Returning from sunny Cornwall in August, to slightly less sunny Oxford in September can be a little bit melancholic. Seeing patients arrive in the clinics looking ‘healthy’ with sun tans gives me a mixed response. On the one hand the risks of skin cancer with over-exposure to the sun is well known and real.

On the other hand, some sunshine no doubt gives people some health benefits. Moderate, safe exposure to sunshine does make people feel better and does have health benefits. The reassurance I do have is about vitamin D levels. Vitamin D is an important vitamin that can only really be sufficiently produced by sun exposure. You don’t need very much, (perhaps 30 minutes a day a few times a week in the summer does it) however we are seeing increasing numbers of people who are vitamin D deficient. In particular this is proving to be problematic for children and older people, both of whom may not be getting as much sunshine as they need for healthy bones. National advice is for pregnant women and under fives to have vitamin D supplements.

Thankfully I think after this summer the problems won’t be as much as an issue as it was last summer, when we thought the sun had been kidnapped.

The symptoms of vitamin D deficiency can be tricky to spot. They include fatigue (which is very common as we all know), muscle pains and, in children, poor growth. People with darker skin and older people are also more at risk. Most people won’t need testing for vitamin D levels, or indeed to take supplements, however people getting a sensible amount of sunshine is helpful and those more at risk can get supplements from pharmacies and health food shops. Older people in nursing homes particularly benefit from vitamin D supplements, which have been shown to improve muscle strength and reduce falls.

None of this means that over-exposure to sun is good. When I worked as a doctor in Australia it was common to get a lot of disapproving tuts from colleagues if we turned up for work with tans. Particularly when they saw our British milky skin go brown too quickly! They were well aware of the risk of skin cancer, particularly a problem if we allow our skin to burn. However for now it is still nice to take a little comfort when the nights close in, and the sun disappears until next year, by thinking of all that nice vitamin D that is benefiting us throughout the winter. The main message is, as in so many other things, sunshine helps if we are sensible and moderate in what we do.