Sunscreen should not be used all the time, to allow for vitamin D

Many of us have been told over and over again that we need to protect our skin from the sun. If we don’t heed this warning, chances are we will end up with skin cancer. The thought of getting skin cancer, or any kind of cancer, terrified me. When I was younger, I would protect myself by putting on sunscreen anytime I planned on going outside. I would make sure that the sunscreen was reapplied. Since then, I have learned things that made me question if I was really doing the right thing to protect myself.

The Environmental Working Group analyzes sunscreens annually, and this year, it found that two-thirds of sunscreens were either ineffective or contained potentially harmful ingredients. In fact, there is very little evidence to support that skin cancer is caused by the sun. We do have evidence that shows that proper sun exposure can help prevent skin cancer. When we are exposed to the sun, our skin is able to absorb vitamin D, which is known to fight cancer. Sunscreen stops your body from being able to produce vitamin D. Therefore, if you put on sunscreen every time you go outside, you’re depriving your body of an extremely important vitamin. Vitamin D deficiency may also be linked to Type 1 diabetes and multiple sclerosis, among many other diseases.

Getting just 10 to 20 minutes of sun exposure each day during the middle of the day can do a lot for your health, especially if you are a fair-skinned Mainer like me. If you have darker skin, you need to spend more time in the sun to optimize your vitamin D production. Once you have gotten your daily dose of vitamin D from the sun, which is the best way to get vitamin D, you can think about putting on a safe sunscreen to prevent sunburns.

While the weather is nice and warm, I really hope that you go out and enjoy it. In places like Maine, we can’t get much vitamin D from the sun during the winter months, which we all know is very long, so it is important to get outside while we can.

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