Vitamin D is one of the most required vitamins for your body. Sun is the main and biggest source of vitamin d. But even though being the largest source of vitamin d, about 1 billion people don’t have access to it. Lack of vitamin d can cause weakness, fatigue and will eventually result in the loss of bone density. If you want to keep your muscles, bones healthy for long you must intake a sufficient amount of vitamin d. There are many signs that indicate the lack of vitamin d in you. And the earlier you know, the better.
Though vitamin d deficiency is very common, in both genders and most of the age groups suffer from it, its awareness isn’t that much. It’s so because of two reasons, prior is their lack of awareness, followed by symptoms being so insecure, that one can hardly detect if it’s really due to deficiency of vitamin d or just mere infection. There are many natural as well as artificial sources of vitamin d like cheese, egg yolks, mushrooms, fatty fish. If you are not getting enough sunlight in a day, then yes, you are at high risk of vitamin d deficiency. It isn’t like it cannot be fixed, with a proper diet and getting exposed to the sun can bring a lot of changes, you just have to know when is the best time.
Here are some common signs that indicate vitamin D deficiency:
Anxiety and depression:
Melatonin is a body chemical produced when the body interacts with sunlight, the more exposure of skin to sunlight, results in more production of melatonin. Serotonin is another chemical produced by melatonin in our body. Simply saying production of serotonin in the body is directly proportional to the production of melatonin in the body. More exposure of the body to the sun means more melatonin thus more serotonin.
Too little serotonin in the body leads one to feel depressed, anxious, irritable.
Deficiency of Vitamin D can lead to bone pain:
All of us have heard about rickets right or say soft or weak bones in kids if they lack vitamin d or exposure to sunlight. Vitamin D is the best cure for ‘rickets’, As Vitamin D absorbs phosphorus and calcium resulting in strengthening and building bones. That means a deficiency of Vitamin D can cause bone pain.
Chronic Muscle Pain:
This one is less heard and doesn’t get detected that this is happening due to lack of Vitamin D. This can be misunderstood by many other things. So if you also feel chronic muscle pain and assume other factors for that first thing first get your Vitamin test done. It can be done by blood test at your nearest pathology. These tests are of two types that can confirm your deficiency of Vitamin D but the most common to detect deficiency of Vitamin D is 25-hydroxyvitamin D, known as 25(OH)D for short.
Hair Loss:
You will say that isn’t correct, yes hair fall does have several reasons. The major one is the lack of nutrition in daily life. But hair fall can also happen due to lack of Vitamin D. There can be two types when it is due to lack of Vitamin D-one is female pattern hair loss, which leads to an overall thinning of scalp There are two types of hair loss associated with low vitamin D levels — first is female pattern hair loss. While the other causes hair loss all over the body. So before going crazy over chemical products, get proper sunlight mate.
Degrading immune function:
Vitamin D plays an important role in keeping your immune system strong and intact. We all know how horrifying a weak immune system can be, it became worse after the pandemic. A strong immune system fights better against bacteria and viruses entering our body causing illness. It directly involves the cells that are majorly responsible for fighting against infection.
A poor immune system results in an increased risk of infections and illness. When your immune function is strong your body reacts positively to every action that occurs to the body.
Low Vitamin D can result in fatigue and constant tiredness:
Do you also feel tired all the time? Constant feeling of fatigue?
These are the signs of lack of Vitamin D. It affects overall life way too much. But it’s not like it can not be cured, just by following a few diets and living habits you can recover the deficiency of vitamin D.
Obesity:
Being obese or overweight increases your risk of vitamin D deficiency by 35% as per 23 recent studies. The exposure to sun and diet may be similar for both obese and non-obese people. Meanwhile, after 24 hours the content of Vitamin D in an obese person’s blood was 57% lesser. Thus the normal exposure of skin to sun or diet does not work the same in an obese or overweight person.
Can deficiency of vitamin D be cured?
It’s always better to treat any deficiency at its earliest stage and tackle it naturally. Same here your Vitamin D in your blood can be increased with some Vitamin D-rich food like mushrooms, fortified soy milk, fortified cereals. Or by more exposure of your skin to the sun.
And it can also be kept up to mark by taking vitamin D supplements.
These three are the main mantras of increasing the level of Vitamin D in your blood. Still, supplements should never be your priority. Keep track of your activities and if you face any of the above efficiency. If yes, get your blood test done to detect deficiency of Vitamin D. And start with vitamin D-rich food and exposure to the sun.
