I was watching Sunrise whilst putting in a bit of time on the treadmill this morning and it highlighted a recent news article that I heard over the weekend but hadn’t really thought about. They had an expert talking about the importance of getting sunshine on a regular basis to prevent Vitamin D deficiency. They mentioned people most at risk are those who are constantly covered up (perhaps due to cultural or religious reasons) and the long-term sick, or the aged who stay indoors all the time.
As soon as they said that last one I immediately thought of us in the VA industry. How many of us are inside day after day, not venturing out? The health of a VA has been mentioned via various forums and we’ve often covered the increase of weight, the bad eating habits, lack of exercise (hence the reason for a treadmill at home) but we’ve not touched on this aspect at all.
I had to do a mental think about how much natural daylight I go out in at the moment. The report showed for the eastern side of Australia (sorry, it didn’t cover the other areas) that between May – August we should get 2-3 hours a week and in the summer only 7-8 minutes per day – and not at the hottest part of the day. We are, after all, the skin cancer capital of the world so it’s important to protect our skin but we also need that balance of fresh air and natural sunlight on our skin.
I do go out every day to pick up the mail from the post office, run errands, and so on so I’m out there for at least a half hour daily, sometimes longer, but now I’m conscious of the Vitamin D deficiency problem I’ll make a conscious effort of getting outside more during the day too, particularly if there is some sunshine.  We all need a break from our computers and home offices anyway so this is a good reason to make sure I do that. KMT
Angela Wills says
Great post Kathie! I am dying to get a laptop so that I can go outside and work in the sunshine during the summer.
It is going to be one of my big rewards for reaching a target income goal…. if not this year by next summer I’ll defintely be less Vitamin D deficient 🙂
Alister Cameron // Blogologist says
Kathie,
As part of recovering from a very long illness my wife MUST bring her Vitamin D to an all-time low… it stimulates the production of a bad hormone that is contributing to a diseased immune system. Anyway…
Whenever outside she must rug up, and wear super-strong sunglasses that block out UV, infra-red, and all other kinds of “light” frequencies… just enough to see where she’s going.
Our place is also supposed to have the curtains drawn etc but the rest of us can’t handle it… so we’re doing the best we can.
Nuts!
-Alister
Dr Charles Parker: CorePsych says
Kathie,
Just a quick note to tell you that my own experience using VAs has been so helpful! I appreciate as well your comments over on Dawud Miracle’s site, and in looking around over here thot you might be interested in even more on Vit D, how you can measure it, how it appears clinically.
Even in AU I am sure some of you suffer with Seasonal Affective Disorder, one of the most common presentations of D3 deficiency… yes, if you can’t get out in that great AU sun, only supplement with D3. More here:
http://www.corepsychblog.com/2007/02/depression_and__1.html
Thanks, hope this is helpful for your excellent teams.
Chuck