The importance of sunshine and Vitamin D during self-isolation

We chat to City of Fremantle’s Health and Wellbeing Community Development Officer Erinn Litchfield about the importance of boosting your intake of Vitamin D while isolating at home.

A couple of months ago, social or physical distancing was absolutely unheard of. Today you’ll find the term trending across media and social media and taking over signs everywhere you look.

We’ve all been strongly advised to stay home unless it’s essential to leave the house, and this has likely disrupted many people’s daily routines and limited their opportunities to soak up some sunshine.

“During this unprecedented time of physical distancing, while it is important to stay at home, you don’t need to confine yourself to inside your four walls unless you are required to be in isolation,” Erinn said.

“Now more than ever you need to maintain your physical and mental health, and a key component of that is sunshine.

“Whether you have a backyard, a balcony or even just a window that you can open, make sure you feel the sun for at least few minutes each day.

“Our bodies need sunshine to create Vitamin D, which is then used by every cell and plays a significant role in both our immune and nervous systems.”

Approximately 90 per cent of our daily Vitamin D requirement is made from sun exposure directly on our skin with the other 10 per cent coming through food sources such as eggs, milk and oily fish.

According to the Cancer Council, for most people, adequate Vitamin D levels are reached through regular incidental exposure to the sun. It said when the UV Index was three or above (such as during summer), most people maintained adequate Vitamin D levels just by spending a few minutes outdoors on most days of the week.  

Erinn’s five tips to increase your healthy exposure to sunshine while working from home: