CLASS IN PYHRNBAHN/STEYRLING. After winter, many people are at the end of their vitamin D reserves. Only in early spring is the sun strong enough to replenish vitamin D stores through sunlight. But Steyrling (Glass municipality) general practitioner and dermatologist Angelika Reitböck cautions: the skin must first get used to the sun's rays.
To combat low vitamin D levels year-round, avoid exposing your face, hands, and arms to the sun for some time between the end of March and mid-October. However, be careful not to expose yourself to sunlight. A tip: Go out unprotected in the sun only half the time. So if after 20 minutes there is a general risk of sunburn, you should stay in the sun unprotected for ten minutes at most. “The skin needs to get used to the intense sunlight of the approaching summer gradually and quickly enough. Especially the deeper layers of the skin need one to two months to adapt to these changes,” says Angelica Riedbach, general practitioner and dermatologist in Stirling and head of the preventive department of the Medical Association of Upper Austria. Baths are desirable and they stimulate the body's own vitamin D production.
How can you protect your skin?
During prolonged sunbathing (more than 15 minutes), it is necessary to use a sunscreen with a sufficiently high sun protection factor (at least factor 30). “It helps prevent the ever-increasing number of skin cancers,” Reidbach says. “If we stick to these steps and consciously take care of our skin, it will thank us and keep it looking as healthy and fresh as possible,” says the dermatologist.