Is sunlight bad for you?

uhhh if you are trying to be deficient in vitamin D then yes it is bad otherwise it is good for you as long as you aren't getting burned.

You don't need to spend that much time in the sun to get your vitamin D. Especially if you are a white person or have fair skin. The body simply doesn't need that much sunlight. I'm talking like 15 minutes a day is all you need.

The amount of time you need depends a whole lot on the sun's elevation in the sky, which is hugely affected by time of day (duh), time of year, and latitude. Here's a calculator from Norway, where their high latitude means they need to think more about this issue:

http://nadir.nilu.no/~olaeng/fastrt/VitD-ez_quartMEDandMED_v2.html

the sun wrote:

I run a lot. So it goes without saying I get a lot of UV ray exposure.

I also hang outside a lot too just because it's what I do.

I've heard from people that sunlight is bad for you because UV rays can cause skin damage.

They say it makes you look older than you are.

To what extent is this true?

That is very much true. Sunlight is the number one cause of premature skin aging. It beats smoking which is another factor in skin aging.

Take vitamin D orally 2000-4000 IU per day and you don't need to get it from the sun as much.

vitamin D?? wrote:

uhhh if you are trying to be deficient in vitamin D then yes it is bad otherwise it is good for you as long as you aren't getting burned.

It causes skin damage even if you aren't getting burned.

Why do people that never go outside in the sun always have even crappier skin?

rrr wrote:

It causes skin damage even if you aren't getting burned.

I don't think you are correct there, especially if you mean any more than breathing in and out causes damage. Like everything else in biology the response is dose-dependent. Individual variation across populations and ethnicity also clearly matter.

How do you think skin cancer rates compare between the caucasians in South Africa and their dark-skinned neighbours in adjacent countries? Susceptibility to burning matters a great deal. Burning indicates that you have exceeded the dose that your skin could cope with.

Sunlight is not bad for you. Allowing your body to become damaged is bad for you.

UK Limey runner wrote:

I don't think you are correct there, especially if you mean any more than breathing in and out causes damage. Like everything else in biology the response is dose-dependent. Individual variation across populations and ethnicity also clearly matter.

How do you think skin cancer rates compare between the caucasians in South Africa and their dark-skinned neighbours in adjacent countries? Susceptibility to burning matters a great deal. Burning indicates that you have exceeded the dose that your skin could cope with.

http://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/cause-of-death/skin-cancers/by-country/

Sunlight is not bad for you. Allowing your body to become damaged is bad for you.

Photoaging does not require burning. You can get a lot of chronic skin damage without burning. Burning is very extreme acute damage. Repeated burning is much more than accelerated skin aging: it is potentially deadly in the long run.

UK Limey runner wrote:

How do you think skin cancer rates compare between the caucasians in South Africa and their dark-skinned neighbours in adjacent countries? to burning matters a great deal. Burning indicates that you have exceeded the dose that your skin could cope with.

Burning does not indicate that. Wrinkles are not burns. Wrinkles require chronic sunshine over a long period of time. Burns require extreme sunshine over a short time period. Susceptibility to both is affected by skin color.

I moved from Indiana to Arizona 3 years ago.

Arizona is a great state, the weather is great in the winter, but I found out that unless I run in the dark, you cant wear a singlet when you train.

The sun is so bright it's melanoma city.

Before daylight, you may be in for a run in with javalina or coyotes.

So, here in Arizona you gotta wear a t-shirt.

You leave a cold state and think things are going to be perfect BUT..

You run before dawn in the winter and you may as well be back up north..temps in 40's and high 30's

When it does warm up as the sun comes up..

You better have a t-shirt instead of a singlet on or its melanoma city....

Still like it here but not any better than anywhere else..its all good.

For decades, doctors in the US have told to stay out of the midday sun, therefore eliminating any UVB exposure (in the morning and evening hours, you're mostly exposed to UVA only).

What happened? Skin cancer rates went WAY UP.

General health declined.

UVB is essential for Vitamin D conversion.

Make sure to get adequate sunlight, full body exposure.

Just tanning your face and arms is the biggest mistake you can do. Those body parts get more than enough sunlight during your life...

That happens when you drive a car a lot. Only the other side of your face gets sunshine. Skin does not burn but the chronic effect is highly visible.

Xfit_guy_the_real_1 wrote:

For decades, doctors in the US have told to stay out of the midday sun, therefore eliminating any UVB exposure (in the morning and evening hours, you're mostly exposed to UVA only).

What happened? Skin cancer rates went WAY UP.

General health declined.

UVB is essential for Vitamin D conversion.

Make sure to get adequate sunlight, full body exposure.

Just tanning your face and arms is the biggest mistake you can do. Those body parts get more than enough sunlight during your life...

Or take a vitamin D pill.

rrr wrote:

http://www.thewomensroomblog.com/wp-content/uploads/manfacemed2.jpg

That happens when you drive a car a lot. Only the other side of your face gets sunshine. Skin does not burn but the chronic effect is highly visible.

If you inspect people's faces with a microscope or some other instrument, all the people who drive a car usually have more wrinkles on the car window side of their faces.

all of the skin cancer popping up is due to benzo [alpha] pyrene, a powerful carcinogen emitted in car exhaust... not sunlight

rrr wrote:

Or take a vitamin D pill.

If pills worked, the Nordic countries wouldn't still have the highest rates of osteoporosis in Europe.

rrr wrote:

Xfit_guy_the_real_1 wrote:

For decades, doctors in the US have told to stay out of the midday sun, therefore eliminating any UVB exposure (in the morning and evening hours, you're mostly exposed to UVA only).

What happened? Skin cancer rates went WAY UP.

General health declined.

UVB is essential for Vitamin D conversion.

Make sure to get adequate sunlight, full body exposure.

Just tanning your face and arms is the biggest mistake you can do. Those body parts get more than enough sunlight during your life...

Or take a vitamin D pill.

Humans evolved to get vitamin D via synthesis from sun exposure not from pills. Xfit guy is totally correct in his post. Of course that exposure to an intense sunlight for an extended period of time is unhealthy, especially if you spent last years inside and are pale as a ghost. On the other hand, moderate exposure has been proved to be beneficial and healthy.

rrr wrote:

all the people who drive a car usually have more wrinkles on the car window side of their faces.

True. Glass blocks UVB but not UVA.

Also tanning beds are mostly UVA. Another reason why skin cancer and skin damage have skyrocketed. Without UVB there isn't really much of a warning sign (sunburn/redness).

mako wrote:

Humans evolved to get vitamin D via synthesis from sun exposure not from pills. Xfit guy is totally correct in his post. Of course that exposure to an intense sunlight for an extended period of time is unhealthy, especially if you spent last years inside and are pale as a ghost. On the other hand, moderate exposure has been proved to be beneficial and healthy.

Humans did not evolve to live 80-100 years. UV damage is cumulative.

If you want less wrinkles and younger looking skin, you should use sun creams and stay away from the sun.