Bring on the sun
Safe sun exposure is an important part of good health but some of us are more prone to harmful effects.
Getting out in the sun is great for boosting serotonin in our brains which improves mood, especially if you tend to feel flat during winter.
Early morning sun helps us to maintain good sleep patterns. Sunshine also converts vitamin D in our bodies into a form that is important for the strength of our bones, to prevent osteoporosis. Our immune system is also thought to function more effectively with regular safe sun exposure.
Figuring out how much sun you need can be tricky.
We’ve analysed the multiple factors that impact this to provide some personalised recommendations for you in your action plan where we’ve also provided your Fitzpatrick skin type. This is a way to classify how much melanin pigment you have in your skin to determine how prone your skin is to sun damage or whether you may be at risk of vitamin D deficiency.
People with Fitzpatrick Type 1 skin are very pale, typically with freckles. People with this skin type usually have blue or green eyes and blonde or red hair and are typically of Northern European or Scandinavian heritage. At the other end of the scale is people with Fitzpatrick type 6 skin, who are lucky enough to have lots of melanin and thus dark skin, and typically are of African heritage or Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, Maori or Pacific Islander peoples.
Adequate levels of vitamin D are thought to reduce the risk of:
✔ Multiple sclerosis,
✔ Heart disease
✔ Dementia
✔ Breast, bowel and prostate cancer and
✔ Type 2 diabetes
More research needs to be done to prove these associations but we believe that there is enough evidence to support recommendations for safe sun exposure to enhance wellbeing and prevent future chronic disease.
Where you live and your Fitzpatrick skin type combine to determine how much sun you need to provide you with the benefits but to avoid future sun damaged skin and skin cancers. Have a look at the detail in the sun exposure section of your action plan for some personalised guidance on this.