Sunburned? Try This Miracle Cure.

The experts say there's something we can do one hour after major sun exposure that will keep a horrible sunburn appearing.  This may come in handy this week.  Again.  

This little bit of magic doesn't reverse the damage that comes from the sun's UV rays, but researchers say this idea can help soothe the pain and it might even help skin cells with the healing process.

Taking vitamin D an hour after sun exposure is supposed to reduce inflammation, and it might even stimulate genes that repair the skin cells.

Foods like eggs and mushrooms are loaded with vitamin D, but when it comes to sunburns, there's more to it than just eating the right foods.  Taking between 50,000 and 200,000 IU of vitamin D is supposed to cut down on inflammation and help skin cells the most.  In the study, the people who took the highest doses of vitamin D an hour after sun exposure had the least amount of redness and experienced faster recovery.

I need to say that I'm no doctor, and reading about this stuff on the interweb does not make it true.  So please do your own research before you start drowning yourself in vitamin D!  But I am a mom, and our pediatrician has suggested vitamin D drops for the kids in the past, to help with immune systems and all sorts of other things.  So it must be pretty good for us.

We've got more extreme heat on the way this week in Boise, and that means a prime opportunity to test out this vitamin D thing.  Sunscreen prevents all of the pain and suffering in first place, but just in case Mama forgets to apply it after lathering up the kids, vitamin D might be worth a try.  Triple digits again by Thursday!