Monday, June 11, 2012

Too Much or Too Little Sun? | Big Island Weekly

Came across this interesting article in the Big Island Weekly last week Wednesday, and since it is summer and a lot of us will be in the sun, I thought it would be nice to share the article with you if you haven't already read it. In a nutshell, 1/4 of Americans don't get enough vitamin D and one important factor the article discusses is the use of sunscreen...one thing I never really considered is that sunscreen blocks out about 95% of vitamin D absorption, so in order to really get enough of your daily vita D dose it needs to be at least 10 minutes of sun exposure without being lathered up in sunscreen. Of course it is best to avoid the hours of 10-2 as that is the hottest time of the day and sunburns are more likely. Anyway, take a look at the article it's a good read:
Too Much or Too Little Sun? | Big Island Weekly

I've been eating a lot of kale and using aloe on my skin lately, hopefully it will aid in protecting my sun over the hot summer days ahead :)

4 comments:

Lani ^_^ said...

I've started wearing more sunscreen lately. Maybe ill take it off at the end of the day!

malia malia said...

Yeah, I've been using mineral based sunscreens when I go surfing, but it's hard to keep up with all the ingredients that are now found to be toxic. I try to avoid putting on sunscreen unless I know I will most likely get burnt, and if I'm out in the middle of the day I try to wear a hat or throw a pareo over my shoulders and back...

ojennah said...

Only 25% of us have borderline low vitamin D levels, and I bet most of them are up north. I'm sure it would be difficult to find people in HI with low vit D.

malia malia said...

Actually, although this study was done 5 years ago:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17426097
It found that 51% of the subjects in Honolulu (who had ample amounts of sun exposure) had low levels of vitamin D. I also read that dark skinned people tend to have lower levels because they don't absorb as much sunlight. Anyway, I'm still wearing sunscreen...put sticking to the mineral based ones...and I avoid going out in the middle of the day...if I do I make sure I only stay out for 10-15 minutes. My favorite coverup is the hat you got me from San Fran Jennah! I love it:)