Serotonin production (mood regulation)
  • Melatonin entrainment (sleep regulation)
  • Beta-endorphine release (pain modulation and well-being)
  • Circadian synchronization (sleep regulation)
  • Immune modulation
  • Bone metabolism signals beyond vitamin D
Vitamin D tablets only touch on the first item: Vitamin D synthesis.

People who don't get enough natural sunlight often experience fatigue, poor sleep, low mood, weak bones, muscle weakness, high blood pressure, and higher cardiovascular risk. Those who take vitamin D tablets in order to make up for the lack of sun exposure often experience these things despite good numbers on vitamin D tests because the tablets don't come close to replacing the benefits of natural sunlight.

Seniors relying on these supplements may still struggle with circadian disruption (supplements don't reset the body clock, while morning sunlight does), bone weakening (vitamin D tablets help, but sunlight also stimulates bone-building hormones and improves muscle strength, reducing the risk of falls), mood decline (serotonin and beta-endorphins respond to light, not tablets), cardiovascular effects (nitric oxide release from UV exposure lowers blood pressure, while supplements do not), immune modulation (sunlight influences immune cells directly through UV-triggered pathways), and higher mortality (sun avoiders have mortality rates similar to smokers).

Many seniors avoid sunlight because they fear skin cancer, but the strongest predictor of melanoma is sunburn, not sunlight itself. And the strongest predictor of frailty is vitamin D deficiency, not sunlight exposure.

Thus, the healthiest pattern is moderate daily sunlight, but without burning or tanning for cosmetic purposes, not avoidance.

Of course, some people burn more easily than others and will need to be more careful, but avoiding the sun carries its own risks, and many of them look an awful lot like the things that we have come to associate with old age.
 
Jacob Petersheim said:
I've rarely had any sunburn, and only bad once when quite young
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I can remember some painful sunburns when I was a kid, but nothing that included blistering or intense pain. We might leave home to bike to a lake or river wearing only shorts, then spend several hours swimming, then bike back, so that was a lot of exposure, but I don't burn easily. I never used sunscreen or paid any particular attention to what I wore, as far as sunlight was concerned, even during the 20 years I was in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, yet I've never had a sunburn as an adult. My skin might get a little red, but then that will fade.
 
Ken Anderson said:
Natural sunlight activates:
  • Vitamin D synthesis
  • Nitric oxide release (lowers blood pressure)
  • Serotonin production (mood regulation)
  • Melatonin entrainment (sleep regulation)
  • Beta-endorphine release (pain modulation and well-being)
  • Circadian synchronization (sleep regulation)
  • Immune modulation
  • Bone metabolism signals beyond vitamin D
Vitamin D tablets only touch on the first item: Vitamin D synthesis.

People who don't get enough natural sunlight often experience fatigue, poor sleep, low mood, weak bones, muscle weakness, high blood pressure, and higher cardiovascular risk. Those who take vitamin D tablets in order to make up for the lack of sun exposure often experience these things despite good numbers on vitamin D tests because the tablets don't come close to replacing the benefits of natural sunlight.

Seniors relying on these supplements may still struggle with circadian disruption (supplements don't reset the body clock, while morning sunlight does), bone weakening (vitamin D tablets help, but sunlight also stimulates bone-building hormones and improves muscle strength, reducing the risk of falls), mood decline (serotonin and beta-endorphins respond to light, not tablets), cardiovascular effects (nitric oxide release from UV exposure lowers blood pressure, while supplements do not), immune modulation (sunlight influences immune cells directly through UV-triggered pathways), and higher mortality (sun avoiders have mortality rates similar to smokers).

Many seniors avoid sunlight because they fear skin cancer, but the strongest predictor of melanoma is sunburn, not sunlight itself. And the strongest predictor of frailty is vitamin D deficiency, not sunlight exposure.

Thus, the healthiest pattern is moderate daily sunlight, but without burning or tanning for cosmetic purposes, not avoidance.

Of course, some people burn more easily than others and will need to be more careful, but avoiding the sun carries its own risks, and many of them look an awful lot like the things that we have come to associate with old age.
Click to expand...
I am one who is actually allergic to the sun. I get welts etc because of sun exposure. So I have always worn long pants and shirts even in the warmest weather. I don't like sunscreen. I do supplement in my recent years because I worry about bone loss. But many other supplement considerations go passed vitamin D as it cannot work alone. Supplementation alone would cause calcium build up in soft tissue. So it is recommended to take k2, magnesium, zinc/copper, red mineral algae...You have to be a scientist to get old.
 
Mary Stetler said:
I am one who is actually allergic to the sun. I get welts etc because of sun exposure. So I have always worn long pants and shirts even in the warmest weather. I don't like sunscreen. I do supplement in my recent years because I worry about bone loss. But many other supplement considerations go passed vitamin D as it cannot work alone. Supplementation alone would cause calcium build up in soft tissue. So it is recommended to take k2, magnesium, zinc/copper, red mineral algae...You have to be a scientist to get old.
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My wife doesn't usually react to the sun, even when we lived in Georgia, but a visit to Hawaii made her react. The practitioners there said it was a sun reaction. She used sunscreen and wasn't sunburned but did react to the intense sunlight there.
 
I used to burn on the first day out and then intentionally go out on the second and third and turn absolutely South American on the 4th day.

Then, on the first hot and sunny day in April about 10 or so years ago, I burned as usual and by the third day after I had Tinea Versicolor.
I saw a Dermatologist and she gave me a scrip for some body shampoo and when that didn’t work, another doctor gave me some cream to smear all over but instead of working to get rid of the Tinea, my skin developed another disease which eventually turned into Vitaligo.

Now, with the exception of my face, I am more spotted than a leopard which brings me to the topic of using D.
I take 20-25K units of D3 because it has been found that it not only helps metabolize calcium, phosphorus, magnesium and zinc but it also amps up the immune system thereby slowing the rate of decay of melanin cells.
And, as a new thing, at least for me, is a topical D3 cream that is supposed to help replenish melanin so along with taking D3 sublingually, I’ll be smearing on the D3.
Note: Whether on a full stomach or not, our gastric system pretty much destroys at least 50%+ of any supplement we take so D3 along with a couple of other supplements I take go under the tongue.

Now, do I still go out in the sun? Yup, just as much as any other time in my life. The parts of my skin that still have melanin in it would fit in quite well in my neighborhood Mexican community but the vast pink areas of my skin that has refused to tan sort of gives me away.
 
I am olive skinned and I absolutely LOVE the sunshine. I go outside every single day, even in the winter, to just soak up some sunshine and feel it on my skin. This is one reason I don't want to be buried underground; I want my ashes scattered in a sunny place. :cool:🌞

I think I'm the only one of my entire circle of friends who has never had "low-D" and needed supplements.
 
Bobby Cole said:
I used to burn on the first day out and then intentionally go out on the second and third and turn absolutely South American on the 4th day.

Then, on the first hot and sunny day in April about 10 or so years ago, I burned as usual and by the third day after I had Tinea Versicolor.
I saw a Dermatologist and she gave me a scrip for some body shampoo and when that didn’t work, another doctor gave me some cream to smear all over but instead of working to get rid of the Tinea, my skin developed another disease which eventually turned into Vitaligo.

Now, with the exception of my face, I am more spotted than a leopard which brings me to the topic of using D.
I take 20-25K units of D3 because it has been found that it not only helps metabolize calcium, phosphorus, magnesium and zinc but it also amps up the immune system thereby slowing the rate of decay of melanin cells.
And, as a new thing, at least for me, is a topical D3 cream that is supposed to help replenish melanin so along with taking D3 sublingually, I’ll be smearing on the D3.
Note: Whether on a full stomach or not, our gastric system pretty much destroys at least 50%+ of any supplement we take so D3 along with a couple of other supplements I take go under the tongue.

Now, do I still go out in the sun? Yup, just as much as any other time in my life. The parts of my skin that still have melanin in it would fit in quite well in my neighborhood Mexican community but the vast pink areas of my skin that has refused to tan sort of gives me away.
Click to expand...
Vitaligo is 'in' lately. Didn't ya hear?
 
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