Let sunlight enter your life

The essential light of your life to stay healthy

In our daily rigmarole, we all forget the essential light in our life. When I was young there was this cartoon character called “Little Miss Sunshine” and I aspired to be her as she was cheerful and full of smiles.

Have you ever noticed that the sun beside being associated with sunshine, is associated with words like bright, cheerful and cheery? The word sunny itself brings with it so much positivity. Exposure to the sunlight gives us Vitamin D.

The vitamin, which gets us in happy moods and ensures we have a smile on our faces. This Vitamin does not naturally form in our body, so it is of utmost importance to maintain good health to get enough Vitamin D circulating in your body.

The best and most direct way to absorb Vitamin D3 staying out in sunlight as it reacts with your body and gives you the required amount. Daily begin with five minutes under the sun then continue building it up to 15 minutes and then till 30 minutes daily. The best time to soak up your Vitamin D is in between 7am to 10 am or 2pm to 5pm it is strong but not too strong. (Season have to check)

However, always remember to eat some good fat to absorb Vitamin D as it is a fat-soluble vitamin. No matter how much time you spend basking in the sun without fat, the D3 cannot be absorbed so cook your food in fat. All our ancestors believed in having a meal, which has adequate amounts of fat supply to our body.

More often than not, this fat used to be Cow’s ghee. Speaking out of the first-hand experience, in my own centre when patients would have been on a low-fat diet their vitamin D would be insufficient and their hair and skin would have no lustre, their joints would ache as well and a lot of them would keep complaining of memory loss.

One should aim to have optimum levels of Vitamin D in their body. Having ideal quantities of Vitamin D in your body means prevention of various problems and conditions like calcium deficiency, thyroid malfunction, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, arthritis, autoimmune diseases, low immunity and it also prevents cancer cells from multiplying.

It is quite distressing to know that 75 per cent of the world’s population doesn’t know whether they have sufficient Vitamin D in their body. How can one be aware that their body is low on Vitamin D? Notice if your skin has become darker, you feel sadder and depressed lately, sort of a gloomy mood even on a brilliant day with a preference to stay indoors.

Your body might ache and pain and head become sweaty too. Low Vitamin D in elders can also be the cause of dementia and Alzheimer’s so it is imperative that we step out at least once a day and absorb up the Vitamin D.

Once you are aware of these symptoms, get a blood test done to check for levels of Vitamin D3 in your body. Even if you don’t have any symptom’s I would advise checking on D levels. If it is low even after taking the medication one should check it every six months.

A standard range between 50 -70 should be maintained, level 70 being best higher than 100 will be toxic for your body. Levels less than 30 mean high deficiency so one should consult their doctor immediately. Keep checking your Vitamin D as well as D3 levels every six months to stay at the top of your health.