evidence: Vitamin D is a vitamin involved in maintaining healthy bone strength. One way you can get this vitamin is exposure to ultraviolet light from the sun. However, you don’t need much time in the sun to reap the benefits. Moeller recommends only 15 minutes of sun exposure to provide all the vitamin D you need. [...] Moeller says the worst consequence of long-term exposure to the sun is the development of skin cancer. Because the sun damage to the skin develops over years, the older you are, the greater the risk of developing skin cancer. After years of exposure to the sunlight, providers look for three common types of skin cancer (in order of how often they occur): basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma and malignant melanoma. [...] In the United States, research shows more than 400,000 cases of skin cancer each year are attributed to indoor tanning. Studies have shown the risk of malignant melanoma is much higher in people who use tanning beds.