Vitamin D, also known as the sunshine vitamin is known to help with strong bones, regulate mood and sleep, weight, etc. However, many do not bother working on their vitamin D levels since we rarely have time to soak in sunlight amid our busy schedule. Considering nearly 50% of the world’s population is deficient in vitamin D, it is high time we took it seriously.

We have been told that sunshine is the only way to get vitamin D, right? The truth is sunshine does not give you the vitamin by magic, rather if you expose your skin to sunlight (specifically UV-B rays), the cholesterol in your skin gets converted to vitamin D.

We have also been told that early morning sunlight helps best with vitamin D levels. Diving deeper into this, sunlight is made of UV-A and UV-B rays. 95% of the sun’s rays are UV-A while UV-B rays are less in the morning and evening hours but very intense during midday.

UV-A rays penetrate very deep into the skin so prolonged exposure leads to tanning and ageing. UV-B rays only touch the skin surface and help in converting the cholesterol molecules under the skin to Vit D but prolonged exposure comes with a risk of sunburn.

So what is the optimum duration and time of day to expose yourself to the sun? Short bursts of exposure between 5 and 15 minutes several times a week between 10 am and 3 pm is sufficient to bring up the vit D levels. Exposure of skin to direct sunlight is essential, one cannot soak in sunlight by sitting next to glass enclosed windows as UV-B does not penetrate through glass!