8 Top Tips to Sunlight Success #3

Top Tip #3:

Your skin cannot produce Vitamin D, unless the sun is strong enough, or hits the skin at the “right” angle. Sound confusing. Well, here’s an easy Tip: Use the “Shadow Trick” to know if the sun’s rays are at an angle to enable your body to use them for vitamin D production. Stand outside around noon. Is your shadow longer than your height? If your shadow is longer than your height, your body is NOT able to use the sun’s rays to produce much, if any vitamin D^{. 4}

In the image above, you can see the man's shadow is shorter than his height. Therefore this is a good time for sun exposure for the purposes of Vitamin D production.

Stretch your Brain:

Experts who have been studying Vitamin D say that winter sunbathing around noon will allow your body to produce Vitamin D. Try and stay out of the wind, to reduce the chilling! Interestingly, as the sun goes down in the afternoons, the UVB rays which are absorbed for Vitamin D manufacture are shielded. But the more dangerous UVA rays are stronger later in the day.⁵

4. Goldschmidt, V. (n.d.).  Use this shadow trick to get maximum vitamin D. Retrieved from https://saveourbones.com/use-this-shadow-trick-to-get-maximum-vitamin-d/

5. Mercola. (2009, October).  How much sunshine does it take to make enough vitamin D? Perhaps More Than You Think! Retrieved from https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/10/29/How-Much-Sunshine-Does-it-Take-to-Make-Enough-Vitamin-D-Perhaps-More-Than-You-Think.aspx