How can Vitamin D3 help you to reduce the risk of depression?
Are you feeling motivated, anxious, and hopeless all day long? Are you feeling fatigued and have extreme headaches? These all are signs of depression! But, do you know what the reason behind it is? Well, there may be many reasons, but maybe it is connected to vitamin D3! So, keep reading this guide and explore all possible ways of reducing depression with the help of vitamin D3.
Depression and vitamin D3:
Many depressed people have been tested and found vitamin D deficiency in their bodies throughout the years. So, depending on this data, researchers have concluded that these two factors are related to each other.
Some other studies on this topic have mentioned postpartum depression, which happens due to a lack of vitamin D in women's bodies after pregnancy. After evaluating all things together, researchers have surmised that depression and vitamin D are connected. Therefore, if you are having vitamin, especially vitamin D3 deficiency in your body, you can face a wave of depression. However, regular intake of the right supplements and medicines can control the risk of depression.
How to know your health need vitamin D3- what are some symptoms?
Each deficiency starts with small symptoms. If your health is lacking vitamin D3 or any other essential components, it will be shown by your mental as well as physical health. Here are some common physical changes due to vitamin D3 deficiency are mentioned below. Check out whether you have any and contact a physician at your early convenience.
Some physical symptoms of vitamin D3 deficiency:
- Fatigue
- Bone pain and broken bone
- Muscle weakness, muscle cramps, and muscle pain
However, these symptoms are common and caused by many other reasons; make sure to look at your mental health. If you notice it has changed drastically throughout a few weeks or months, there must be vitamin D3 deficiency behind it.
Here are some effects of vitamin D3 deficiency on mental health and depression:
- Overwhelming emotion flow
- Sadness, sorrow, and excessive grief
- Helplessness and hopelessness
- Insomnia, excessive sleepiness, or hypersomnia
- Losing energy and interest easily in everyday activities
- Sudden weight loss or weight gain
- Lethargy
- Loss of appetite
- Forgetfulness
- Struggling in concentrating
- Back pain
- Headaches and heaviness
- Demotivated
- Loneliness
- Losing interest in sexual intercourse
- Thinking about suicide
How to increase vitamin D3 levels in your body and cope with depression?
If you are dealing with undesirable sorrow and gloom, your mental and physical health are suffering, and sobbing for help, and you should take steps to increase your vitamin D3 level in your body. Here are some options that will help you to increase the vitamin D3 in your body.
Spend time in sunlight:
Sunlight is the fundamental and natural source of Vitamin D. So, whenever you feel like nothing to do, extreme sorrow flow, anxieties, and other symptoms of depression, give yourself some open sunlight. It will make you positive, cheerful, and relaxed for the rest of the day. But, make sure to use some sort of sun protection lotion or sunscreen to reduce the risk of cancer due to UV rays.
Introduce vitamin D rich food into your diet:
People with depression tend to jump into junk food and even do not take food for long. Rather than helping you out of the situation, these unhealthy food habits impact your mental health even more. So, if you are dealing with depression, make sure to add foods with Vitamin D to the diet. Together, these will make a healthy diet, help you cope with depression, and give you healthy hair, skin, and nails.
Since not all foods are naturally rich in Vitamin D, you can add these few things to your regular diet.
- Consume fatty fish like Salmon, Tuna, Mackerel, Shrimps, Oyster, Sardine, etc.
- Eat mushrooms
- Have egg yolks
- Consume fortified foods like cow milk, ready-to-eat cereal, tofu, yogurt, orange juice, soy milk, almond milk, hemp milk
- Eat fish liver oil
You can also take limited dosages of vitamin D supplements.
Doctor's Advice:
“A lot of people are deficient (or low) in vitamin D, and a deficiency may increase your susceptibility to infection. Get outside for fresh air and sunshine, but I also recommend taking a daily supplement of 1,000 to 2,000 IUs of vitamin D,” says Dr. Sandra Darling, DO.
Contact a doctor:
If you have tried all remedies but yet not found any cure for your problem, it is time to take things to the next stage. First, make sure to get in touch with a doctor in that case. A doctor is the only person who can effortlessly examine your symptoms and come to a conclusion. Then, the doctor may suggest you some medication, a support group to join, some exercises, a healthy diet, and other things depending on the severity of your depression.
Conclusion:
Those tired of dealing with depression for a while now get their vitamin D3 level checked soon. If you find vitamin D3 deficiency, make sure to follow the initial steps and if things get difficult go and contact a doctor for a quick recovery.