HORMONE D…WELL THAT SOUNDS WEIRD
Shocker…Vitamin D is a hormone, not a vitamin. Hormones are substances that interact with target cells to signal the cell’s activity to change. (Most likely you hear “hormones” and think back to your days of “raging hormones” and incessant dreams of sex.) So anyway, this hormone-not-a-vitamin has been found to have far-reaching effects across body systems, from bones, cardiovascular, endocrine, neural function, immune health, and a whole lot more. “Staggeringly crucial” would be a good way to describe it. Strange thing is that Vitamin D is actually pretty useless at first and has to go through all kinds of technical stuff you probably wouldn’t care about. So gratefully, we’ll skip all that and move on.
THE BIG “D”
First thing that comes to mind are bones, right? Well as we mentioned above, Vitamin D (which is what we’ll call it from here) does a boatload more for the body. From serious illnesses-heart, cancer and MS, to illnesses much lower on the horrible scale like carpal tunnel, sleep apnea and horrors…erectile dysfunction. If you can think of it, in one way or another, D does a lot for a lot that keeps you going.
JUST HOW SOAKED SHOULD YOU SOAK UP THOSE RAYS?
Vitamin D is the only vitamin you can make from the sun. Maybe that’s why it’s often referred to as the “sunshine vitamin”. While the sun does not provide Vitamin D directly, standing in the ultraviolet rays of it for a couple of minutes every day (worshippers, beware, though…) helps your body meet some of its needs for the vitamin.
The amount of vitamin D made by exposure to sunlight varies from person to person. Some factors that affect vitamin D synthesis include amount of skin exposed to direct sunlight, time spent outdoors in the sun and presence of clouds, smog, haze and dust that block sunlight. Vitamin D production also decreases with age, application of sunscreen and presence of melanin in people with dark skin. Additionally, living in northern geographical locations may reduce your sun exposure, thereby decreasing the amount of vitamin D your body produces. If you live in the tropics you’re in better shape than most. But the further you get from the equator, the less of those must-have rays you get. And because the Earth rotates on a tilted axis, those rays are virtually non-existent in winter months at far northern or southern latitudes. At least two thirds of the US is at a latitude where Vitamin D production from the sun during winter is nearly impossible. The farther north you go, the more months of the year you’re not able to get those rays. Poor Alaska.
STUDIES IN HOPE
Studies of the effects of Vitamin D levels are constantly being conducted around the world and reported in highly respected medical journals. The results of three recent tests are game changers. JAMA (Journal of American Medical Association) shared a study which showed that elderly people with the lowest Vitamin D levels are three times more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease. Another study was done on autism. This was what is called a meta-analysis which is a combination off multiple studies and the strongest proof in Medical science. This combined study looked at the way Vitamin D is involved in brain function and found low levels of D can cause brain malfunction including malfunctions exhibited in autism. 8 of 11 of the multiple studies found children with autism have much lower vitamin D levels. This happening in random chance is like one in a million. And lastly, researchers evaluated Vitamin D status over a four-year period to determine if low Vitamin D levels are related to survival in breast cancer patients. They discovered the survival rate was significantly better in women with higher Vitamin D levels. No research is completely definitive, but it does present a brighter horizon.
VITAMIN D IS JUST ONE OF THE 50 TYPES OF HORMONES IN OUR BODIES. SO IF DEFICIENCES IN JUST THIS ONE CAN CAUSE SUCH PROBLEMS, IMAGINE IF ALL OF YOUR OTHER HORMONES ARE DEFICIENT. THIS WOULD CREATE A SIGNIFICANT HORMONAL IMBALANCE THAT COULD SIGNIFICANTLY THROW OFF YOUR WHOLE SYSTEM. YOU COULD REALLY BE SUFFERING. AND THAT IS THE ONE THING DR. STEPHEN A. GOLDSTEIN, M.D, F.A.C.S. AT DENVER HORMONE HEALTH WANTS HIS PATIENTS TO AVOID. ALL HE CARES ABOUT IS THEIR OVERALL GOOD HEALTH. WITH SIMPLE TESTS, HE DETERMINES YOUR HORMONE LEVELS AND CREATES A UNIQUE TREATMENT PLAN TO HELP YOU FEEL BETTER THAN EVER.
JUST CALL AND MAKE AN APPOINTMENT TODAY.
IT’S SOMETHING YOU DON’T HAVE TO HOPE WILL HELP.