For Your Health, Go Sit in the SUN..

For Your Health, Go Sit in the SUN..

It’s officially fall.

For us in the northern hemisphere, Earth has started its tilt AWAY from the Sun.

BAD.

Well, not so bad but that does mean our time of sun exposure is declining each day.

What gives?

Frigid nights, wind chills and sobs each morning I awake?

No, silly.

Well, if honest it might mean some of those things, but what I’m most concerned about is what that will do to my Vitamin D intake?

Vitamin D deficiency is associated with low bone mass and osteoporosis because Vitamin D is needed to absorb calcium from the diet. Low levels of vitamin D have also been linked with poor muscle strength (What will I do to be prepared for Emily Buck’s boot camp each morning?) and other chronic conditions.

Vitamin D not only helps our bodies absorb calcium for strong bones, new research suggests it may also help protect against chronic diseases such as cancer, type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and autoimmune diseases. Wow.

But what if anything might this have to do with the rapidly declining amount of SUNLIGHT we are experiencing?

Many adults are deficient in the amount of Vitamin D they need. Why? Because (crazy I know) it doesn’t seem we can get enough from food. Vitamin D is most easily acquired through exposure to sunlight and multivitamins.

If you live in the southern U.S., try spending 15 minutes a few times a week with no sunscreen.

Oh, btw it’s also very hard to overdose on Vitamin D, unless you really are into taking in abnormally large amounts of cod liver oil.

Yum.

Okay. To be at optimum health, go spend a few minutes in the sun today.

That’s an order. Because I care. (a little. I really do.)