Sunlight vs Vitamin D + Sunscreen

We are often advised to use Sunscreen, while going out ; staying in or basically all the time. But Do we really need to? Also, this adds to the confusion whether we should get natural sunlight or not. Let's Dive in

1) Sunlight and Vitamin D Myths

Exposure to sunlight, aids our body to produce Vitamin D - which is essentially is a hormone, rather than being a vitamin. We have often correlated Vitamin D amount in our body to better immunity but recent studies show source of how body produces Vitamin D i.e Sunlight vs supplements pay a crucial role in determining these benefits. And unsurprisingly, Vitamin D from Supplements isn't proven to be nearly half as effective its coming direct from sunlight.

To put it simple, Vitamin D is just a marker for how much the body is exposed to sunlight - Vitamin D taken from supplements defeats the purpose.

2) Understanding Sunlight

Sunlight contains UV rays - which are majorly of two types - UV A & UV B.

UV B is useful to us and UV A is the one for which we are generally worried about. Sunlight and its health benefits come from UV B. Even so, UV B is said to treat auto-immune diseases such as psoriasis (Doctors have came up with treatment using narrow UV B lights to treat auto-immune diseases)

3) Sunlight and Cancer

Does exposure to sunlight lead to cancer- yes! ; Should we stop going out - no! ; Should we block the sun by using sunscreens - well, let's see.

Exposure to sunlight(UV A) can lead to cancer, which again can be divided into three types - BCC(Basal Cell Carcinoma) , SCC (Squamous Cell Carcinoma) and the dreaded Melanoma.

BCC and SCC cancers are treatable , non-deadly. They also consist of 99% of all the cancers caused by exposure to sunlight. Melanoma on the other hand is deadly.

Given the benefits of direct sunlight and chances of getting melanoma - it is a tradeoff we must choose. My personal opinion - Sunlight

4) Case Study - Australia

Australia is infamous for it's skin cancer rates and experiences higher rate of Melanoma compared to the world.

Surprisingly, Australia issued a guideline to its citizens to get moderate sunlight for building immunity. Trade-off right?

5) Key Takeaway

Yes, over exposure to sun can cause cancer but most of the cancer caused is not deadly in nature - this trade-off of immunity vs cancer must be considered.

Recommendation is - Use Sunscreens if you feel you will be constantly exposed to sunlight for a very longer period of time (more than 3-4 hours) as sunscreen blocks the sunlight effects.

One other consideration is the color of your skin, the more pale you are the less sun exposure threshold you possess. So a long period of time for you might be 2 hours whereas someone with a darker skin can stay for more than 4 hours without a sunscreen.

Finally, do we need a sunscreen while we are at home ; not going out ; in dark ; or at night?

No!

Then again it's my opinion.