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Although this thread has gone on to discuss other things I thought I would post my final results. I have done over 8 weeks doing 15 mins a day in my tanning booth and it has also been quite sunny outside and I have been out a lot. But my final blood test showed 64 nmol/l ! Which is slightly less than I achieved on 10 mins! So I am not sure there is a sensible conclusion I can draw.

Clearly my body does not produce the levels of vitamin D I used to achieve when I was supplementing. That may be because I am simply too old. The ability does drop off with age. But I do have quite a nice tan!

I believe I am also not feeling as well as I used to. I would say my dizziness is noticeably worse although I am still very good. So I am going back to my supplements regime and I will see how I feel in another six weeks. I had hoped my little experiment might have shown us all something useful so I am disappointed but like Ben Goldacre says it is just as important to report inconclusive results so I have.

Hello:
I have not been concerned about the Vitamin D issue but rather the Nitric Oxide factor. For at least 40 years my energy level always fell off dramatically late February leaving me exhausted in March and April. So I decided to see if getting 15 minutes of sun a day would make a difference and actually I think it has. I didn't buy a sun lamp (I should), but used a light therapy when there was no sun. I now live in Paris and the Loire Valley and there is alot more sun here than in England or Seattle (childhood home) even in mid-winter. I made a point of getting a 15 minute a day sun "bath" daily (just hands and face were exposed when very cold). So I will try to improve my UV source next year, and will continue to expose my skin to at least 15 minutes of sun per day. (It could be partly psychological but so what if it helps.)

UV rays will raise nitric oxide levels---even if vitamin D levels are not affected.

That was why I started this thread and have said a few times-- It's not just about vitamin D levels.
It's about NO, and the vasorelaxing effect it has on our cardiovascular systems.

Since I started this thread, nitric oxide release has become a new target for 3 new MS drug clinical trials-
ibudilast, guanabenz and biotin are all being tested for MS.
All are vasodilators, decrease blood pressure and increase cerebral perfusion via the NO/endothelial pathway.
Increased blood flow to the brain is "neuroprotective."

more info on my blog:
http://ccsviinms.blogspot.com/2015/05/b ... tters.html

cheer

I think I too might have overlooked the Nitric Oxide effect. We have had a few weeks of poor sun and I have used my booth occasionally for it's original purpose. I have done so at the end of the day on days we had no sun. I felt better after 15 mins in the booth (I always did) and I thought I slept better. I seemed to be better the next day too. So I am now supplementing vitamin D 5000 iu daily AND doing 15 mins in the booth. So far I think I can see an improvement. I will keep it up and see what I am like in 6 weeks.