Facemasks have become the new normal, but are you doing everything you can to stay healthy? Now that the world is starting to open back up, you may have some anxiety about what you can do to help protect you and your family from contracting the novel SARS-CoV-2 virus.
A recent discovery made it clear that supplementing Vitamin D could help stave off this unwanted virus. How do you know if you need to supplement this essential vitamin? Let’s dive into the function of Vitamin D in the body. Vitamin D is a steroid hormone that your body needs to function optimally. It’s generated in skin by UVB rays that come from the sun hitting your skin.
The catch is that you have to absorb the right amount of sun and have it actually penetrate the skin to have this vitamin do it’s thing in your body. Vitamin D has many other important functions, but most importantly for covid-19, is how it acts on your immune system.
Here’s an excerpt from the renowned Dr. Rhonda Patrick investigating and involved in the research during this pandemic:
“Since vitamin D insufficiency is widespread (and perhaps exacerbated in quarantine conditions, due to limited sunlight exposure), supplemental vitamin D might be a viable means to increase vitamin D to sufficient levels.
Maintaining a healthy vitamin D status, an imminently solvable but often ignored problem, may turn out to be an important factor in protecting against susceptibility to lung injury in COVID-19.” (FoundMyFitness, Dr. Rhonda Patrick https://www.foundmyfitness.com/episodes/vitamin-d-covid-19)
Most people have insufficient levels because we wear clothes, work inside all day and wear sunscreen to protect our skin. This will block your absorption of UVB rays making you susceptible to Vitamin D insufficiency. In fact, 70% in the US have this insufficiency, and 29% of the US are actually deficient. Not to mention if you live in the Northern latitude states, above the 37th parallel, the risk of deficiency increases causing a myriad of other health issues aside from immune function.
So what can you do? Daily supplements of Vitamin D for you and your family have been shown to greatly reduce the risk for acute respiratory tract infections.
If increasing your immune defense system doesn’t turn you on, did you know that Vitamin D wards off depression? Depression rates have increased an astounding 65% since the beginning of the pandemic. With most of us quarantining and forced to stay inside, I’m sure you can see how easily this can happen. If you’re not into supplements, think about adding salmon in your diet a few times a week, a food extremely rich in Vitamin D. Stay healthy and happy, folks!
Looking for more ways to stay healthy? Come check out all of our healthy and wellness options we have at Crusher!