I had heard that windows blocked UV, but the fact that some of it slips through makes sense when you see how it affects truckers, who are consistently exposed to sunlight through the window on one side.
the windows on vehicles are a slight green tint to filter out uv light. old cars did not have the tint, but i dont know when it became the standard. this is windshields, and "clear" side windows. obviously more modern vehicles often have smoked/dark rear and rear-side and quarter glass windows. the green tint is not very noticeable to most people, but its been standard for quite some time. *edit, and when i say tint, i do not mean film. its directly in the crystal matrix of the glass, and its also keeps some heat out of the vehicle compared to clear, so other wavelengths are affected.
@@Neeboopsh Interesting. Thanks. I started thinking about this during the video. Modern vehicles really should all have some sort of UV protection - especially commercial vehicles where long periods of driving are involved.
1:58 you might want to edit this part, the UV-B that hits the window is about 0.5% of the total energy from the sun while around 50% is infrared. So while it’s technically true that UV-B rays heat the window, the infrared light heats it up around 100 times more. It’s a bit like saying that a sauna gets hot because your body heat heats it up. It’s technically true that yout body heat warms the sauna, but the vast majority comes from the stove/electric heater.
@@accidentallyaj5138 Depends on the glass, google ”absorption spectrum”. Most glass absorbs around 10% of the IR light, some glass absorbs more, but even at the best case of 10% absorbtion the glass is still heated 10x more by IR than UV.
@@aerynsunx wow ... somebody's gotta do this - not scichow .. it's gotta be a fan thing ... But have you seen the latest? same t-shirt, hair down on his shoulders? Woah!
Yea I know scientists personally who recommend avoiding sunscreen outright. It depends on your field of study. Want to have longevity in your skin? Wear sunscreen. Want to have a stronger immune system and digestive health? Don’t.
@@colinfrederick2603 if you're talking about vitamin D production, health experts recommend getting it from your diet anyway. Most people live in places where sun exposure is super inconsistent between times of year, so it's safest to just make sure you eat enough of it.
I'd say for the typical SciShow watching nerd the risk of vitamin D deficiency is greater than that of sunburn. The ratio of UV dose that gives you a sunburn to that giving you sufficient vit D is about 4:1 IIRC.
@@Acceleronics You'd have an awfully hard time covering your vitamin D needs from food. If you aren't an Inuktuk or another person heavily reliant on fatty fish you probably can't. (Not talking about fortified foods here, but that's cheating. You could just as well take a pill.)
@@HotelPapa100 for vitamin D supplements pills/capsules/whatever, I think I vaguely remember some sort of claim (or, probably I’m mixing like 3 different quarter-remembered claims to result in something less accurate than any of the original claims) about, effectiveness in how well it is absorbed by the body varying based on like, either how the supplements are stored, or what sort of other ingredients are in the pill to carry the vitamin, or like, what variant of the vitamin?
I prefer to live in a fallout bunker 100 percent of the time, only going out in full haz-mat gear and the strongest sunscreen you can buy so that my skin never sees the sun at any point. Me and my perfectly translucent white skin will never have any damage.
There was a case with a woman that worked in a sewing workshop [if my memory serves me right], and she had a window on one side of her that exposed only half of her face to sunlight every day. After many many years of her working there, on that same spot and layout, you were able to visually see which side of her was exposed to the sun all these years from the aging of her skin being noticably more advance on one side.
Nutritional scientist here to answer the 49 comments asking “but can you get vitamin D through windows?” No. UVB rays facilitate vitamin D production in your body, and glass blocks most UVB. “Then should I take vitamin D supplements?” Yes, probably. This is still a bit debatable as the problem with swallowing a supplement is ensuring that your body utilizes it properly. But we tend to agree that supplements don’t hurt and likely help. What we ultimately assume is this: people are not good at wearing sunscreen. They tend to under-apply if they wear it at all. Thus, we recommend sunscreen with this assumption in place - after all, you don’t need copious amounts of UVB exposure in order for your body to make vitamin D. If you are the rare person who applies sunscreen properly/reapplies even if indoors, then please do talk with your doctor about monitoring your vitamin D levels.
Not a scientist, but wanting to add, that if you are a person with non-white skin living north or south of the subtropics, ýou should monitor your Vitamin D levels year round but especially in the winter since you are almost certainly deficient.
>you don’t need copious amounts of UVB exposure in order for your body to make vitamin D >UVB rays facilitate vitamin D production in your body, and glass blocks most UVB. Ok, just to confirm, so is it safe to assume the minuscule amount of UVB that do get through glass is even lower than the little amount of UVB required by the body to make vitamin D?
There's a LOT of people in Australia with vitamin d deficiencies, which is put down to sunscreen use. It's now recommended here to have 10 minutes or so of non-sunscreen sunlight exposure outside the hours of 10-2, or 11-3 daylight savings, so as to get the needed vitamin d
@@ShirokiMaki yes, you won't get any functional vitamin d from sunlight through windows, plastic roofs etc etc. So people sitting in nursing home "sunrooms" for their vitamin d will be deficient. Same story if you have a pegola with uv protection on it's roof & you sit under that to get your vitamin d
Thank you, _this_ explains my furry, cute, kitty housemate! He was getting sunburn on his adorable little ears, and it still happened when I was keeping him inside due to injury. I thought glass blocked all UV, so I was a bit confused. Now the vet recommends I give his ears a little sunscreen every day. He’s really not a fan but he’s a good little floofball so he lets me.
My friend's cat had a similar problem! He's a little sundog who loves to lay under the window and bake but he's a white kitty with a pink nose and pink ear tips and so we had to get him sunscreen for animals and he HATES it but at least our favourite handsome boy is protected 🥰
If you want to stop putting on sunscreen, you can put uv filters on your windows instead (at least the ones that your pet sits by). That way, it's less likely that your cat would clean it's ears and consume the sunscreen.
The left side of my neck has an irregularly colored, darker patch. I went to a dermatologist to ask about it and she almost laughed at me. It's from driving a 30-min commute each way, every weekday. Even with the car windows up. Many truckers get the same thing.
Would be cool to show a transmission plot vs. wavelength for glass - I'd heard it was opaque to UV, but clearly the answer is a little more nuanced than that.
Or maybe he looks like Prof. Snape after he really got into yoga? That part was in the 5th book but I heard they cut it out of the movie adaptation because it was too confusing.
It's because if he leaves his hair down everybody is too distracted to watch and learn from the video. Taming the locks in the name of science and education. And sun safety. Heroic really.
Can confirm as an easily burnt blondhead. I was sitting a summer day in the sun with my bare legs on my desk when they're normally covered by pants and in the shade of the desk. My knees got a sunburn.
As a cautionary note, if you live in a region of the world that doesn't get much sunlight year round, not getting enough UV light can interfere with your body being able to synthesize vitamin D and also not getting enough natural sunlight can worsen seasonal affective depression. This is especially true if you spend most of your time indoors.
That recommendation just reeks of zero-risk tolerance, which is counterproductive. There's no way that money spend on sunscreen can't be spend better in healthcare or on activities that make you enjoy life. Life is not just about not dying....
I mean, it's not that expensive. ~$8 a bottle. They also sell sunscreen that's skin moisturizer, meaning it can be part of most people's daily routine anyway.
Now let’s talk about chemicals absorbed from the sun screen worn Daily! Does it interfere with biology, physiology get into the water table, or cause cancer?
From what I've been reading, it's almost impossible for most people to get enough vitamin D through sunlight for optimal health, especially in amounts of sun that don't increase the risk of skin cancer significantly so supplements are recommended. And it's mainly from UV B rays so it is blocked by glass anyways (and sunscreen and clothing) So it's easy to block the UV radiation that produces vitamin D, hard to block the kind that causes skin cancer. 😅
At the 2-minute mark it states that UVB ( the UV frequency that creates vitamin D in the skin) interacts with impurities in the glass window, so that very little UVB gets through. If very little UVB is getting through, it follows that very little, (if any) vitamin D will be made.
There's no benefit in getting sunlight behind a glass. The best thing to do is to get sun outside to get UVB, vitamin D and so on. Blocking sunlight, especially UVB, is a stupid idea, there are great studies that correlate deathly skin cancer to not taking sunlight (we're not talking about harmless moles)
@@RiamsWorld In fact it's nearly impossible to get sufficient vitamin D from *diet*. Sunlight (mostly UVB) is the only reliable way (apart from supplementation). But you are correct in part that at high latitudes and in non-summer seasons and early or late in the day can cause vitamin D production in skin to be insufficient. In fact, at high latitudes (I *think* more than about 37 degrees - I am writing this on my phone in bed lol so it's extemporaneous) in winter, even being in the sun all day might not produce enough vitamin D. However, vitamin D is fat-soluble and it is stored so some of what we make in summer can be used in the winter months. And individuals with more skin melanin do not make as much vitamin D as those with fairer skin. Humans have not evolved in this respect to be so far from the equator. I'm in Canberra, Australia at 37 south and most people here are vitamin D deficient in winter. Michael Holick is a world expert on this. Also British dermatologist Richard Weller and British geneticist Prof. Steve Jones are worth searching if you have an interest in this topic. The trick is to get *just* enough sun without damaging your skin and risking melanoma.
Yep. When my dad and I were on a road trip in Baja California many years ago, I was in the passenger seat for much of the trip. After 3 weeks my right hand side was noticably "crispier" than my left due to sun exposure thru the glass. Dad had the same issue but on his left side.
Being allergic to the sun, I rash through everything. I've always burned through my car window. Left arm always got bad, and I had a rash on my forehead all the time just from driving back and forth to work. A few years ago I was put on a medication that made my allergy a lot worse. Just jumping into the back seat of an SUV and then running into my doctor's office for an appointment made me burn. No one should ever take for granted the damage the sun could be doing, especially if they've recently been put on new meds.
Coming from NZ getting byrned through glass is very possible, especially when burn times in summer are measured in single digit minutes and recommendation is to cover up or not go outside between 11am and 4pm.
Odds are though that any light passing through the window to reach you in your home is early morning or late evening light where the solar angle is very shallow, making the UV index much lower. That coupled with the partial blockage from the glass will make that 20 to 30 minutes of exposure basically harmless. I wouldn’t worry about that short time warming up under the sunlight because the positive effects on mental health probably outweigh the negatives. However, if your in window light for hours or have sunroof windows, having a film over them probably would be smart.
2:38 “Dermatologists recommend you wear sunscreen, even indoors … and now a word of our sponsor SunScreen Inc.” (joking ofcourse, but would be funny 😁)
Who do you think pays for most of the research dermatologists do? It won't be a direct bribe in most cases, but researchers do get influenced by who pays for their work. That's why the good ones mention where their grants come from in their paper.
My grandmother told me you can get burnt on a cloudy day. She had to get treated a number of times for skin cancer. She was blonde. I used to get painful sunburns that hurt for days and the skin peeled a lot. I try to stay out of the sun but I can still get a burn. Since I read about a burn study done on vitamin E, I have started using it on my burns. I was surprised to not have the pain for days. Usually by the next day the pain was gone. And the peeling is minimal. It works better than anything else I've tried. It also works on burns I have gotten in the kitchen and when I worked with a blow torch. Got some really horrible burns that by the next day did not hurt and did not blister much. Healed fast too. Can't really see the scars. But you have to use it right away. You have to use the oil you squeeze out of the vitamin capsules. Any other vitamin E is too diluted. It helps if you not only put it on the burn but also put some on gauze and bandage that onto the burn for a few hours. Re apply as needed.
Whether you get sun exposure, when (at noon or after UV light is mostly gone), how long, etc, as well as your skin tones, determine whether you should wear sunscreens or not. Vitamin D deficiency is a huge problem, and supplements have NOT been shown to result in better health, just higher Vit-D levels. (They're different structurally from natural Vit-D produced by the body from ultraviolet exposure). Some people don't use enough sunscreen while others use way too much.
No. Fevers are not caused by disease but as a reaction by the body attempting to fight the disease. Which means it is the body regulating temperature, and, as you know, reptiles can't do that. Interestingly, though, there is evidence that reptiles seek out sources of external heat when they're sick, essentially doing the same thing.
Can you please do a video on the importance of vitamin D synthesis and how effective it is at preventing disease? Because that’s a good reason to *avoid* sunscreen like our species did for it’s entire existence until a few decades ago.
Personally, as someone that is white as a ghost, I think we might be going a bit overboard if we are starting to apply sunscreen indoors. I agree if you happen to be suffering from sunburns or such effects. But it seems like we are going a bit insane here with very minor risks. Here is a thing that might scare people a bit. But I think is important to understand. Your lifestyle effect your chance of getting cancer. But a lot of it is still just random. So it is better to focus on the lifestyle choices that has great effect on your health than the minor ones. Since a lot of those minor ones will not really have a greater impact on you then random cellular mutation that is pretty much impossible to avoid. Therefore, I think we should put more effort in to finding treatments for cancer, since it will be enviable. And the longer people live, the great chance there will be. Ageing itself will be the greatest contributor to cancer. Preventive measures can not be the only thing we focus on. But detection and treatment is equally if not more important. But do wear sunscreen outside and do not smoke. Like I said. There are high-risk factors you should avoid. It is the minute things you do not have to stress about.
@@hotshotluckyman12345 Good to hear. To worry about all minor things can be as bad as not caring about the major things. So I am glad my words put your mind at ease.
Sunlight is important for stimulating many processes in the human body. As is, we receive low amounts of important Sunlight through our indoor lifestyles. Our regular window glass blocks out some of the important visible and especially invisible wavelengths, solar films and other coatings can further reduce the passage of these wavelengths. Similarly, sunscreen blocks out some of the important wavelengths and in doing so prevents the stimulation of some important processes in the skin. For example, our skin needs specific wavelengths of Sunlight to produce “Vitamin D”, a deficit of Vitamin D is partially responsible for many modern diseases. If we block these wavelengths out from reaching our skin, with windows, sunscreen, solar films and other coatings, we risk interfering with some of the important processes in our skin.
I recently got new windows. Double pane, Low E, Smart Sun, Anderson windows. Even though I'm in a cold climate where some people want to let some warmth from the sun in during winter, I wanted to block all the sun. I kid you not, stand in front of the old windows, feel the heat from the sun beating in and heating everything up. Stand in front of new windows, feel nothing, I love it.
A brilliant stratagem by the sunscreen creams manufacturers : "Let's say that everyone must be covered in our creams 24/7, for the rest of their lives !!! We'll make billions !!!"
Mosto mofern modern windows have UV blockers to prevent the UV light passing through the glass Which is why sunlight through windows is not recomended for reptile care.
I'm convinced you read my thoughts. I was just womdering yesterday morning if I could get a tan through my window. The sun makes me so warm and sometimes hot in the morning. I wondered if I didn't have a blanket on if it could burn me if I stayed asleep.
If that applies to door auto glass it may explain the weirdest sunburn I ever had. Helping my sister move from Seattle back to San Diego one summer by driving the U-Haul for her I burned my upper left arm. It was two clear sunny days of driving south down I-5 with the windows up and A/C on with my arm resting on the door sill up against the glass. Growing up in SoCal I was no stranger to sun burns but this seemed different in the way it looked, felt, and healed. It actually left a discoloration in the damaged area that you can still see 40 years later. I wonder now if it was a deep tissue UV-A burn as opposed to a UV-B burn I was used to?
I am of the Celtic racial type, with skin that Tans very little. Both myself and my brother have discovered many years ago that we do not get sunburn, so long as we do not wear sun glasses. I live at 800 meters on a property in Australia, which even at sea level has a UV level higher than the Sahara. I can work outside all day without any sun block lotion on exposed areas, I never use it. However, if I put on sunglasses I will be sun burnt in 10 minutes.
"Can You Get a Sunburn Behind a Window?" well this is a question no Aussie needs a video to learn the answer to lol Very common to have the right arm browner than left, due to it being closer to the window on the driver's side of a car & even with air con on & window closed, the browning & burning is still normal
I have solar urticaria, a type of sun allergy. I have blackout curtains at home, but after a day at the office I had arms full of hives. I'm definitely a "canary in a colemine" so to speak, and will be applying sunscreen in the AM and at lunch on days I go to work!
I would literally find this unbelievable if not for the comments giving real world examples. I've driven to the Moon and back in terms of miles driven, and have never encountered this phenomenon. Its even hard to get a burn w the window open IME.
Certainly HOME windows are pretty safe since the sun angle usually means it'll only shine in at low angles, so before 10am, or after 4pm in the summer, so the atmosphere is blocking a lot more radiation then, even without window glass to help. OTOH, it does make sense maybe all of our windows should be tinted if it helps block unwanted frequencies.
Well that greatly depends on your home and neighbourhood, right? Our living room gets sunlight most of the day, including the middle of the day. So I suppose I should be more careful... But wearing sunscreen indoors is just taking it too far for me now. I reserve the right to change my mind in the future, though 😉
If the UV-reactive lenses in my glasses don't darken behind the window, is that an indicator that UV-a is being blocked? Or do reactive glass treatments only work on UV-b?
My neighbours baby got a heavy sunburn through the window glass a vew years ago.and i had a colourful sofa exposed to sunlight through the window .after one summer the colours already looked faded and bleached!
Or... Idk, don't stay in front of a window for hours? Unless your office/cubicle is right on a window and you can't possibly move your desk to be away from direct sun, you don't need to wear that all day long.
As an Australian who drives in cars with tinted windows, I can say from years of experience that it is absolutely possible to be burnt from behind a window, especially on roadtrips. We even call it the driving tan (the one arm on the outer driver's side).
Wear sunscreen every day even if I don’t walk out my front door. Live in FL. I haf my transitions glasses in the bathroom when full sun was coming in the window…that sold me on sunscreen inside every day!
Don't be afraid to get the sun outside. Good studies correlated not taking sun outside with more deathly skin cancer. Being afraid of the sun is a very bad habit. Don't be afraid to get a few moles
Your skin requires UVB to create vitamin D. UVA passes through glass, but UVB does not. Sunlight that passes through window glass does not help you make vitamin D at all.
why would it be different to reflecting off the ground or water? Of course they do, but levels are lower indoors, to the point you may struggle to notice any reflections. Just distance away from the glass will generally be enough to stop burning, cause they don't travel far indoors
@@mehere8038 It would be different because heterogeneous materials, like the pavement and walls, absorbs most wavelengths that hit them, what we see to be their color are the wave lengths that did not get absorbed. So, do those materials absorbs or reflects UV rays?
What about Vitamin D? We also need sunlight to get that, and I heard that using sunblock or sunbathing through a window gets in the way of producing that vitamin... So what would be the optimal way to balance the need for vitamin D and the risk of skin cancer?
Don't be afraid to get the sun outside. UVB are important. Good studies correlated not taking sun with more deathly skin cancer rates. Being afraid of the sun is a very bad habit. Don't be afraid to get a few moles
Not if you're in the shade inside. Its easy if you're in the house to get out of direct sunlight and still look outside. But my understanding for cars is that the front window blocks uva and uvb but the side windows typically block only uvb. I don't know for sure though.
Car windscreens don't really pass much if any UV light, something I discovered when I tried using photochromic glasses to drive. The lenses require UV to darken.
But what if you are in a shaded part indoors? The sun will be high in the sky when it's strongest so the rays will fall close to the window and not reach too far inwards. Maybe instead of sun protection you can simply sit away from the window?
Yep, ran into this with a car I bought several years ago. None of the windows had UV film and my left arm start to tan. Getting a UV tinted film installed on everything but the windshield fixed the issue.
Can you get enough sunlight through windows to prevent myopia? I see many people asked and answered about vitamin D production from the sun through windows; Doesn't sunlight exposure help reduce the changes of developing nearsightedness?
Time to buy some stick on UVA blocking film. Would be much more convenient for me personally than sunscreen all the time. Thanks for the info Scishow! Have a great day eh :)
I am allergic to UV light and still have reactions indoors if in a room with sunlight coming through closed windows. So yeah, UV light gets through. I keep the curtains closed in the room in which I spend most of my time so I don’t have to wear sunscreen all the time. I’d much rather be in a dark room than wear sunscreen.
![Felix "Unfair" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Oswujxm2Ag0/mqdefault.jpg)
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thank you captain obvious...white people, especially gingers, already knew this
I been sunburned before ye ow
For maximum UV blockage, put blackout curtains on all windows and never leave home again. Nothing outside is worth it.
Just to be safe, I wrapped my entire house in duct tape. I'm starting to run a little low on food, but the internet is still working.
@@DemPilafian start growing low-light fungus ASAP
trololo
If you can't buy it online, it doesn't really exist, anyway.
Yes. That's what the pandemic quarantine taught me, too. 😆
I had heard that windows blocked UV, but the fact that some of it slips through makes sense when you see how it affects truckers, who are consistently exposed to sunlight through the window on one side.
I use to drive a lot as part of my job, window tint on cars is a must for me or my arm gets burned (sensitive to the sun).
the windows on vehicles are a slight green tint to filter out uv light. old cars did not have the tint, but i dont know when it became the standard. this is windshields, and "clear" side windows. obviously more modern vehicles often have smoked/dark rear and rear-side and quarter glass windows. the green tint is not very noticeable to most people, but its been standard for quite some time. *edit, and when i say tint, i do not mean film. its directly in the crystal matrix of the glass, and its also keeps some heat out of the vehicle compared to clear, so other wavelengths are affected.
@@Neeboopsh Interesting. Thanks. I started thinking about this during the video. Modern vehicles really should all have some sort of UV protection - especially commercial vehicles where long periods of driving are involved.
Not just truckers, anyone who spends a lot of time driving….including long commutes
Same reason house plants grow better near a window than not.
1:58 you might want to edit this part, the UV-B that hits the window is about 0.5% of the total energy from the sun while around 50% is infrared. So while it’s technically true that UV-B rays heat the window, the infrared light heats it up around 100 times more. It’s a bit like saying that a sauna gets hot because your body heat heats it up. It’s technically true that yout body heat warms the sauna, but the vast majority comes from the stove/electric heater.
I am a bit curious now, doesn't infra red have a higher wavelength than uv shouldn't it have a easier time to penetrate/pass through glass?
@@accidentallyaj5138 Depends on the glass, google ”absorption spectrum”. Most glass absorbs around 10% of the IR light, some glass absorbs more, but even at the best case of 10% absorbtion the glass is still heated 10x more by IR than UV.
@@beaconofwierd1883 I thought most glass actually reflected IR?
@@beaconofwierd1883 I thought most glass actually reflected IR?
@@beaconofwierd1883 I thought most glass actually reflected IR?
Oh I must say I am enjoying the experience of watching Michael’s ever evolving style journey. Lol
I'd love it if SciShow devoted an entire episode to Michael's changing style. Hilarious as an inside joke, yet very welcome and informative.
@@aerynsunx Scishow Mich *nodding sagely*
we stan
@@aerynsunx wow ... somebody's gotta do this - not scichow .. it's gotta be a fan thing ... But have you seen the latest? same t-shirt, hair down on his shoulders? Woah!
I miss goatee and single stripe of poorly bleached hair
"Scientists recommend you wear sunscreen, even indoors."
Where do they find these scientists? Transylvania?
Lol
Yea I know scientists personally who recommend avoiding sunscreen outright. It depends on your field of study.
Want to have longevity in your skin? Wear sunscreen. Want to have a stronger immune system and digestive health? Don’t.
The scientists that work for sunscreen manufacturers recommend you use more sunscreen.
Vlad Tepes was a very sharp scientist!
@@colinfrederick2603 if you're talking about vitamin D production, health experts recommend getting it from your diet anyway. Most people live in places where sun exposure is super inconsistent between times of year, so it's safest to just make sure you eat enough of it.
Looks like another good reason to switch to Linux. Make sure you wear protection if you sit in front of Windows all day!
quality comment!
oh but an apple a day keeps the doctor away ;)
@@mehere8038 every day? like how Paris Hilton buys a new macbook pro every time she does a new project so she can keep them all organized?
@@rabbitwho lol I'd not heard that, but I can imagine it from her! SMH!!!!!!!!
Scientists recommend you feel sticky and clammy all the time regardless of season
I live in Florida, I've got that covered...
Right lmao
😂😐 try a sun milk; they work a lot better than lotion (at least at stopping the sticky and clammy)
I found a brand of sunscreen that makes you feel slimy, especially if you get wet or sweaty. It’s actually pretty gross.
Use the old white zinc sunscreen. It isn't very greasy.
I'd say for the typical SciShow watching nerd the risk of vitamin D deficiency is greater than that of sunburn.
The ratio of UV dose that gives you a sunburn to that giving you sufficient vit D is about 4:1 IIRC.
Ha~ good burn
If only there was another source of vitamin D. I've heard you can get it from food. 😉
@@Acceleronics You'd have an awfully hard time covering your vitamin D needs from food. If you aren't an Inuktuk or another person heavily reliant on fatty fish you probably can't. (Not talking about fortified foods here, but that's cheating. You could just as well take a pill.)
@@HotelPapa100 for vitamin D supplements pills/capsules/whatever, I think I vaguely remember some sort of claim (or, probably I’m mixing like 3 different quarter-remembered claims to result in something less accurate than any of the original claims) about, effectiveness in how well it is absorbed by the body varying based on like, either how the supplements are stored, or what sort of other ingredients are in the pill to carry the vitamin, or like, what variant of the vitamin?
I actually clicked this video to find out if I can get vitamin d through a window, since UVB is blocked I guess not.
I prefer to live in a fallout bunker 100 percent of the time, only going out in full haz-mat gear and the strongest sunscreen you can buy so that my skin never sees the sun at any point. Me and my perfectly translucent white skin will never have any damage.
Better stock that fallout shelter with vitamin D supplements.
There was a case with a woman that worked in a sewing workshop [if my memory serves me right], and she had a window on one side of her that exposed only half of her face to sunlight every day. After many many years of her working there, on that same spot and layout, you were able to visually see which side of her was exposed to the sun all these years from the aging of her skin being noticably more advance on one side.
Nutritional scientist here to answer the 49 comments asking “but can you get vitamin D through windows?”
No. UVB rays facilitate vitamin D production in your body, and glass blocks most UVB.
“Then should I take vitamin D supplements?” Yes, probably. This is still a bit debatable as the problem with swallowing a supplement is ensuring that your body utilizes it properly. But we tend to agree that supplements don’t hurt and likely help.
What we ultimately assume is this: people are not good at wearing sunscreen. They tend to under-apply if they wear it at all. Thus, we recommend sunscreen with this assumption in place - after all, you don’t need copious amounts of UVB exposure in order for your body to make vitamin D.
If you are the rare person who applies sunscreen properly/reapplies even if indoors, then please do talk with your doctor about monitoring your vitamin D levels.
Not a scientist, but wanting to add, that if you are a person with non-white skin living north or south of the subtropics, ýou should monitor your Vitamin D levels year round but especially in the winter since you are almost certainly deficient.
Oh, so there's no point in leaving my curtains open then? Take that mom.
>you don’t need copious amounts of UVB exposure in order for your body to make vitamin D
>UVB rays facilitate vitamin D production in your body, and glass blocks most UVB.
Ok, just to confirm, so is it safe to assume the minuscule amount of UVB that do get through glass is even lower than the little amount of UVB required by the body to make vitamin D?
There's a LOT of people in Australia with vitamin d deficiencies, which is put down to sunscreen use. It's now recommended here to have 10 minutes or so of non-sunscreen sunlight exposure outside the hours of 10-2, or 11-3 daylight savings, so as to get the needed vitamin d
@@ShirokiMaki yes, you won't get any functional vitamin d from sunlight through windows, plastic roofs etc etc. So people sitting in nursing home "sunrooms" for their vitamin d will be deficient. Same story if you have a pegola with uv protection on it's roof & you sit under that to get your vitamin d
Thank you, _this_ explains my furry, cute, kitty housemate! He was getting sunburn on his adorable little ears, and it still happened when I was keeping him inside due to injury. I thought glass blocked all UV, so I was a bit confused. Now the vet recommends I give his ears a little sunscreen every day. He’s really not a fan but he’s a good little floofball so he lets me.
This is the cutest thing I’ve read all day 😭😻
Green window glass will block all UVA and UVB.
My friend's cat had a similar problem! He's a little sundog who loves to lay under the window and bake but he's a white kitty with a pink nose and pink ear tips and so we had to get him sunscreen for animals and he HATES it but at least our favourite handsome boy is protected 🥰
@@fkaciggs you called a cat a sundog. I don't know if you meant to do that but it made me laugh so thank you!!!
If you want to stop putting on sunscreen, you can put uv filters on your windows instead (at least the ones that your pet sits by).
That way, it's less likely that your cat would clean it's ears and consume the sunscreen.
The left side of my neck has an irregularly colored, darker patch. I went to a dermatologist to ask about it and she almost laughed at me. It's from driving a 30-min commute each way, every weekday. Even with the car windows up. Many truckers get the same thing.
I have a spot like that but it’s on my cheek
My dad's left arm is permanently more tan and more freckled for the same reason.
Time to put sunscreen only on the left side of the face to balance it out.
I tinted my windows to help w this. it also keeps the inside noticeably cooler too. which is important here
Why did she almost laugh??
Would be cool to show a transmission plot vs. wavelength for glass - I'd heard it was opaque to UV, but clearly the answer is a little more nuanced than that.
Michael went from looking like Professor Snape to someone who looks like they're really into yoga
Or maybe he looks like Prof. Snape after he really got into yoga? That part was in the 5th book but I heard they cut it out of the movie adaptation because it was too confusing.
The haircut is a big improvement.
It's because if he leaves his hair down everybody is too distracted to watch and learn from the video. Taming the locks in the name of science and education. And sun safety. Heroic really.
@@bhami He didn't cut it. He's wearing it pulled back.
@@siobhantheprawn It's because he's self conscious about it, actually. He's growing it long for his own personal reasons.
even before listening, as a redhead i'll say yes you can!
Another redhead beat you to it, get lost ginger
Can confirm as an easily burnt blondhead. I was sitting a summer day in the sun with my bare legs on my desk when they're normally covered by pants and in the shade of the desk. My knees got a sunburn.
I watched a video of dermatologists debunking myths about skin, and they made me feel like I should live in a cave
As a cautionary note, if you live in a region of the world that doesn't get much sunlight year round, not getting enough UV light can interfere with your body being able to synthesize vitamin D and also not getting enough natural sunlight can worsen seasonal affective depression. This is especially true if you spend most of your time indoors.
Infrared light is extremely healthy!
That recommendation just reeks of zero-risk tolerance, which is counterproductive. There's no way that money spend on sunscreen can't be spend better in healthcare or on activities that make you enjoy life. Life is not just about not dying....
I mean, it's not that expensive. ~$8 a bottle. They also sell sunscreen that's skin moisturizer, meaning it can be part of most people's daily routine anyway.
Now let’s talk about chemicals absorbed from the sun screen worn Daily! Does it interfere with biology, physiology get into the water table, or cause cancer?
@@barbaralong2212 you sell essential oils?
What about the positive effects of sunlight, producing vitamin D and such, will that work through glass?
From what I've been reading, it's almost impossible for most people to get enough vitamin D through sunlight for optimal health, especially in amounts of sun that don't increase the risk of skin cancer significantly so supplements are recommended. And it's mainly from UV B rays so it is blocked by glass anyways (and sunscreen and clothing)
So it's easy to block the UV radiation that produces vitamin D, hard to block the kind that causes skin cancer. 😅
Interesting question
At the 2-minute mark it states that UVB ( the UV frequency that creates vitamin D in the skin) interacts with impurities in the glass window, so that very little UVB gets through. If very little UVB is getting through, it follows that very little, (if any) vitamin D will be made.
There's no benefit in getting sunlight behind a glass. The best thing to do is to get sun outside to get UVB, vitamin D and so on. Blocking sunlight, especially UVB, is a stupid idea, there are great studies that correlate deathly skin cancer to not taking sunlight (we're not talking about harmless moles)
@@RiamsWorld In fact it's nearly impossible to get sufficient vitamin D from *diet*. Sunlight (mostly UVB) is the only reliable way (apart from supplementation). But you are correct in part that at high latitudes and in non-summer seasons and early or late in the day can cause vitamin D production in skin to be insufficient. In fact, at high latitudes (I *think* more than about 37 degrees - I am writing this on my phone in bed lol so it's extemporaneous) in winter, even being in the sun all day might not produce enough vitamin D. However, vitamin D is fat-soluble and it is stored so some of what we make in summer can be used in the winter months. And individuals with more skin melanin do not make as much vitamin D as those with fairer skin. Humans have not evolved in this respect to be so far from the equator. I'm in Canberra, Australia at 37 south and most people here are vitamin D deficient in winter. Michael Holick is a world expert on this. Also British dermatologist Richard Weller and British geneticist Prof. Steve Jones are worth searching if you have an interest in this topic. The trick is to get *just* enough sun without damaging your skin and risking melanoma.
Yep. When my dad and I were on a road trip in Baja California many years ago, I was in the passenger seat for much of the trip. After 3 weeks my right hand side was noticably "crispier" than my left due to sun exposure thru the glass. Dad had the same issue but on his left side.
This is the soonest that I have come across a freshly baked SciShow in years!
@@xploration1437 Do you have a boyfriend? These questions are important!
Mmm, the smell of a freshly baked Scishow.
Being allergic to the sun, I rash through everything. I've always burned through my car window. Left arm always got bad, and I had a rash on my forehead all the time just from driving back and forth to work. A few years ago I was put on a medication that made my allergy a lot worse. Just jumping into the back seat of an SUV and then running into my doctor's office for an appointment made me burn. No one should ever take for granted the damage the sun could be doing, especially if they've recently been put on new meds.
Coming from NZ getting byrned through glass is very possible, especially when burn times in summer are measured in single digit minutes and recommendation is to cover up or not go outside between 11am and 4pm.
Odds are though that any light passing through the window to reach you in your home is early morning or late evening light where the solar angle is very shallow, making the UV index much lower. That coupled with the partial blockage from the glass will make that 20 to 30 minutes of exposure basically harmless. I wouldn’t worry about that short time warming up under the sunlight because the positive effects on mental health probably outweigh the negatives.
However, if your in window light for hours or have sunroof windows, having a film over them probably would be smart.
WFH peeps not getting just morning/evening sun though. So they should take heed.
2:38 “Dermatologists recommend you wear sunscreen, even indoors … and now a word of our sponsor SunScreen Inc.”
(joking ofcourse, but would be funny 😁)
Who do you think pays for most of the research dermatologists do? It won't be a direct bribe in most cases, but researchers do get influenced by who pays for their work. That's why the good ones mention where their grants come from in their paper.
Very cool! What a simple, clear explanation of how the different types of UV damage occur! 🌸
My grandmother told me you can get burnt on a cloudy day. She had to get treated a number of times for skin cancer. She was blonde.
I used to get painful sunburns that hurt for days and the skin peeled a lot. I try to stay out of the sun but I can still get a burn. Since I read about a burn study done on vitamin E, I have started using it on my burns. I was surprised to not have the pain for days. Usually by the next day the pain was gone. And the peeling is minimal. It works better than anything else I've tried. It also works on burns I have gotten in the kitchen and when I worked with a blow torch. Got some really horrible burns that by the next day did not hurt and did not blister much. Healed fast too. Can't really see the scars. But you have to use it right away. You have to use the oil you squeeze out of the vitamin capsules. Any other vitamin E is too diluted. It helps if you not only put it on the burn but also put some on gauze and bandage that onto the burn for a few hours. Re apply as needed.
Whether you get sun exposure, when (at noon or after UV light is mostly gone), how long, etc, as well as your skin tones, determine whether you should wear sunscreens or not. Vitamin D deficiency is a huge problem, and supplements have NOT been shown to result in better health, just higher Vit-D levels. (They're different structurally from natural Vit-D produced by the body from ultraviolet exposure). Some people don't use enough sunscreen while others use way too much.
Can reptiles have fevers despite not being able to regulate their body temperature?
No. Republicans are incapable of fighting infection with fever.
Have you tried more cowbell?
No. Fevers are not caused by disease but as a reaction by the body attempting to fight the disease. Which means it is the body regulating temperature, and, as you know, reptiles can't do that. Interestingly, though, there is evidence that reptiles seek out sources of external heat when they're sick, essentially doing the same thing.
@@cordongrouch9323 lol :-)
@@eddierayvanlynch6133 More cowbell should do it.
Can you please do a video on the importance of vitamin D synthesis and how effective it is at preventing disease? Because that’s a good reason to *avoid* sunscreen like our species did for it’s entire existence until a few decades ago.
Personally, as someone that is white as a ghost, I think we might be going a bit overboard if we are starting to apply sunscreen indoors. I agree if you happen to be suffering from sunburns or such effects. But it seems like we are going a bit insane here with very minor risks. Here is a thing that might scare people a bit. But I think is important to understand. Your lifestyle effect your chance of getting cancer. But a lot of it is still just random. So it is better to focus on the lifestyle choices that has great effect on your health than the minor ones. Since a lot of those minor ones will not really have a greater impact on you then random cellular mutation that is pretty much impossible to avoid. Therefore, I think we should put more effort in to finding treatments for cancer, since it will be enviable. And the longer people live, the great chance there will be. Ageing itself will be the greatest contributor to cancer. Preventive measures can not be the only thing we focus on. But detection and treatment is equally if not more important.
But do wear sunscreen outside and do not smoke. Like I said. There are high-risk factors you should avoid. It is the minute things you do not have to stress about.
Totally agree
Omg I could hug, I have ocd this is what I needed to hear
@@hotshotluckyman12345 Good to hear. To worry about all minor things can be as bad as not caring about the major things. So I am glad my words put your mind at ease.
Sunlight is important for stimulating many processes in the human body. As is, we receive low amounts of important Sunlight through our indoor lifestyles. Our regular window glass blocks out some of the important visible and especially invisible wavelengths, solar films and other coatings can further reduce the passage of these wavelengths. Similarly, sunscreen blocks out some of the important wavelengths and in doing so prevents the stimulation of some important processes in the skin. For example, our skin needs specific wavelengths of Sunlight to produce “Vitamin D”, a deficit of Vitamin D is partially responsible for many modern diseases. If we block these wavelengths out from reaching our skin, with windows, sunscreen, solar films and other coatings, we risk interfering with some of the important processes in our skin.
*Bless this thumbnail.*
I recently got new windows. Double pane, Low E, Smart Sun, Anderson windows. Even though I'm in a cold climate where some people want to let some warmth from the sun in during winter, I wanted to block all the sun.
I kid you not, stand in front of the old windows, feel the heat from the sun beating in and heating everything up. Stand in front of new windows, feel nothing, I love it.
Double pain windows, ouch. 😂
@@veryberry39 haha, it was a pain the wallet. missed that typo, 😛 fixed it.
So far, worth every penny though
Three pane windows are the new norm.
@@Buciasda33 I did consider getting triple pane, but I couldn't afford it.
From what I've read, low e coatings block about 95% of UV, so you've basically got a sunscreen built in. And I believe it blocks both UV-A and UV-B.
A brilliant stratagem by the sunscreen creams manufacturers : "Let's say that everyone must be covered in our creams 24/7, for the rest of their lives !!! We'll make billions !!!"
Mosto mofern modern windows have UV blockers to prevent the UV light passing through the glass Which is why sunlight through windows is not recomended for reptile care.
Should repost this spring/summer.
I'm convinced you read my thoughts. I was just womdering yesterday morning if I could get a tan through my window. The sun makes me so warm and sometimes hot in the morning. I wondered if I didn't have a blanket on if it could burn me if I stayed asleep.
If that applies to door auto glass it may explain the weirdest sunburn I ever had. Helping my sister move from Seattle back to San Diego one summer by driving the U-Haul for her I burned my upper left arm. It was two clear sunny days of driving south down I-5 with the windows up and A/C on with my arm resting on the door sill up against the glass. Growing up in SoCal I was no stranger to sun burns but this seemed different in the way it looked, felt, and healed. It actually left a discoloration in the damaged area that you can still see 40 years later. I wonder now if it was a deep tissue UV-A burn as opposed to a UV-B burn I was used to?
Imagine the kind of person that would wear sunscreen indoors
You can get sun burn while driving seriously no joke.
i don’t know who makes the thumbnails but i really appreciate them
I am sun sensitive (autoimmune) so I always do the UV/IR tint on every car I buy including the windshield. It makes a huge difference on long drives
I am of the Celtic racial type, with skin that Tans very little. Both myself and my brother have discovered many years ago that we do not get sunburn, so long as we do not wear sun glasses. I live at 800 meters on a property in Australia, which even at sea level has a UV level higher than the Sahara. I can work outside all day without any sun block lotion on exposed areas, I never use it. However, if I put on sunglasses I will be sun burnt in 10 minutes.
The worst sunburn I ever had was from sitting in the shade next to a pool by the glair.
I sunburned my eyes with glare from cement.
My best advice concerning windows is to switch to Linux
"Can You Get a Sunburn Behind a Window?" well this is a question no Aussie needs a video to learn the answer to lol Very common to have the right arm browner than left, due to it being closer to the window on the driver's side of a car & even with air con on & window closed, the browning & burning is still normal
We call it a driving tan! And just about all cars here these days have tinted windows, so clearly it is an issue.
Redhead and truck driver, came here first to say yes, before the video even starts. I'm in a constant state if mild sunburn, and I do use sun block
I have solar urticaria, a type of sun allergy. I have blackout curtains at home, but after a day at the office I had arms full of hives. I'm definitely a "canary in a colemine" so to speak, and will be applying sunscreen in the AM and at lunch on days I go to work!
I was in the hospital earlier this year and my bed was next to a window.. the answer is most definitely! I came home sunburned; natural redhead
I would literally find this unbelievable if not for the comments giving real world examples. I've driven to the Moon and back in terms of miles driven, and have never encountered this phenomenon. Its even hard to get a burn w the window open IME.
I did assume it was possible, but the reasons why are still surprising
I remember going on a long field trip in a school bus as a kid. I was next to the window. I got so sun burned that day.
Certainly HOME windows are pretty safe since the sun angle usually means it'll only shine in at low angles, so before 10am, or after 4pm in the summer, so the atmosphere is blocking a lot more radiation then, even without window glass to help. OTOH, it does make sense maybe all of our windows should be tinted if it helps block unwanted frequencies.
Well that greatly depends on your home and neighbourhood, right? Our living room gets sunlight most of the day, including the middle of the day. So I suppose I should be more careful... But wearing sunscreen indoors is just taking it too far for me now. I reserve the right to change my mind in the future, though 😉
If the UV-reactive lenses in my glasses don't darken behind the window, is that an indicator that UV-a is being blocked? Or do reactive glass treatments only work on UV-b?
According to wikipedia and mentalfloss, it is UVA that causes the lenses to darken.
My neighbours baby got a heavy sunburn through the window glass a vew years ago.and i had a colourful sofa exposed to sunlight through the window .after one summer the colours already looked faded and bleached!
I'm from Norway, and I doubt I can get sunburned through a window during autumn months.
So what's the healthiest way to get tanned without increasing the risk for cancer or damaging it with UV?
Seeing the "style evolution" of Michael makes me click in most of the videos he is in.
Or... Idk, don't stay in front of a window for hours?
Unless your office/cubicle is right on a window and you can't possibly move your desk to be away from direct sun, you don't need to wear that all day long.
Looking at long haul truckers--the left side of their face often looks 20 years older than the right.
pro tip: north facing window.
@@sophierobinson2738 them truckers you know probably got bad genes. The ones I know don't crack...
Me : *applies sunscreen to windows just to be safe*
As an Australian who drives in cars with tinted windows, I can say from years of experience that it is absolutely possible to be burnt from behind a window, especially on roadtrips. We even call it the driving tan (the one arm on the outer driver's side).
Wear sunscreen every day even if I don’t walk out my front door. Live in FL. I haf my transitions glasses in the bathroom when full sun was coming in the window…that sold me on sunscreen inside every day!
Don't be afraid to get the sun outside. Good studies correlated not taking sun outside with more deathly skin cancer. Being afraid of the sun is a very bad habit. Don't be afraid to get a few moles
Sunscreen indoors now🤷🏾♂️? Thank (litteral) God the sun kisses me and mine 🙏🏾.
Which form of UV creates vitamin D when it hits our skin?
Your skin requires UVB to create vitamin D. UVA passes through glass, but UVB does not. Sunlight that passes through window glass does not help you make vitamin D at all.
@@ErasmusCrowley Thank you!
Meanwhile me a pacific islander: you guys get sunburn?
One question that I could not find online.
Do UV light reflect on the floor, walls and such? So could I be burned from indirect sun light?
why would it be different to reflecting off the ground or water? Of course they do, but levels are lower indoors, to the point you may struggle to notice any reflections. Just distance away from the glass will generally be enough to stop burning, cause they don't travel far indoors
@@mehere8038 It would be different because heterogeneous materials, like the pavement and walls, absorbs most wavelengths that hit them, what we see to be their color are the wave lengths that did not get absorbed.
So, do those materials absorbs or reflects UV rays?
@@ShapeDoppelganger given every outdoor material, from pavement to roads to grass to sand to snow to water reflect UVB rays, what do you think?
@@mehere8038 What do I think? That was my question, so, were is the source of that quote?
@@ShapeDoppelganger troll
What about Vitamin D? We also need sunlight to get that, and I heard that using sunblock or sunbathing through a window gets in the way of producing that vitamin... So what would be the optimal way to balance the need for vitamin D and the risk of skin cancer?
I guess you have to resort to supplements if you want to avoid sun exposure.
Don't be afraid to get the sun outside. UVB are important. Good studies correlated not taking sun with more deathly skin cancer rates. Being afraid of the sun is a very bad habit. Don't be afraid to get a few moles
how about blinds and shades, does UV-A pass thru those?
I heard yellow tint glasses help a lot to block UV Ray's.
So light tint on car windows can be a good thing? At least properly manufactured ones.
Not if you're in the shade inside. Its easy if you're in the house to get out of direct sunlight and still look outside. But my understanding for cars is that the front window blocks uva and uvb but the side windows typically block only uvb. I don't know for sure though.
Yes, family had greenhouses at our florist shop and we always got sunburned if we stayed in them during the summer.
Ha ha, this is how I got mildly sunburned in Wales, indoors, sitting all day in a glass-roofed reading room on an extremely rare sunny day.
I always just assumed 'yes, of course', because sunbeds are made of glass lamps...
Watched the video to make sure they were keeping it straight--the worst sunburn I've ever gotten was through a car window!
Car windscreens don't really pass much if any UV light, something I discovered when I tried using photochromic glasses to drive. The lenses require UV to darken.
This title: tell me you’re not an Aussie without saying you’re not an Aussie
But what if you are in a shaded part indoors? The sun will be high in the sky when it's strongest so the rays will fall close to the window and not reach too far inwards. Maybe instead of sun protection you can simply sit away from the window?
How bouncy is UV A? Can you use shades and indirect light to reduce to negligable levels and still have enough to work , read etc with.
Yep, ran into this with a car I bought several years ago. None of the windows had UV film and my left arm start to tan. Getting a UV tinted film installed on everything but the windshield fixed the issue.
I have to drive during my day job, is there a specific solar film I can use for my side window an windscreen?
You might consider driving gloves as well?
The best would be the same as the windscreen, PVB - polyvinyl butyral. The sunlight control films tend to cut the visible light as well.
Can you get enough sunlight through windows to prevent myopia? I see many people asked and answered about vitamin D production from the sun through windows; Doesn't sunlight exposure help reduce the changes of developing nearsightedness?
don't need to watch the video, as a truck driver i can confirm that yes my arm got sunburn
As someone who deals with a lupus-induced UV allergy, it's important to wear sun protection even driving your car and such!
maybe try an antihistamine, not an end all solution but helps
I have a new found respect for sunlight coming through glass lol didn’t realize it worked that way
So what type of UV light do LEDs and UV light sources such as torches emit?
Let's take a moment to appreciate the thumbnail
Awwww he gave the caterpillar on his chin a haircut. 😌
Living in Phoenix, I now feel better having putting foil up over my windows to save on my electric bill lol
If your home was built or remodeled anytime recently it likely has coatings on the windows to block both uv an ir wavelengths
No way, I do this too!
Aluminum foooilll, that kind of wrap is just the best...
...to keep your produce nice and fresh...
Time to buy some stick on UVA blocking film. Would be much more convenient for me personally than sunscreen all the time.
Thanks for the info Scishow! Have a great day eh :)
HAIRCUT!
It looks good. :)
Airplane windows are usually made of some sort of plastic not glass so they don't block UV
Good grief. Sunscreen indoors? Yeah hard pass on that one thanks.
Well. That was a surprise.
I would be interested in seeing a video about how exactly sunscreen works.
Check out the channel Lab Muffin Beauty Science, she is a PhD chemist and has lots of videos about sunscreen.
Does black window glass block UVA?????
I've had my transitions lenses darken a bit sitting inside a big window. Not as much as outside but still noticeable.
I am allergic to UV light and still have reactions indoors if in a room with sunlight coming through closed windows. So yeah, UV light gets through. I keep the curtains closed in the room in which I spend most of my time so I don’t have to wear sunscreen all the time. I’d much rather be in a dark room than wear sunscreen.
Why not apply a uv blocking film on the windows?
@@marccharbonneau1114 it’s one of those ‘long story’ things.