Do you feel depressed or have anxiety issues? You may feel something is missing in life. Everything is at pace but still, you feel left out. You are not able to sleep properly and may even try sleeping pills. One of my clients, a college student was suffering from the same sort of symptoms and his sleep pattern was erratic. At first, his parents thought that it might be a study stress but his blood biochemistry reveals another story. The boy has insufficient levels of Vitamin D. I know you might be surprised how Vitamin D can cause this. But it’s true! Studies have shown that people suffering from mental issues have low levels of Vitamin D.

The very first thing which comes to your mind when you heard about Vitamin D is “Bone Health”. I hope everyone has read in their high school that this Vitamin is much needed for a strong and healthy skeleton. I too agree with the same but have you wondered if this hormone has countless other functions which you never imagine of? And of all these, its role in controlling mood and sleep is known to regulate two very important hormones, “Melatonin and Serotonin”.

Living in a country where we are blessed to have adequate sunlight throughout the year but are still deficient in this Vitamin. I think we all must give this a thought. Some people even question that is this real or a scam or cut-off for this Vitamin D has been set too high, and that’s why everyone has this issue. But several cross-sectional studies done in various part of the country has shown that about 70-90% of the Indian Population is deficient in this vitamin. There are myriad factors responsible for the low level of Vitamin D, like;

  • Dark skin tone in Indians.
  • Inadequacy exposure due to social or cultural taboos.
  • Increased use of Sun creams.
  • Increased Indoor duration. This factor has increased the prevalence, especially during the pandemic.
  • Obesity.
  • Kidney Diseases.
  • Less dietary intake of Vitamin D.
  • Phytate and phosphate in the diet deplete Vitamin D stores.
It’s high time that we should take it seriously because Vitamin D is not only related to skeletal but to many extraskeletal diseases. Daily sun exposure reduces this risk. Remember the time when we use to sit in sun during the winter, at that time, there were no such deficiencies but due to a sedentary lifestyle, especially those working in IT industries having more screen time, facing this problem more. It’s difficult to say how much time one has to spend in sunlight to have adequate Vitamin D as it depends on other factors also. However certain studies suggest that daily exposure to sunlight for 20-30 minutes helps maintain adequate levels. Apart from that, dietary sources of Vitamin D can also be added;
  • Milk and Dairy Products.
  • Oily fish- Salmon, Sardines, Mackere.l
  • Whole Eggs.
  • Mushroom.
  • Fortified foods like cereals.

To recapitulate, we do not always have to depend on pills for any issues. They will give you only symptomatic relief. It’s important to dig out the reason and then work on it. Many diseases are only because of our changing lifestyles, what globalization and urbanization have brought to us. Depression because of Vitamin D is just an example of this, there are many other problems that we are facing because of this. Simple lifestyle changes with the inclusion of a healthy and balanced diet will work wonders for you.