How Can I Raise My Vitamin D Levels Quickly?

A client at the gym had the following question recently:

“I just got bloodwork and the only thing off was my vitamin D. But I don’t understand that because I’m outside all the time - what’s the problem?”

Answer:

You need to be outside at the right time with the right areas of your body exposed to the sun for vitamin D production.

UV-B light is necessary to trigger significant vitamin D production in your skin, and UV-B is present only about three hours after the sun rises until about three hours before sunset. There is maximum UV-B at solar noon, which is about 1:45pm for us in Indiana in July (it changes throughout the year). Check the weather app on your phone - if the “UV Index” is 3 or higher, your body will make vitamin D. But only if . . . 

You take off your clothes!

You need your torso and upper thighs exposed to get the most Vitamin D. So if you’re outside a lot, but you’re wearing shorts and a t-shirt, you can still have really low D levels.

So you can move to the boondocks of Paragon, like I did, and wear as little clothing as possible to get your Vitamin D. (I’ll just say this - if it’s warm and sunny, and you’re driving on North Wakeland Road, don’t look too closely at the house on the east side of the road or you might see something you’ll wished you wouldn’t have). Or you can buy special shorts, shirts, and swimsuits made with special fabrics to let more light through. We personally use Cool Tan. So then you can be out in public with clothes on but still get lots of your skin exposed to sunlight.

Here’s how to do this the safest way possible, especially if you have very sensitive skin, like Fitzpatrick Types 1 or 2. My wife, Anna, and I make sure to get our boys outside with as little clothing as possible starting in March. I will even go outside with just shorts and shoes if it’s 40 degrees or warmer. We build up our melanin levels gradually through the spring, so we can be outside in the summer, minimal clothing, and make even more melanin without burning.

If you are naturally pretty white and pale, like me, then I have good news for you: you need very little time in the mid-day sun to make lots of Vitamin D. On the other hand, the darker you are, the more time in the sun you need to make D. This goes way back in our ancestry where the lightest-skinned people lived at more northern latitudes, with the least amount of sun, and therefore got very good at making tons of Vitamin D in short summers that would last through long, dark winters. On the flip side, the darkest-skinned people lived nearest to the equator, where there is lots of strong sun and UV light almost all year. In that environment, it would actually be a bad thing to make lots of D from little sun, because you would get too much. Regardless of your skin type, everyone needs some skin in the sun for optimal health.