Healthy Blessings,
Dr. Phil
Helping you to live well and be well informed.
Without the sun our bodies cannot produce Vitamin D, a necessary nutrient for our health! Many of us, myself included, have jobs that require us to be inside all day, and because of that we miss being outside in the life giving sun at the optimal time for Vitamin D production. Vitamin D production occurs at an optimum level during the noon day hours, and the more skin you can expose to the sun, the more vitamin D your body will produce. The Vitamin D council suggests that you expose your bare skin to the sun for half the amount of time it would take for your skin to turn pink. Of course that time varies depending on how fair your skin is, a fair skinned person might only have to stay in the sun for 15 minutes, but a dark skinned person might have to stay in the sun for over an hour to get the vitamin D that their body needs. I know that because of where most of us work and the laws that prohibit it, we cannot all eat lunch naked everyday. However I believe we can all do better in exposing more of our skin to the sun and increasing our natural vitamin D production by following these recommendations.
First roll up your sleeves! Something I’ve heard my boys say in the past is “sun’s out, guns out!” Get those arms out there by wearing a sleeveless or short sleeve shirt! Second roll up your pants legs or, if your job allows you, wear shorts. Ladies, skirts and dresses allow you the same opportunity. Exposing those areas of your body to the sun will increase you vitamin D production over 30%! Thirdly, you could take off your shoes and socks and let your feet bathe in the sunlight. It’s never a bad idea to let your feet air out either!
Some of you may be thinking, “But Dr. Phil, haven’t you been warning us lately about the dangers of the sun and overexposure, what if I’m fair skinned or concerned about melanoma?” Well I would direct you to research done in Norway in 2008 at the Department of Radiation Biology, Institute for Cancer Research. What they found was that the safest time of day for your skin to be exposed to the sun was actually at noon. Although that seems odd and counter-intuitive, their research makes sense. In the noon day hours, the sun is directly over head, and if you are standing or sitting in the sun, like most of us tend to do, the sun’s rays are hitting your skin at sharper angles and therefore the UV rays are not penetrating your skin as deeply as they do during the morning or in the afternoon.
At school, I used to be bullied for my acne. People are very cruel sometimes. I wanted to change the situation when I got to college, so I took a course of treatment with Accutane. It took me three long summer months to improve my skin, but when I first came to the campus, I was a 100% new person, a confident one. That’s all due to this drug.
Here is a quick reminder from the original Eat Lunch Naked post on why vitamin D is an essential nutrient in our bodies!
So how important is it to your health, that you have sufficient amounts of vitamin D? It has been well known for many years that vitamin D is essential for healthy bones, but recent research has shown that vitamin D may be important to our health for many other reasons as well. According to the vitamin D Council’s website, some of the functions of the body that vitamin D helps with include:
1.Immune system, which helps you to fight off infection
2.Muscle function
3.Cardiovascular function, for a healthy heart and circulation
4.Respiratory system, for healthy lungs and clear airways
5.Brain development
6.Cancer prevention
Now and the coming months are the perfect time to naturally get the vitamin D your body needs! Don’t let the summer and fall months pass by sitting inside in the air conditioning! Do yourself a favor and get out in the beautiful sunshine and get the vitamin D your body is craving! Not only will you feel better, but you’ll likely be happier and more friendly too! Numerous medical studies indicate that our vitamin D levels can have a direct effect on our mental and emotional wellbeing. If getting outside on a regular basis during the noon day hours is not possible, then I suggest you consider taking a vitamin D supplement. If you have any questions for me about optimum vitamin D levels you can check out the chart in the post, It’s Too Cold to Eat Lunch Naked. You can also ask me how to test your levels and what’s the best supplement to take by filling out the contact form or leaving a voice message by clicking on the “Ask Dr. Phil” microphone on CarsonNatural.com!
There is another product I recently discovered that you may be interested in. This product can provide a genetic nutrition and fitness assessment based upon your unique DNA and lifestyle. Click here for a short video detailing the assessment. If you’re interested in achieving a new level of wellness, then please contact me through the channels above! Also just below here is an email signup box to sign up for our monthly newsletter if you haven’t already! All you have to do is enter your email address and press enter. In our newsletter is a recap of selected blogs, a funny story, patient testimonials, product reviews and a money saving coupon code for products in our online store!
Healthy Blessings,
Dr. Phil
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