You’ve probably already heard that you should supplement vitamin D. In fact, your doctor may even test your blood levels of D at your yearly physical.
What you don’t know though is that the vitamin D you’ve been taking is missing a vital piece of the puzzle that boosts your immunity, helps you heal and even fights off infections and cancer.
You see, we used to get vitamin D from sunlight.
But thanks to today’s indoor lifestyle, most of us get little if any sun each day, much less enough to experience any health benefits.
That’s the reason you hear so much about taking vitamin D supplements…
It’s nothing more than an attempt to replace something we used to get naturally.
The problem is that the vitamin D in a bottle isn’t the same as what you get from natural sun exposure.
In fact, it’s missing a vital component that will probably surprise you.
The missing piece of the puzzle
Sunlight contains ultraviolet or U.V. rays.
We’ve all heard it. In fact, they’re the reason that we’ve been conditioned to slather on sunscreen before going outside.
Our doctors tell us to block them out or risk skin cancer.
However, those U.V. rays actually serve a very important purpose.
They activate a peptide called cathelicidin.
This peptide is what gives vitamin D its antimicrobial or germ-killing properties.
In fact, studies have shown that cathelicidin stimulates your immune cells and helps your body kill off infections.
This peptide synthesized thanks to U.V. light exposure has even been shown to destroy Tuberculosis.
Yet, several studies have shown that vitamin D supplements don’t boost levels of cathelicidin – only exposure to the U.V. rays of the sun has a consistent, positive effect on the powerful little peptide.
The lost cure
It’s amazing that as far as we’ve come technologically, many of our modern “cures” are often less effective than the simple things we used to use.
And, Vitamin D supplementation is no exception.
Prior to modern medicine, doctors had used sun exposure for hundreds of years to heal their patients.
It was a treatment known as “Heliotherapy” or sunlight therapy.
Records of using sunlight as a cure go back to the late 1700s when a French doctor discovered that his patients’ leg wounds healed faster when their skin was exposed to the sun.
A Danish doctor then showed that solar radiation could help treat smallpox, lupus and tuberculosis. In fact, his work with lupus earned him the Nobel Prize.
By the turn of the century, solaria — buildings designed to optimize exposure to the sun’s rays were in use across Europe to treat patients with tuberculosis, lupus, cuts and scrapes, burns, arthritis, rheumatism and nerve damage.
And, researchers proved that sunlight could kill the bacteria that caused tuberculosis and other diseases and cure rickets, a bone disease caused by a deficiency of vitamin D.
Yet, with the advent of antibiotics, heliotherapy fell out of use and with it our understanding of how important sun exposure is to our health.
A sensible sunlight plan
Considering that low levels of vitamin D have been associated with an increased risk for many chronic diseases, including autoimmune diseases, cancer, heart disease, infections, diabetes and even schizophrenia, it’s obvious that optimizing your D levels is extremely important.
But, if vitamin D supplements aren’t the answer, what is?
For most people, a sensible plan for sun exposure provides all the vitamin D and that powerful antimicrobial peptide, cathelicidin, that you need.
There are a number of online calculators that you can use to determine your optimal sun exposure time but they can get a little complicated.
So, here’s a basic method you can use to make it easier.
First, determine how long it takes in the sun for your skin to turn pink. This will vary by time of year. For example, it takes less time during the intense sun of the summertime than it does in the fall or winter.
Then multiply that time by 25 – 50%. This is the amount of time you want to spend in the sun three times per week with your arms and legs exposed. The more fair your skin, the lower you should err on your time in the sun.
Be sure to cover the skin of your face by wearing a hat or applying sunscreen since it’s more sensitive and more prone to show signs of photo-aging.
With this sensible plan for sun exposure, you can get all the vitamin D you need and reap its amazing health benefits, without turning to a less effective supplement.
Sources:
Guo C and Gombart AF. (2014) The antibiotic effects of Vitamin D. — Endocr. Metab. Immune Disord. Drug Targets. 14: 255-266.
The rise and fall of sunlight therapy — Los Angeles Times
Sunlight and Vitamin D — Dermato-endocrinology
https://easyhealthoptions.com/amazing-health-benefits-heliotherapy/
