Summer is almost upon us and the opportunity to spend some good time in the sun and make some vitamin D is coming. Just a few thoughts:

Sunscreen prevents vitamin D.
If you wear sunscreen, the sun rays don’t make it to your skin and you don’t make vitamin D. So no matter how much time you spend in the sun you’re not getting the benefit from it.
Darkness resets vitamin D receptors.
Just like every other system in the body, spending too much time in the light (too much artificial light at night) makes your body less sensitive to vitamin D. Darkness resets your receptors to be sensitive to D.
Soap washes vitamin D off your skin.
Vitamin D is actually fat soluble hormone that gets synthesized on the skin before slowly absorbing into the body. Using soap on your skin in the 12-24 hours after sun exposure can emulsify and wash away your vitamin D. Most of the important parts that need to be washed probably weren’t in the sun anyway.

Bottom line for holding getting optimum D:
Spend some time in the sun without barriers (clothes & sunscreen).
Turn off the lights after sundown, particularly overhead.
After being in the sun, either don’t shower right away or just wash the exposed skin with water, use soap on the rest of your body not exposed to sunlight.

Thanks for reading, have a great D day!