Sunshine On Your Shoulders

Were you aware that 80% to 90% of Vitamin D is obtained thought exposure to sunlight? Exposure of the hands, face, arms and legs to sunlight 2 or 3 times a week for about one half the time it would take to get a mild sunburn will produce enough Vitamin D.

How important is Vitamin D to you? Vitamin D is crucial for calcium absorption in your intestines. Sufficient vitamin D prevents prostrate cancer, ovarian cancer, depression, colon cancer, and schizophrenia. Osteoporosis is commonly caused by a deficiency of vitamin D. According to health care experts, 40% of the US population is vitamin D deficient. Unfortunately, the healing rays of natural sunlight can’t go through glass. So sitting on the couch in a sunny window may make you feel good but it won’t produce Vitamin D. If you drank ten large glasses of fortified Vitamin D milk a day, it would only give you the minimum requirements you would need. Also people with dark pigmented skin may need 20-30 times as much exposure to sunlight as fair skinned people to get the vitamin D requirement. It’s impossible for you to generate too much Vitamin D from sunlight exposure. Your body will only generate what it needs. Just six days of casual sunlight, without sunscreen, can make up forty-nine days of no sunlight exposure. During periods of sunlight, Vitamin D is stored in fatty fat and then released when sunlight is gone. Older people are at risk for Vitamin D deficiency. They are less likely to spend time in the sun. They also may not have enough D in their diet or may have trouble absorbing Vitamin D due to aging kidneys. As many as 40% of older people even in sunny climates don’t have enough of this vitamin in their system.

Does Vitamin D come in a supplement? Yes it does, however, the dosage should be regulated by your healthcare provider. If the dosage is too much some side effects could be: weakness, fatigue, sleepiness, headache, loss of appetite, dry mouth, metallic taste, nausea, and vomiting. Also excessive amounts can cause high levels of calcium in the blood. There can be an interaction with drugs you might be taking such as Diltrazen, Digoxin, Calcipotriene, and Verapamil. Fluid pills also interact with Vitamin D. Too much Vitamin D can cause an excess amount of calcium in the body which can cause kidney problems.

The Institute of Medicine recommends that people ages 1-70 take 600IU daily, 71years and older, 800 IU daily, pregnant women, 600 IU daily and infants 0-12 months, 400 IU daily. Taking Vitamin D for long periods of time in excess does of 4000 units per day is considered unsafe. This dosage may cause excessively high levels of calcium in the blood. However, much higher dosages are often needed for the short term treatment of vitamin D deficiency. This type of treatment is done often under the supervision of a doctor.

So you can see how important Vitamin D is to your body. All you have to do is sit in the sun for about 15 minutes a day to get the full benefits that are needed. Plus, tilting your face up into the sun does feel good now, doesn’t it?

By Linda Lee Ruzicka

Linda Lee Ruzicka lives in the mountains of Western PA , happily married and with her 8 cats and three dogs. She has been published in Twilight Times, Dark Krypt, Fables, Writing Village, June Cotner anthology, The Grit, Reminisce , the book, Haunted Encounters: Friends and Family. She also does freelances work for Beyond and Healthcarejobsite. You can read more of her blogs on Healthcarejobsite blog.