Your Skin, Sunshine, Vitamin D and Covid-19

Skin Sun Exposure
There is no question that direct sun exposure is harmful to your skin.  Recommendations are usually no more than 20 minutes per day.  The single greatest factor by far that brings on premature aging of the skin is solar radiation – both UV and visible rays.  Aging skin appearance is just part of the problem; later in life that solar radiation that felt so good and gave you a nice tan often produces basal cell carcinoma (cancer).  From Providence Health Care … “Basal cell carcinoma (also called basal cell cancer) is the most common type of skin cancer. Basal cell cancer happens in older adults who have been exposed to UV rays longer.  People with light skin tones and eyes are more at risk for sunburn, sun damage and skin cancer. Still, even people who tan and don’t burn are at a higher risk for skin cancer from UV exposure. And, while people of any ethnicity who have darker skin tones are less at risk, they can also be affected.”

Good antioxidants, applied topically, will help reduce this damage by quenching the harmful free radicals created in the skin through UV exposure.  Stemology products are rich in antioxidants, which will greatly help.  Prolonged sun exposure, however, is still not a recommended practice.


The Need for Vitamin D
One good reason for sunshine falling on our skin is the process of creating Vitamin D.  Vitamin D is the only vitamin that the body actually produces. It is made in the skin where it is converted to a hormone. When vitamin D hormone levels are balanced, auto-immune skin conditions such as eczema, psoriasis and rosacea improve.  But far beyond that, in the last decade, Vitamin D has been found to help with many ailments including disease prevention from influenza to tuberculosis, joint pain, depression and loss of bone health.  Michael F. Holick, PhD, MD, documents this in his book, The Vitamin D Solution, Vitamin D does not cure these ailments, but it helps reduce the impact, and in some cases, prevents the onset. There is also good evidence that high levels of Vitamin D in our body have helped mitigate the effects of Covid-19.  In other words, having high levels of Vitamin D in the body is a big deal!  ”For those aged 50 and older, vitamin D deficiency can be a problem. A variety of reasons may account for this, such as excessive time spent indoors, reduced appetite and malabsorption of nutrients. In addition, our skin becomes thinner as we age, affecting the body’s ability to synthesize vitamin D.”  So, we are caught in a dilemma.  Sun exposure on the skin is bad, but high Vitamin D levels are good.  Using sunscreen does not solve the dilemma since it blocks the sun’s rays from getting to the skin and creating Vitamin D.  The best solution is to take a Vitamin D supplement daily, especially as we get over thirty.  For best results, recommendations are to take about 5000 to 7000 IU’s daily.  This will provide high levels of Vitamin D without the negative impact of solar radiation on our skin.

What About A Healthy Tan?
This brings us to a second dilemma.  How can we have that nice healthy golden tan and still avoid damaging sun exposure?  As mentioned earlier, having a nice suntan, which requires repeated prolonged exposure to the sun (or a Tanning Bed), is desirable for appearance sake, but can have the undesirable side effects of premature skin aging, and ultimately skin cancer.  So how do we resolve this problem?  The best way is to use a good sunless tanning formula.  Unfortunately, many of the sunless tanners out there use chemicals that are unproven and perhaps harmful.  They often have a greasy formula that leaves the skin sticky.  Many have a strong unpleasant smell, that tends to remain on your skin.  In addition, they often produce an unnatural looking color and do not at all resemble a healthy-looking tan.  The Stemology team has come up with a solution.  We are announcing a Natural Tanning Gel that is entirely from plant substances, is vegan, and has no sticky, greasy feel.  In a natural formula with a pleasant smell, this Tanning Gel is easy to apply and will produce a natural looking golden tan that is light to medium based upon the number of applications you use.  When applied evenly your tan will be streak free and easy to maintain with several renewal applications per week.  As an added bonus this Tanning Gel will also moisturize the skin as well.  And best of all … no damage from solar radiation.  Stemology Natural Tanning Gel is a key part of our mantra of “beautiful skin, healthy skin.”