Skip to main content

Are You Getting Enough Vitamin D Through Sunlight?

Are You Getting Enough Vitamin D Through Sunlight?

Vitamin D is essential for healthy bones and teeth as it maintains body's calcium and phosphate levels. Apart from that, it also plays an important role in immunity.
Are you getting enough vitamin D Through Sunlight?

When you are exposed to sunlight, the UVB rays of the sun acts upon cholesterol present under your skin to form vitamin D. This Vitamin D is in its inactive form. It gets converted into its active form in the liver and kidneys.
We all know that sun light is the major source of vitamin D. But, are you getting enough vitamin D through Sunlight? This is a big question specially for vegans.
There are many factors that affect the formation of Vitamin D when your body is exposed to the sun like time of exposure, skin color, sunscreen and many more. Let us discuss them below...
  1. ) Time of exposure : 5 minutes to 30 minutes (depending upon skin colour and intensity of sunlight) of Sunlight exposure to face, arms and legs twice a week generally produces adequate vitamin D in the body.
  2. ) Skin colour: Darker skin requires more time of exposure.
  3. Intensity of light : The weaker the sunlight the more time of exposure is needed.
  4. ) Glass windows : Exposure to sunlight through glass window is insufficient as it blocks the UVB radiations almost completely.
  5. ) Sunscreen : Sunscreen absorbs or reflects UV rays and prevents it from reaching the skin to a great extent. Sunscreen with SPF 8 reduces the synthesis of vitamin D by 95% and those with SPF 15 reduces by 98%. Exposure of skin to sunlight without sunscreen is necessary for the synthesis of vitamin D. But if you are going in intense sunlight for longer periods then putting on the sunscreen is a good idea to prevent sunburns and other skin problems.
  6. ) Age : Older  people require more time of exposure to sunlight as their capacity for producing Vitamin D decreases.

 Hope you find the article 'Are You Getting Enough Vitamin D Through Sunlight?' useful..

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

3 most common reasons of toothache

3 Most common reasons of toothache - Many of you might have had experienced toothache . It becomes difficult to eat and drink and many times the toothache is really excruciating. Here, let us know 3 most common reasons of  toothache  and  sensitivity . 1)  caries/ cavities:  Caries in the begining are painless and therefore neglected by many people. When caries advance they infect inner layers of tooth called  dentin  and  pulp . Pulp is the inside core region of tooth having nerves and blood vessels. Once the carious infection reaches pulp toothache begins. Further, infection advances to reach the tooth root and adjacent bone causing severe toothache and swelling. 2)  Tooth abrasion:  Brushing with hard bristles tooth brush, using abrasive toothpastes and tooth powders wears off the outer most protective layer of tooth called  enamel.  This exposes inner dentin which has tiny nerve endings. Tooth becomes sensitive to hot and cold drinks. Even cold breeze may cause sensi

Smoking : Its effects on oral health

Smoking tobacco is a common practice world wide. Smoking habit is hard to break because of highly addictive nicotine present in tobacco smoke. Smoking has adverse effects on oral health.     Smoking : Its effects on oral health Tooth discoloration due to the deposition of tar. Bad breath Gums loose their attachment from the teeth. Increased loss of bone supporting the teeth. Increased tooth loss. Decreased bleeding of gums in spite of its increased destruction. This is due to decrease in the number of blood vessels supplying the gums. Healing gets impaired. That is why smoking has to be stopped for at least 4-5 days after tooth extraction, otherwise the site of extraction does not heal and gets infected (dry socket). Decreased response to scaling, root planning and other dental therapies. Treatments has to be repeated again and again. Lower success rate of dental implants. Increased risk of white patches (leukoplakia) in the oral cavity. Increased risk of developi

Why does your teeth turn yellow?

Are you concerned with your yellow dirty teeth which gets on worsening? Let's know the reasons why our teeth become stained and dirty.  Poor oral hygiene  due to inadequate and improper brushing leads to accumulation of plaque. Slowly calcium starts depositing into the plaque to form hard creamish white to yellowish brown calculus on your teeth. [1] Habits like smoking, chewing tobacco [2] and betel nuts stain your teeth. Certain foods and drinks like tea, coffee, red wine, pomegranates etc. if taken frequently may stain the teeth. Prolonged use of chlorhexidine mouthwash wash [3]  may stain your teeth brown. Consumption of  tetracycline antibiotics by the mother during pregnancy or by the child during the years of tooth development discolors the teeth. [4] Trauma or injury to the tooth may turn it yellow or grey. Fluorosis :  Some areas have higher levels of fluoride in the water. Chronic excessive exposure to fluoride during the years of tooth development causes opaq