This isn’t just an excuse to put a topless holiday snap on social media, do you know the importance of vitamin D for your body and mind?
Vitamin D is a ‘fat soluble vitamin’. It is used by your body for bone development and increases our ability to absorb magnesium and phosphate.
When talking about optimal health and wellbeing, I would always talk about getting enough Vitamin D (sunshine). It is such a powerful tool in positive mental health and a positive attitude.
There is said to be about 1 billion people who have vitamin D deficiency and that mainly comes people’s lifestyle, but can be influenced by factors such as air pollution and work shift patterns.
The association between depressive disorders and vitamin D deficiency from a lack of sun exposure is well established and was first noted 2000 years ago. Awareness in vitamin D has grown exponentially over the last 15 years. New mechanisms and diseases have that have been associated with deficiency of sunlight include cancer, CV diseases and diabetes.
Now, if you’re feeling depressed I’m not advocating a holiday necessarily, but it’s certainly a factor to consider when you have depressive symptoms. I personally find I have a much more positive mindset and find a big increase in motivation when;
the weather is bright and sunny and
I am in it.
So for me, I will do whatever I can to be in the sun, whether that is training with a client outside, taking my class outside or sitting working outside.
WHAT IF YOU CAN’T GET ENOUGH?
There are supplements to help you regulate your vitamin D levels, in the form of Vitamin D tablets. A healthy circulating level of vitamin D is greater than 30ng/ml*.
*this will help people determine how many ‘IUs’ they’ll need to take when supplementing vitamin D - an ‘IU’ being an international unit. ng/ml stands for nanolitres per millilitre.
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