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Vitamin D is probably one of the most important vitamins in our body. It helps to regulate calcium and phosphate levels, which are essential to keep your bones, teeth, and muscles as healthy as possible. Furthermore, this vitamin has been linked to helping boost your immune system and fight diseases, regulate your mood, and possibly even aid with weight loss.
So, it’s a pretty damn essential vitamin. The problem is, most vitamin D is produced in the skin. It’s not something you typically get from eating certain foods - unlike a lot of other vitamins. For example, if you eat plenty of fruit, you’re bound to naturally get a lot of vitamin C or A in your body.
This begs the question: how can you increase your vitamin D intake? Generally, there are two different things recommended:
- Get more sunlight exposure
- Take a vitamin D supplement
Unfortunately, people look at the first option and think this means they should just sunbathe for hours or walk around without any skin protection. Needless to say, this is a terrible way to increase vitamin D in your body. Instead, here is a much healthier approach:
Protect your skin from UV rays
The UV rays in the run will trigger a reaction in your body that generates vitamin D. However, the same UV rays will also lead to genetic mutations in your skin, possibly causing squamous cell carcinoma - which is a type of skin cancer. This is why it’s crucial to avoid too much UV ray exposure when you’re out and about.
Lots of research has shown that sunscreen prevents UV rays from penetrating your skin and causing cancer. At the same time, it has very little impact on your vitamin D production. So, there’s no excuse to sit in the sun unprotected. You can lather yourself up and still get a bit of vitamin D production going on.
Take a vitamin D supplement
Some people may worry that their vitamin D production still isn’t up to scratch. Plus, what happens when it’s not that sunny for months on end? The solution is simple; take a vitamin D supplement.
In all honesty, having a vitamin D supplement is the best way to maintain healthy vitamin D levels in your body. This way, you can put SPF protection on whenever you go outside without worrying about your skin.
A lot of vitamin supplements aren’t necessary as you can get them in your body via a healthy diet anyway. Vitamin D is one of the exceptions to the rule. Provided you take the recommended dose, you won’t ever worry about getting too much of this valuable vitamin.
The underlying worry with vitamin D is that production is triggered by UV rays. So, people worry about striking a balance between getting sunlight for this vitamin and damaging their skin. Realistically, you shouldn’t worry about this. Wear sun protection to stop the UV rays from causing all sorts of nasty problems. As a bonus, this will also prevent the signs of aging for much longer than expected! Then, ensure you have a vitamin D supplement every day, and you will be fine.
