Goggle Tans
Getting above the clouds & spending a day in the sun may help you work on your google tan. Lathering on sunscreen is part of the spring routine to prevent a burn from the sun's reflection on the snow. Is the spring sun exposure enough to raise your Vitamin D levels?
Vitamin D is synthesized by our bodies when our skin is exposed to UVB sun rays. UVB rays enter the atmosphere when the sun is high enough in the sky. In other words follow the shadow rule - when your shadow is equal in length to your height or shorter you will get enough sunlight for vitamin D synthesis. Plus your skin needs to be exposed to the sunlight - so no sunscreen or coverup.
So even if you are getting a spring tan - you still need to look to supplementing with Vitamin D throughout the ski season.
Where is the benefit in Vitamin D?
Achieving optimal levels of Vitamin D will reduce your susceptibility to infection. Vitamin D helps to reduce the damaging inflammatory response of white blood cells. If you still do get sick, optimizing Vitamin D will truncate the severity and length of illness.
Not only does your immune system benefit from optimal vitamin D, so does a host of other systems. Many people are aware of Vitamin D's positive impact on bone structure. Optimizing Vitamin D enhances mood health, plays a role in preventing cardiovascular disease and is cancer protective.
Like any vitamin - it is best to not shoot in the dark when it comes to supplementation. Find your optimal Vitamin D dose by doing a 25 hydroxy Vitamin D test. An expert in the topic of Vitamin D, Dr Alex Vasquez, looks to levels being optimal at 125nmol/l. For some people it can be taking upwards of 6,000 IU per day and at times more for those that are obese. In obesity higher doses are needed to saturate excess fat tissue. You won’t know how much you need until you test.
So if you aren't quite getting your vitamin D levels boosted by spring skiing you can still receive medical support for enjoying the slushy stuff. There is a new initiative in BC called a Park Prescription. The goal is to help improve patients' health by getting outside. This is a type of prescription I can get fully behind.
Check this initiative out at www.parkprescriptions.ca
Each person's version of getting out in nature is unique - whether it be going for a snowshoe, skiing for the day, or simply watching your kids rip down the bunny hill for the first time - all of this counts. There is known to be a drop in cortisol - that stress hormone - by being out in nature for just 20 minutes.
Contact my clinic to get your vitamin D levels measured or to be prescribed time in nature.