By Carole Baggerly, GrassrootsHealth

Neither too much or too little sunlight is good for your health. It is important to manage your sunlight exposure with an understanding of:

• Your skin type
• The strength of the UV lamp (or UV index outdoors)
• Duration to receive an erythemal dose without burning

An ‘erythema dose” is used by doctors to define the amount of ultraviolet radiation, from the sun or an ultraviolet lamp, which results in a reddening of the skin. A minimal erythema dose is defined by a pinkness of the skin, about one to six hours after sun exposure, going away within 24 hours. Sunny Hippocrates, GrassrootsHealth’s cartoon mascot, tells you to get a smidge pink. There is no single number, due in part to differences in skin type and other individual differences in vitamin D production, but one minimal erythema dose is equivalent to roughly 10,000 to 25,000 IU of supplemental vitamin D.

Overall the benefits of sunlight far outweigh the risks. Benefits include:

• Photoadaptation
• Epidermal thickening
• Immunomodulation
• Vitamin D
• Nitric Oxide
• Seoatonin and endorphins
• Circadian clocks
• Melatonin
• Folic Acid

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SmartTan.com news articles regularly report medical and scientific information to keep you abreast of current events related to UV light. This information is not intended to be used by any party to make unwarranted health claims to promote sunbed usage. Indoor tanning businesses are obligated to communicate a fair and balanced message to all clients about your products and services including the potential risks associated with indoor tanning. Contact your Smart Tan representative to find out more about what you can and can’t say in your tanning salon business.

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