Vitamin D and sun protection are equally important for the body. Yet, for the vast majority it’s a grey zone as to how much sunlight one needs to tank up on the vit D stores, before the burn of the sun takes it’s toll on the skin.

Your body is biologically primed to synthesize vitamin D when the sunlight touches your skin. The more skin you expose, the more vitamin D is made. However, it’s vital to practice sun safety, because if your skin burns you increase your risk of skin cancer. The good news is you’ll get better amounts of vitamin D and sun protection when you know how and when to expose your bare skin to the sun.

Getting the right sun exposure for vitamin D production

The sun’s solar radiation that reaches us is dived into two sub sets: UVA and UVB. Both are damaging to the skin, but only one provides the beneficial vitamin D.
The British Association of Dermatologists exclaims UVA is responsible for skin ageing, and will in no way produce vitamin D, while UVB is the only sunlight that will produce vitamin D it’s also associated with sunburn. An easy way to remember it is:UVA is ageing and UVB is beneficial but burning.

However, there are certain circumstances when UVB rays are filtered and only UVA is present such as:

• Overcast days – less UVB reaches your skin, thus less vitamin D is made.
• Pollution – polluted air deflects UVB, which reduces the amount of vitamin D supply.
• Glass – windows filter a majority of UVB, so you can’t produce vitamin D from behind a window.
• High SPF – sunscreen is designed to block UVB, preventing vitamin D production.

Because of these reasons, most of us are exposed to UVA, which is only detrimental to the skin and radically increases the risks of skin cancer.
Therefore, it’s important to determine whether the sun exposure you are getting is effective. If you are unable to get beneficial UVB from the time you spend in the sun, chances are more harm than good is done and seeking shade, applying the right sunscreen and covering up with clothing should be considered to protect your skin.

How much sun exposure is enough to get vitamin D

The most natural way to obtain vitamin D is from sun exposure on bare skin, and this happens fast.
According to the Vitamin D council it takes half the time for the body to make an adequate amount of vitamin D, as it does for your skin to burn. This could be as little as 15 minutes in the sun for a fair skinned person, or longer for a darker pigmented person. After this, the longer you stay in the sun, especially to the point you burn the more damage you’re doing to your skin.

The amount of vitamin D you get also depends on:

• Time of day – your skin will make more vitamin D in the middle of the day, when the sun is highest in the sky.
• Geographic location – those living closer to the equator have better chances of producing vitamin D all year round.
• Skin colour – fair skin folks produce vitamin D faster than darker skin types.
• Amount of skin exposed – the more skin you expose, the more vitamin D is made.

Research to date backs the notion of moderate but frequent exposure to the sun is healthy, but prolonged periods, especially with no sunscreen or protective coverings will increase your risk of skin cancer while providing little benefit.

In the end, exposing your skin to the sun for half the time it takes you to burn is enough to produce vitamin D. You never want to get sun burnt and should always err on the side of caution. Covering up with clothing or seeking shade after a little bit of sun exposure is the safest and most effective way to get enough vitamin D and protect yourself from too much sun.