Turbocharge Your Health: The Surprising Benefits of Vitamin D
If you don’t get enough vitamin D in your system, you may find that you have much bigger problems than an unnaturally pale complexion. According to recent studies conducted by the Endocrine Society for their Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, people with lower levels of vitamin D are far more likely to suffer from diabetes, regardless of their BMI.
Vitamin D has a number of incredibly important functions to carry out within your body. Perhaps the most important ones include regulating the way that your body absorbs phosphorous and calcium, facilitating a healthy immune system. Vitamin D assists with maintaining bone density, and preserving the health of your muscles, so you’re not just fit ? you’re fit and healthy.
When exposed to sunlight, the human body naturally produces vitamin D, however problems can start to arise if we’re spending too much time indoors ? even if that time is spent pounding the treadmill. Today, there may be approximately 1 billion people across the world who are struggling with vitamin D deficiency. So what are the benefits of getting your daily dose?
1. Fights Diseases
In addition to its numerous primary benefits, scientific research suggests that vitamin D may also be useful in fighting back against disease. It can reduce your risk of suffering from multiple sclerosis, decrease the chances of developing heart disease, and reduce your likelihood of catching the flu. A study in Massachusetts and Colorado found that individuals with less vitamin D in their blood stream had a 30% greater chance of recent infection.
2. Improved Concentration and Mental Acuity
You might find that over time, you become progressively more sluggish and forgetful. However, according to various resources, vitamin D could be the solution to overcoming this. Researchers conducted blood tests on European men and found that those with higher levels of vitamin D experienced an improved memory function and better capabilities to process information than those who received too little of the sunshine vitamin.
3. A Healthier Heart
If you find that heart problems tend to run in your family, you might be interested to learn that recent studies found that individuals with low levels of vitamin D suffered from an 81% increase in potentially fatal heart disease. At the same time, those with low vitamin D had a 64% higher chance of suffering from heart attacks, and a 57% higher chance of early death.
4. Better Abs
Getting the right amount of vitamins and minerals in your diet may not seem like something that would have an impact on your waistline?but drinking plenty of vitamin D fortified juice can help you to reduce your abdominal fat. You still need to hit the gym as frequently as possible, but next time you’re at the grocery store, choose a juice that’s high in vitamin D for better fat-busting factors.
5. Better Hair Care
If you want a better chance of drawing in the ladies, then it’s a prudent idea to take care of your luscious locks. Vitamin D is capable of reviving the receptors in your hair follicles that die and lead to baldness. Although more research may need to be conducted, findings such as these could have a huge impact on the future of naked scalps.
How to Get More Vitamin D?
As we mentioned above, your body naturally produces Vitamin D when exposed to sunlight. Even a tiny bit of extra sun can go far, which just ten minutes of exposure to the mid-day sun equating to plenty of your daily vitamin D.
Aside from attaining your extra vitamin D through sunlight, you can always flip the switch to take some extra supplements and eat the right foods that possess vitamin D wherever possible. The National Institute of Health advises people to get more vitamin D from various sources if you want to ensure you are sustaining the highest vitamin D level.
Be cautious of lifestyle and environmental factors that can impact your ability to absorb enough vitamin D through the sun alone. These factors can include: working longer hours in the office, spending too much time indoors, and living in an area that has heavy amounts of pollution. Though the sun may be the best source of vitamin D that you can access, it can be helpful to track down alternatives if you live in a particularly cloudy area and/or you spend a lot of time inside and this is most people in the free world.
About Benjamin Roussey Benjamin is from Sacramento, CA. He has two master’s degrees and served four years in the US Navy. He enjoys sports, movies, reading, and current events when he is not working online.