The Guide For People Who Sunburn Easily
Naturally raise Vitamin D, develop a tan without getting melanoma
Many of the people on Health Twitter know about the benefits of sunlight, yet I want this article to meet the hearts of a specific demographic.
Who am I talking about?
The people who:
Burn easily
Fear sunlight due to skin cancer concerns
Believe a tan is inherently harmful
Have pale skin and blue eyes
Constantly wear sunglasses, contact lenses, and sunscreen
I’m writing this in an attempt to educate you on the truth about sunlight because there’s more confusion around this subject than any other one within the health realm.
The noise to signal ratio here is stronger than that of the vegetable oil discussion and many others you’ll find on Twitter and beyond.
Misguided authority structures have done a fantastic job with the demonization of sunlight. They have unleashed countless propaganda campaigns on the public. At its root, I believe greed, ignorance, and power are the main drivers here.
Consider this thread your Red Pill.
It will help you find the signal in a sea of noise.
I don’t want you to react with anger. Instead, sit through this entire article and listen to my reasoning. There is a rhyme and reason to every single point I make based on circadian biology, evolutionary biology, basic human physiology and cultural trends.
Some of the biggest conglomerates and health authorities berate the public on sunbathing. As a result, their recommendations include the typical stuff you hear:
“Apply sunscreen every 2 hours.”
“Protect your skin from the sun at all costs.”
“There’s no such thing as a healthy tan.”
“Going outside and getting sunlight on your skin raises the risk of skin cancer.”
I’ve always posed one question to people who have these beliefs..
Why does the establishment praise Vitamin D3 if they simultaneously push that sunlight is inherently toxic to our skin?
I have yet to receive a sufficient answer outside of “because UV damages your skin.”
Furthermore, why is more than HALF of the population Vitamin D deficient? I’d argue this number is much higher (around 70-80%) in the United States.
There are many logical inconsistencies with this story.
People will rebuttal with arguments that you can get enough Vitamin D3 from food and supplements, but the amount found in a handful of foods is negligible and certainly doesn’t move the needle to fix D3 deficiency.
We know for a fact that Vitamin D supplements, even if paired with Vitamin K2, is nowhere close to what you get from direct sunlight exposure. The idea that you shouldn’t exogenously supplement what your body can endogenously produce holds true. The human body is incredibly complex, well beyond most people’s understanding in this regard.
Let’s begin with the basics.
Mammals & Melanin
Every mammal has the ability to build their melanin.
It’s baked into the mammalian pie.
First, a short primer on melanin.
Melanin is a natural pigment made by melanocytes found in the skin, hair, and eyes of humans, animals, fungi and other organisms. It’s responsible for determining the color of these features and comes with an incredible array of biological functions that translate into better health.
Most importantly, it acts like a natural sunscreen.
The examples shown below are ones that have more eumelanin than any other form of melanin out there. It’s what’s responsible for the brown and black pigmentation.
The other animals shown below have more pheomelanin which is responsible for the yellow, orange and red pigmentation.
You can read my full thread on melanin and its biological functions here.
Now, how does this translate to you and your health?
Every human being contains both eumelanin and pheomelanin to various degrees depending on their ancestral heritage.
Darker skinned people mostly have eumelanin while lighter skinned people mostly have pheomelanin. Regardless of where your ancestors are from, we all universally share a form of melanin known as neuromelanin which is found in the brain.
It’s produced in specific populations of catecholaminergic neurons and humans have the largest amount of NM which carries a punch. It plays a role in dopamine regulation, detoxification, protecting neurons, and more.
Neuromelanin is particularly abundant in dopaminergic neurons which are responsible for producing and releasing dopamine. It’s thought to play a role in the storage and regulation of dopamine within these neurons.
It’s also a natural chelator which helps bind and sequester metal ions, such as iron and copper, which can be toxic at high levels. By doing so, it protects neurons from metal-induced oxidative stress and damage.
It also has antioxidant properties, similar to other types of melanin which can help protect neurons from oxidative damage and age-related degeneration.
It’s present in the eyes as well, particularly in the iris and retina, hence it protects the eyes from excessive UV exposure, potentially reducing the risk of eye conditions like cataracts and age-related macular degeneration.
Lastly, it’s electrically conductive.
Studies in fungi have shown that melanin can harvest energy from electromagnetic radiation for metabolic use in a process that involves melanin’s electrical properties (referred to as radiosynthesis). This has major implications when you think about grounding, sunlight, free electrons, mitochondria and nnEMF protection.
I don’t care if you’re Irish, Mexican, or Swedish. With the right framework, you’re able to sunbathe and adapt to acquire more sunlight.
Some people take more time to hit that point than others depending on their lifestyle and melanin stores. For these people, more intention and patience is required.
Make no mistake though, it’s possible for every single person.
If melanin is present throughout the animal kingdom, that should make you question any so called authority who says that a tan is inherently harmful.
The Role of Genetics
Not everybody tans the same way due to genetics.
People whose ancestors lived farther from the equator have more pheomelanin.
People whose ancestors lived closer to the equator have more eumelanin.
I’m almost a perfect 50/50 split between European and Western Asian/North African. My parents are at the opposite spectrum of skin color. Getting darker as a result of sunbathing consistently is effortless for me now, but I spent a lot of time outside as a kid to develop that solar callous. I’ve only burned a handful of times in my life during extremely hot conditions.
Why Do People Burn So Easily Today?
Here’s the uncomfortable truth.
Every aspect of society is geared around having you avoid sunlight getting onto your bare skin. As a result, you have ATROPHIC skin (which is an organ by the way).
Your skin is atrophied.
In other words, it’s weak.
Why is it weak?
Because you never get sunlight and do everything in your power to “protect” yourself from it.
What happens when you place a tarp over an orange tree?
It fails to grow and produce any fruit because it isn’t getting sunlight.
The same thing happens if mammals don’t get enough natural light. By enough, I don’t mean 5 minutes. You need a lot more than that for foundational health.
After doing all of this research, it’s amazing to me that we’re the only species stupid enough to demonize the very thing holding the entire food web together.
There are specific culprits that atrophy your skin and do more harm than good on a biological level.
CULPRIT 1: SUNGLASSES
Your eyes have a protein known as neuropsin which is a special opsin found in your cornea and skin that is a UV-A light detector.
The chronic use of sunglasses causes disruption to your entire system because it destroys neuropsin. As a result, melanopsin dysfunction (which is connected the habenular nuclei in the brain involved in pain processing, reproductive behavior, sleep-wake cycles, stress responses, metabolism) becomes dysfunctional.
This eventually disrupts other non-visual photoreceptors.
Here’s the kicker though:
Sunglasses block the signal needed for your body to produce melanin.
In other words:
A) You’re not able to tan
B) You’re making the situation for your skin and health much worse, resulting in MORE SEVERE burns.
I will state the exceptions here include when you’re on the water, snow, sand - any environment that intensifies the light where potential retinal burns can occur.
CULPRIT 2: CONTACT LENSES
The same concept applies to contacts as well.
Not only do you disrupt the biological signal needed for optimal health from sunlight, but you also cause corneal hypoxia and destroy the mitochondria within your eye.
When your eye doesn’t get enough oxygen, it causes mitochondrial dysfunction and disrupts calcium flows within the mitochondria.
Opt for glasses instead since it’s easier to transition from those into nothing at all with sunlight. Eventually, eyesight will improves with more red light exposure.
CULPRIT 3: SUNSCREEN
Your skin and brain were made from the same tissue when you were in the womb of your mother. This is what we call neuroectoderm and it refers to a specialized layer of cells in the early embryo that gives rise to the nervous system.
Sunglasses, contacts, and sunscreen typically damage the body in the same ways.
They interfere with our core biological functions as mammals.
You need UV light on your bare skin, yet the dose depends on your current level of experience and lifestyle. There’s no reason to use sunscreen once you’ve built your solar callous unless you are in a special circumstance of extreme heat.
CULPRIT 4: EXCESSIVE CLOTHING
If you’re mostly covered up, you won’t be getting the benefits of Vitamin D3 and sunlight. Your mitochondria won’t be able to operate efficiently as well since the ATPase nano-motors use red light wavelengths to produce energy.
The less clothing, the better.
CULPRIT 5: LASIK SURGERY
This is the worst intervention of them all which destroys neuropsin in the cornea.
Unfortunately, your ophthalmologist doesn’t know about biology to this degree, hence they’re unknowingly causing damage to one of the most important parts of your body.
The link between Lasik and depression is not a foreign one. When you destroy these non-visual UV-A detecting photoreceptors, the second and third order consequences on neurotransmitter production are disastrous.
Building Your Solar Callous
First, some thoughts on the solar callous below.
Here’s your action plan:
1) AM SUNLIGHT
You must get at least 30+ minutes of morning sunlight onto your bare skin from anywhere between sunrise to 8/9 AM. No sunglasses, contacts, sunscreen, little clothing covering your body.
Red light primes your skin for high UV index conditions (aka sunbathing). This is what will protect you from any potential burns, especially if you have lighter skin.
You must commit to this religiously.
Without it, you will burn and the plan will fail miserably.
2) SUNBATHING
Have some common sense here.
If you look like Casper the Ghost, 10-15 minutes in high UVI conditions daily is enough at first. If you’re darker, spend more time out. Listen to your body. If you feel like you’re about to burn, stop and repeat again next day.
Read more about in in depth here.
2.5) SUNBATHING TIPS
Use beef tallow on your skin pre & post
Get a sunscreen with only zinc oxide (only if necessary)
Use Dminder to track your sessions
Fix your omega 3/6 ratio (no vegetable oil, more wild caught seafood)
High UVI = spend less time sunbathing
Low UVI = spend more time sunbathing
No sunglasses, contacts, hat
Strictly block toxic artificial blue light (especially post sunset)
Aim for 2-5K IU between 10-2 PM if you’re a beginner (number can depend on your situation
3) DAY IN, DAY OUT
Consistency and patience are a huge part of this process.
Work with where your skin type is at in the moment.
Trying to force progress here will result in burns.
If you can commit to 3 days/week, stick with that. If you can do more, awesome.
4) INDOOR LIGHT DURING THE DAY
Even during the day, you want to block toxic artificial blue light Follow @ze_rusty and get 1 Tap Zap.
Download f.lux.
Wear blue light blockers when you’re on any devices, especially for a long time.
Take sun breaks.
5) EVENING ROUTINE
Blocking toxic artificial blue light is just as important as getting sunlight properly.
Your artificially blue lit environment is causing your atrophic skin. Use the thread below to set your evening up properly in relation to light and circadian biology.
6) NUTRITION
Quick note to avoid the consumption of vegetable oil which damage the integrity of the skin. Consume wild caught seafood, shellfish, saturated and monounsaturated fats. More wild caught salmon for astaxanthin. Keep your fat consumption on point.
Conclusion
If you’re scared of melanoma, look into the research on toxic artificial blue light.
The sun should be approached with respect.
It can do some damage to you without that intention But we all need a lot more sunlight than we’ve been taught to believe.
I’ll help you fix everything from sleep to bloodwork and give you a sustainable system that works FOREVER. No gimmicks. No bullshit. Pure value for 8 weeks straight with me by your side.
Much love,
Zaid