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Comment by nradov | Hacker News Reader

I think there's a business opportunity for someone to make light bulbs which emit a little UVB. Not enough to cause sunburn or raise skin cancer risk, just enough to keep our vitamin D levels up. That way you could just stick it in a light fixture and go about your normal life. Is such a light practical to build?

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There are plenty of tanning (UVB) lights at all different wattages available for purchase.

I think the problem is the visible light output tends to be harsh, and the bulbs are highly inefficient, they are exensive, and they don’t last very long either.

So there would be a lot of problems to solve, not the least of which is the cultural issue you raise of scaremongering around UVB exposure in the first place.

There is one FDA approved vitamin D lamp made by Sperti.com. Costs about $400, has a 5 minute timer, instructions say to use it once every other day, the UVB spectrum of the lamps is tailored to Vitamin D production. I have one, it works better than pills.

For those curious about the lamp, this is the link: https://www.sperti.com/product/sperti-vitamin-d-light-box

They used to sell these (as regular-size fluorescent tubes) decades ago.

Or just replace window glass with OP4 plastic. Not cheap.

I try to use a tanning bed a couple times a week in winter.

is that safe?

Not at all.

Tanning beds are banned in some countries with high skin cancer rates for good reason. It is a lottery and you are accumulating risk with exposure. I strongly suspect (without any real evidence) that there are a number of beneficial health effects to moderate UV exposure that can improve quality of life for some people but the experience with fair skinned populations in high UV parts of the world has been overwhelmingly negative. The public health advice is basically written in blood on this topic and so I would view people and sites promoting alternative views with an appropriate amount of skepticism for now.

I think we need to update GTL: Golang, tan, laundry.

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