All You Need to Know About Vitamin D
Looking for a way to improve your memory? Did you know Vitamin D is key to mental alertness and retaining information? It’s actually a key player in many of your most essential daily functions.
Here is everything you need to know about Vitamin D, including how to get it, how much you need, and all of its health-boosting benefits. The more we understand how vital this vitamin is to our lives, the easier our lives will be.
Here’s to making life easier; we are all about making your daily life better!
What Vitamin D Does For You
First of all is the big one. Vitamin D lowers your risk for cancer. That alone is a great reason to keep it close and get it into your body regularly.
But that’s only the beginning. You’re probably going to want to go directly to get yourself some Vitamin D after this article, so don’t say we didn’t warn you.
Vitamin D is a source of energy. That’s something we all seem to be in constant need of in this fast-paced society! It’s exciting to experience your energy go up when you go outside everyday and get that sunshine. It also boosts your mood and fights depression, as well as aids in lowering painful inflammation and improving sleep.
It’s an essential part of normal immune system function and fighting infections as well as diseases .It helps your lungs, nervous system, cardiovascular health, and, as we mentioned before, your brain functions. As you can see, Vitamin D could be the most important vitamin of all.
Vitamin D is essential to processing calcium for the development and maintenance of strong bones, nails, and healthy hair. Men’s Journal states that it even contributes to your leaner abs too!
Sources of Vitamin D
One of the most abundant sources of Vitamin D is good old sunshine. And it’s absolutely free! The sun itself doesn’t produce Vitamin D, but exposure to sunlight triggers the body to release it. Spending 5-15 minutes a few times a week out in the sun is the minimum recommended daily exposure. Even if it’s cold out, try your best to get outside; gray skies still have lots of natural rays to offer.
You can easily find food fortified with vitamin D, like orange juice, soy milk, almond milk, and other dairy replacements. It’s naturally occurring in salmon and tuna and other fatty fish like halibut and trout as well. You can get it from egg yolks and cheese, and it’s also naturally occurring in mushrooms.
How Much To Get
Many people take Vitamin D in supplement form. The best type is a raw form, such as that made by Garden of Life. The daily dosage recommendation is still under debate. Some studies suggest 400-800 IU daily, while other studies recommend higher dosages. Regardless, you wouldn’t want to take more than 4000 IU daily. That being said, before you start taking Vitamin D, talk to your doctor about a dosage that is right for your unique body chemistry and needs.
Many adults take 2000 IU daily if they have low daily sun exposure. Children should take a lower dosage and elderly people should take a higher dosage. People with darker skin tones require more exposure to the sun for proper levels of Vitamin D.
Vitamin D breaks down quickly, which is why we need it daily. If you got sun on Sunday, it’s not going to last you the rest of the week, capiche? Many studies now report that the global population is Vitamin D deficient. This is tragic considering it truly makes your body run so much better and sunlight is absolutely free.
Symptoms of Deficiency
Fatigue, high blood pressure, hypertension, muscle pain, depression, a weak immune system, and brittle bones are some of the warning signs of a Vitamin D deficiency. Some of the less obvious symptoms include nausea, vomiting, constipation, confusion, frequent urination, weight loss, loss of appetite, or itching.
More seriously, you could end up with diabetes, cancer, Alzheimer’s, dementia, and heart disease. Vitamin D deficiency can also lead to multiple sclerosis. No fun right? This is why they say to have some fun in the sun! It’s much more important than getting a tan, it’s about your entire well being.
Other factors that could make you deficient in Vitamin D include gastrointestinal diseases such as Crohn’s, Celiac, or kidney and liver disease (all of which could restrict Vitamin D absorption).
Conclusion
Vitamin D is a secret power. It can help us be mentally on our game, keep the flu away and our bones from fracturing. Maybe those sun worshipers were onto something much bigger than we initially thought! If you’re not getting adequate amounts of sunshine, make it your mission.
And don’t keep this information a secret either. Just think of all the heart disease, low energy, and depression that causes people to have high medical bills, use unhealthy energy drinks, and even get on dangerously addictive prescriptions. This Vitamin D thing may be a key part of improving the health of an entire generation.
With how much time we spend inside working our fancy desk jobs, and with how much time we dine inside, drive and sleep, it really leaves little time for something so simple as sunshine, And yet, it does seem like something invaluable to our species.
In all seriousness, isn’t it inspiring and incredible that our bodies are so intelligent that they will naturally produce a substance that can keep us healthy, just from the energy of the sun on our skin?
Related Article: Supplements 101: Do You Need Them?
