Doctors in Australia recommend approximately 15 mins of sunshine a day in Australia.

This is pretty easy to achieve, even in winter, for us... and is unlikely to "lead to skin cancer"

We're starting to get into some pretty controversial territory here, but I think you're probably better off still getting at least SOME sunshine.

It's speculative, but I believe the skin cancer risk can be dramatically reduced by making sure you're not getting too much linoleic acid in your diet (note: you really have to try at this, tho -- almost every1 is!).

Here's a study in mice:

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1751-1097....

Of course, that's not humans, but I think the fundamental mechanisms at play should be the same.

More broadly, this article is interesting, and makes the case for more sun exposure:

https://www.outsideonline.com/2380751/sunscreen-sun-exposure...

Vitamin D taken via pill is not the same an that manufactured by sunlight. The pill form has side effects like causing too much absorption of calcium in the intestines, which leads to other problems. This is something that doesn't happen from sunlight.