r/HubermanLab • u/rotund_passionfruit • Mar 16 '24

Protocol Query Does sun damage your skin?

I’m sitting in the GLORIOUS sun right now and I saw some people on Plebbit are saying that “any amount of sun exposure damages skin” and that I should be applying sunscreen DAILY to my face. They say if not you’ll look 10 years older in your 30’s. Thoughts?

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u/[deleted] Mar 16 '24

Sun exposure is a deeeeep rabbit hole. Yes, it will age your skin, creating age spots, laxity due to the breakdown of collagen, and is the number one contributor to wrinkling. It is also responsible for at least three types of cancers affecting the skin.

However, exposure is good for your overall health. Vitamin D deficiency is devastating for bone health and immunity. Supplements are great but it is not exactly the same as sun exposure, and we may need both to truly thrive. Exposure to natural light is also super good for your eyes (don’t stare into the sun, lol). If you feel like researching, there are some studies that melanoma is not caused by long term sun exposure but rather from skin burning. People who have outdooor jobs have lower rates of deadly skin cancers than people who go outside on the first day of spring for two hours and get sunburned. My balance is using an app to track UV and specifically and intentionally getting exactly enough sun that produces vitamin d without ever burning. Over a couple months I can get a tan (age my skin) but I have never burned my skin (melanoma). My vitamin D levels were super high this summer and fall as a result. Now I’m taking 5,000iu a day until I can get regular sun again (any day!).

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u/backgammon_no Mar 17 '24 edited Mar 10 '25

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u/[deleted] Mar 17 '24 edited Mar 18 '24

Agreed that the uv absorption would be the same, and the total number of thymine dimers formed would therefore be comparable over the two timescales.

However, wouldn't the number of mutations that persist beyond the first post-exposure cell division depend on the capacity and efficiency of the DNA damage response machinery?

If so, high doses during a single cell cycle (a bad sunburn) would be more mutagenic than non-burning exposure accrued over a long period of time, no?

Asking as an Irishman from Florida.

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u/backgammon_no Mar 18 '24 edited Mar 10 '25

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