What Do You Lack? Probably Vitamin D

Re:What Do You Lack? Probably Vitamin D by warpwoof on Tuesday July 27, 2010 @01:44PM (#1552018)

I think that's a bit of an underestimate. Short sleeves basically expose only the skin on the top of your arm from the elbow down. That's a lot less surface area compared to your full front and back, shoulders, and neck. Your chest/shoulders/upper back will also be receiving direct, unbroken sunlight, while your arms are probably blocked a good deal when they are at your side by shadows.

If it were that easy I don't think deficiency would be so prevalent. I agree that it's almost impossible not to get 30 min of partial exposure.

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Re:What Do You Lack? Probably Vitamin D by powellc on Tuesday July 27, 2010 @02:24PM (#1552153)

Fair enough, but your average t-shirt is also somewhere around SPF 10, leaving you almost completely exposed even when you feel fully clothed.

It's like UV has some sort of x-ray goggle-like ability...

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Re:What Do You Lack? Probably Vitamin D by InclinedPlane on Tuesday July 27, 2010 @03:42PM (#1552471)

SPF means "sun protection factor". SPF 10 is not "completely exposed" it's actually a very high level of protection, it means that it will take 10x as much sun exposure to lead to the same amount of UV-B reaching your skin, more or less.

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Re:What Do You Lack? Probably Vitamin D by kragen on Tuesday July 27, 2010 @10:30PM (#1553399)

SPF 10 is 90% covered, and cotton T-shirts are usually higher than that. You'll find that you can see visible light through a T-shirt at around a 10× reduction too.

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