2. Regular safe sun exposure has many positive benefits and very few negatives (a very very small chance of getting a type of cancer that is normally deadly, but for reasons we don't fully understand, is much less deadly to people who get regular sun exposure).
3. Avoiding sun exposure entirely has many negative effects and will kill you.
4. Intermittent extreme sun exposure (the kind that causes sunburn) actually is terrible, and will lead to the bad skin cancers that will actually kill you.
5. Sunscreen may do more harm than good, both to people and the environment. It's certainly not a magic bullet.
6. Sun exposure needs (and risks) vary heavily by skin colour, and while it's good for everyone to get regular safe sun exposure, it's critical for people with darker skin.
In other words, if (like a lot of Americans) you take vitamin D supplements, avoid the sun most of the year, then slather on a ton of sunscreen for your once a year summer vacation, you're basically doing everything as wrong as you possibly can, and getting the worst of all worlds.
And apparently this is supported by new research, and most countries have already adopted it, with the main outlier being the US, primarily due to industry pressure/greed/inertia.
> then slather on a ton of sunscreen for your once a year summer vacation, you're basically doing everything as wrong as you possibly can, and getting the worst of all worlds.
Agreed but Sunscreen might still be better in that case. See point 4 (Intermittent extreme sun exposure (the kind that causes sunburn) actually is terrible). These people would be sure to get bad sunburn if they lay on the beach all day only 2 weeks out of the year.
Of course, even if unhealthy sun exposure + sunscreen is better than unhealthy sun exposure on its own, it doesn't mean it's better than avoiding the unhealthy sun exposure patterns at all.
I feel like there's a fair bit more to figure out here. A lot of us live far from the equator with jobs and hobbies that keep us indoors a lot. Observing that regular safe sun exposure is healthy is great, but I don't even like beaches. It's easy to criticise bad ideas (vitamin D supplements, tanning beds, etc.) but harder to figure out the best compromise.
1. Vitamin D supplements do nothing
2. Regular safe sun exposure has many positive benefits and very few negatives (a very very small chance of getting a type of cancer that is normally deadly, but for reasons we don't fully understand, is much less deadly to people who get regular sun exposure).
3. Avoiding sun exposure entirely has many negative effects and will kill you.
4. Intermittent extreme sun exposure (the kind that causes sunburn) actually is terrible, and will lead to the bad skin cancers that will actually kill you.
5. Sunscreen may do more harm than good, both to people and the environment. It's certainly not a magic bullet.
6. Sun exposure needs (and risks) vary heavily by skin colour, and while it's good for everyone to get regular safe sun exposure, it's critical for people with darker skin.
In other words, if (like a lot of Americans) you take vitamin D supplements, avoid the sun most of the year, then slather on a ton of sunscreen for your once a year summer vacation, you're basically doing everything as wrong as you possibly can, and getting the worst of all worlds.
And apparently this is supported by new research, and most countries have already adopted it, with the main outlier being the US, primarily due to industry pressure/greed/inertia.
Sounds plausible, at any rate.