Low Vitamin D May Be Contributing to Your Fatigue
By
- Modern Holistic Health
It’s summer but did you know that you can still be low in your vitamin D? And did you know that low vitamin D contributes to fatigue and feeling low on energy?
Clinically we see that over 90% of our clients are low in their vitamin D. Low levels of vitamin D are common and it’s not just because you may not be getting enough sun. Before we talk about why your vitamin D may also be low let’s learn a little more about what vitamin D is and what our body needs it for.
Vit D (really a ‘prohormone’ and not a vitamin at all) converts into a hormone and is responsible for many important functions in the body such as:
- Directing calcium into your bones and teeth so it doesn’t build up in your arteries
- Regulating blood pressure
- Preventing hormonal hot flashes
- Regulating and supporting the immune system so we don’t get sick often
- Supporting gut function
- Prevents calcium loss
- Keeps our bones strong
- Prevents fatigue and depression
- Helps prevent inflammation and heart disease …and so much more!
As I mentioned above, about 90% of our patients (more like 95%) are bottomed out on their vitamin D levels. There are a few variables to consider when trying to figure out why.
Are you using sunscreen? What color is your skin? Where on the latitude line do you live? Do you have a mutation/SNP in your VDRtaq Gene?
Humans synthesize vitamin D when (ultaviolet light) specifically UVB from the sun reacts with cholesterol in our skin to make cholecalciferol (D3). Full body exposure to UVB rays which are predominant between 10am – 2pm can potentially produce a maximum equivalent of about 10,000 IU of vitamin D. It’s also important to understand that cutaneous (skin) production of vitamin D is a self-limiting action.
In white skin, midsummer, midday vitamin D synthesis maxes out after 20 minutes. Since there is no net increase in production after that time, you can slap on the sunscreen (a ‘clean’ one of course!) after you got your dose of Vit D.
Darker skin requires longer exposure to achieve the same yield, so if you have olive, brown, black or already tanned white skin, don’t be too hasty with the SPF lotion.
Another consideration is where you live. Beyond the 40th parallel, north or south, the sun is too weak to convert any vitamin D in the winter, and summer production is blunted as well. In North America, that encompasses the northern half of the United States and all of Canada.
Don’t forget if you take high doses of Vit D3 you should take a Vit K complex (specifically K2 preferably with the MK-4 and/or MK-7 isoforms) as K2 is like a traffic cop in the blood directing the calcium to go into the bones and teeth where it should be otherwise if it doesn’t know where to go it may build up on your arteries! I put all our clients on a combo of Vit D/K rather than just vitamin D by itself. An interesting book is The K2 and the Calcium Paradox – it’s full of amazing information!
I take 10,000 IU per day because believe it or not (as much as I am outdoors) my vitamin D levels were ‘on the floor’. It turns out that I have a variant (mutation) in my VDR taq gene and THAT is why I was always low until I learned about my genetic predisposition and understood that I needed to take a vitamin D/K supplement for life.
If you don’t have a doctor who can order a simple vitamin D test for you, here is a link for you to order your own Vit D test from our lab partner, Ulta Labs for only $39, or reach out to our team at Modern Holistic Health.
If you are just wanting to keep it simple, you can just take a good pharmaceutical grade vitamin D/K supplement like what I give to my own clients. Here is our preferred vitamin D/K supplement > BioOne Sciences Vitamin D3 5000 + K2.
