Sunshine

It’s especially important to obtain adequate vitamin D from sun exposure during the warmer summer months to build stores of vitamin D for the winter. But without sufficient exposure beginning early in the season that brings vitamin D levels in the body to moderate or high levels, the amount of vitamin D stored for winter may be inadequate and additional sources necessary.

How much sun and for how long depends on each athlete’s individual needs. For many fair-skinned athletes, exposing arms and legs to sunlight for twenty to thirty minutes—more in northern climates and less as you get closer to the equator during high sun (between the hours of 10 AM and 3 PM) throughout the week without sunscreen may be adequate to start the process of building normal vitamin D levels. In a healthy athlete, this amount of sun can produce 5,000 to 10,000 units of vitamin D—and this amount is healthy, not excessive. Interestingly, we can’t overdose on vitamin D from the sun like we can with all other sources, such as from dietary supplements.

广告：个人专属 VPN，独立 IP，无限流量，多机房切换，还可以屏蔽广告和恶意软件，每月最低仅 5 美元

As your skin tans, longer periods of sun exposure will be needed to build vitamin D stores for the winter months. That’s because those with darker skin will require even more sun exposure throughout the year to obtain the same amount of vitamin D. Those in more northern (and extreme southern) climates may need much more. In general, more exposure may be better as long as you avoid the most important sun stress—sunburn. And as your levels of vitamin D rise and normalize, the risk of sunburn diminishes.