[fwdude]

Get sun, full sun, daily, without sunscreen. If you can't strip down, go shirtless.

Our sheltered, tech-controlled, indoor lifestyles have taking a heavy toll.

[Republican Wildcat]

Doesn’t work in the winter anywhere north of Atlanta.

You also don’t need to reveal that much skin.

[kiryandil]

https://suncalc.org

[TexasGator]

"Get sun, full sun, daily, without sunscreen. If you can't strip down, go shirtless."

[Ragnar54]

Full sun has no benefit in the winter for most of the US.

"Human skin or [3 alpha-3H]7-dehydrocholesterol exposed to sunlight on cloudless days in Boston (42.2 degrees N) from November through February produced no previtamin D3. In Edmonton (52 degrees N) this ineffective winter period extended from October through March. Further south (34 degrees N and 18 degrees N), sunlight effectively photoconverted 7-dehydrocholesterol to previtamin D3 in the middle of winter. These results quantify the dramatic influence of changes in solar UVB radiation on cutaneous vitamin D3 synthesis and indicate the latitudinal increase in the length of the "vitamin D winter" during which dietary supplementation of the vitamin may be advisable."

Influence of season and latitude on the cutaneous synthesis of vitamin D3: exposure to winter sunlight in Boston and Edmonton will not promote vitamin D3 synthesis in human skin

The solution is of course supplementation. A starting point is about 5,000 IU per day of Vitamin D3. To evaluate your need, take a Vitamin D blood test .(available at:

Vitamin D, 25-Hydroxy Blood Test

Note that the cost has recently increased from $35 to $47 thanks to Bidenflation (and demand). Likewise, the cost for a bottle of 60 5,000 IU capsules of D3 has gone from about $6 to about $14.

The argument from nature ("don't need no stinkin supplement") only applies if you have the same lifestyle as early man (running around naked all day under an equatorial African sun). The Hadza and Masai tribes live that way, maintaining a blood level of around 45 ng/ml. Most Americans are at 15 or so. Studies have shown a correlation between low blood levels of Vitamin D and susceptibility to the flu, Covid and other viruses. Studies have also shown a correlation between low Vitamin D levels and susceptibility to blood clots. So Vitamin seems to also protect against one of the side effects of the vaccine (although not necessarily against the "high beam" side effect :)).

[catnipman]

“Get sun, full sun, daily, without sunscreen. If you can’t strip down, go shirtless.”

not possible in the higher latitudes in the winter ...

[radiohead]

Not everyone can go out all the time. Not everyone lives in climates where you can spend much time outside during certain months or where it’s particularly sunny. Melanin also affects Vit D.

At the beginning of the pandemic, doctors were finding that black patients had almost non-existent levels of Vit D. Since then, a number of peer-reviewed articles (some of which I’ve read; I used to follow research before retiring) found low levels of Vit D in covid patients that they recommended 3000 units a day.

It’s great to get Vit D outside when you can, but supplements are good for people who can’t.

[Cobra64]

True, however there is risk of skin cancer from too much direct sunlight.