Vitamin D

Lately I've been feeling overly tired and run-down. I've also been in quite a daze lately and feel a bit of brain fog, can mostly describe the feeling as 'blah.' In addition, my muscles and joints have been overly sore after workouts, workouts I've done before and had no soreness from. I am not a big fan of going to the doctor but figured it was time for a physical and some blood work. Everything came back outstanding, my blood work profile looked like that of someone in their early 20's....except for Vitamin D. My Vitamin D levels are extremely low and all of the symptoms I've been experiencing can be explained by just that. My sleep has been affected, I have been tossing and turning more than usual, having trouble falling asleep and waking several times a night without being able to fall back asleep. Low Vitamin D levels are associated with sleep issues which explains the other symptoms of fatigue, brain-fog and feeling 'blah.' And being overly tired explains the soreness and aching of my body since I am still pushing it as hard as I was with enough sleep. So the good news is, I am super healthy for my age, the bad news is, I should know better and should never have stopped taking my Vitamin D supplement. People, including myself and even other physicians, don't realize the effect low vitamin D can have on a person. There is such a variety of vague symptoms that it is hard to pinpoint. This is even more important now since we are approaching winter and will get less sunlight exposure. We can't just go outside and get our 20 minutes anymore, so be diligent and get your Vitamin D levels checked!

Here is what you should aim for:

Vitamin D Range:

30.0 - 80.0 ng/mL (according to Roche Diagnostics who did my testing)

You will see a variety of ranges that are considered normal, some starting as low as 20, others 25 and so on. I personally feel that 50.0 ng/mL should be the low starting point for a range.

If you get tested and your Vitamin D levels are low, you should start supplementing with 1000 - 2000 IU's daily but always check with your Primary Care Physician first. I much prefer liquid drops to capsules, and use Bio-D-Mulsion by Biotics.