Vitamin d helps with anxiety

Does Vitamin D Reduce Anxiety?

Like air, food, and water, the sun is something most people take for granted. However, a lack of exposure to sunlight can not only make you cold - it can also cause you psychological distress due to your body's need for an essential vitamin that the sun is usually responsible for providing. That vitamin is vitamin D.

Vitamin D deficiency, usually caused by a lack of exposure to sunlight, is thought to play an essential part in a person's mental health and has been linked to disorders like seasonal affective disorder, or SAD. This article will discuss why vitamin D is so vital for our psychological well-being, and how you can ensure that you both get enough vitamin D and lower your anxiety.

Vitamin D and History

Vitamin D is not believed to affect anxiety directly. Though it may be correlated with higher anxiety levels, there are likely reasons beyond the vitamin itself - reasons that will be discussed later in this article.

Historically, seeing the sun was often a cause for celebration and happiness. Sun meant food could grow, and that warmer weather was coming. Conversely, not seeing the sun often meant food was becoming scarcer and that important members of your village, tribe, or family, not to mention yourself, were at risk of dying from the cold. People became less active, and some cultures even took to hibernating like bears during the colder seasons. It is no wonder that cultures across the world, from the ancient Egyptians to the Mayans to the Greeks, once worshipped the sun as a god.

Today, it is believed that ancestral memory - which is, in some ways, short-term evolution - may play a role in why vitamin D and spending time outdoors makes people feel better. Just as humans feel an instinctive revulsion towards bitter flavors due to our ancestral association of bitterness with poisonous foods, the human body may have an instinctive awareness of its need for sunlight.

Seasonal Affective Disorder and Anxiety - Is There a Link?

Seasonal affective disorder (SAD), once considered its unique disorder, has been renamed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) as a type of depression. It is now referred to as a specification only, i.e., depression with seasonal pattern.

People who experience seasonally patterned depression are known to show symptoms that include feelings of anxiety, and other symptoms that are reminiscent of those related to anxiety, such as irritability, antisocial behavior, insomnia, reduced sex drive, decreased appetite and weight loss. Some of these symptoms, like insomnia, may also contribute to the development of anxiety.

Your anxiety, therefore, can depend on how much sun you are exposed to if you are an individual who is particularly strongly affected by seasonal shifts.

Other Reasons That Low Vitamin D and Anxiety Are Linked

The other reasons that low levels of vitamin D may relate to anxiety have nothing to do with the vitamin at all. Instead, they have to do with lifestyles. There is a considerable amount of evidence that those that don't exercise are more likely to develop anxiety. A lot of exercise takes place outdoors, so those that aren't exercising will also show low vitamin D levels. It's not the vitamin D that's causing it - rather, it's the failure of the individual to adequately stay active.

Similarly, spending time with friends in a relaxing environment also affects anxiety. Many people with anxiety either don't spend time with their friends or stay indoors only and fail to get many new experiences. This may also contribute to both anxiety and vitamin d deficiency independently.

Vitamin D and Multiple Sclerosis

Finally, some people worry about vitamin D because there is some evidence that low vitamin D may be related to the development of multiple sclerosis. Some people then take vitamin D supplements and experience a reduction in their anxiety.

It may cause people to feel that perhaps vitamin D was necessary to reduce anxiety when in reality it was simply that you were less worried about MS. Vitamin D may be related to MS, but anxiety also causes MS fears and MS-like symptoms, and a few vitamin D supplements are unlikely to affect either.

How to Increase Vitamin D and Decrease Anxiety

While vitamin D itself is unlikely to be causing your anxiety, that doesn't mean it can't, and the activities that you do to help increase vitamin D are valuable for your anxiety anyway. Getting outside will help you get what vitamin D you can, although there are also nutritional supplements available. Getting more sunlight by going outside more often can reduce the symptom of anxiety associated with SAD (a.k.a. seasonally patterned depression), and it can also give you a chance to reduce your anxiety by way of activities such as the following:

Exercising Exercising outdoors rather than in a stuffy gym is a great way to reduce your anxiety. Not only does it give you a chance to breathe fresh air and enjoy the beauty of the world around you, but it also helps your body to get in shape and feel better when done on a regular basis. It decreases the strain that anxiety puts on your body, and also increases levels of endorphins, the chemical that appears in the body when it is feeling relaxed and positive. Teaching your brain to expect to process chemicals related to relaxation and positivity can cause it to create more receptors for such compounds, making you happier and less stressed out in general.
Spending Time in Nature Spending time in nature can help you to distress by reminding you of the scale of reality. When you spend time in nature, your problems will often seem to shrink in comparison to how much else there is to life. Take some time to contemplate a tree a living being that's been around likely at least twice as long as you have or the beauty of a sunrise, to help you gain some perspective on the issues that are causing you anxiety.
Taking Time To Yourself Many people underestimate the importance of simply taking some time to be alone with your thoughts. In a world where anyone who knows you can demand your attention with the touch of a button at any time of the day or night, giving yourself a chance to stop and reflect on your thoughts and feelings is more important than ever. Oftentimes anxiety makes you feel like you are under too much pressure to actually solve your problems. Being out in the world on your own allows you to concentrate on no-one but yourself for a change, and actually figure out how to address the issues that are bothering you.

Exposure Therapy Exposure therapy is recommended by some therapists as a way of overcoming your anxiety. If you have social phobia and are nervous around other people, for example, casually taking a walk outside in a park or at a zoo is a great way to exposure yourself to your fears in a safe and controlled environment, thereby teaching your brain over time that excessive fear responses in these situations are unnecessary.
Creating a Routine Making going outside into a comforting routine helps to relieve anxiety by providing yourself with a positive event in your day that is reliable, predictable and stable. Anxiety can make you feel like your life or your surroundings are out of your control. You can impose control on your life in a positive way by setting a time for yourself to head out the door for 30 minutes or more and walking around the block, which can be something you do in evening or in the mornings, or going on regular walks or hikes on weekends.

Each of the above activities will help you to take in some extra vitamin D and thereby ease your ancestrally-inherited anxieties. Also, they are proactive ways of addressing multiple other potential reasons behind your anxiety, from physical stress to a perceived lack of control, and improving important areas of your life and your tan, as well.

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Does Vitamin D Boost Mental Health?

Written by WebMD Editorial Contributors

Medically Reviewed by Dan Brennan, MD on March 30, 2021

Impact of Vitamin D Deficiency on Mental Health

The body needs Vitamin D at the proper level for it to function as it should.

How Vitamin D Works In The Body

Your muscles, heart, brain, and immune system have vitamin D receptors. The body transports the vitamin to the kidneys and liver, where it converts into an active hormone. In this form, it assists the body in absorbing calcium.

Your body acquires vitamin D through sun exposure. Certain foods and supplements can also be sources of vitamin D. Dark-skinned people have a high level of melanin.

It’s the component that determines coloring in the human and animal world. This pigmentation prevents the skin from absorbing vitamin D correctly.

How Vitamin D Deficiency Leads to Mental Health Effects

Low levels of the vitamin may contribute to schizophrenia in adults, depression, and seasonal affective disorder. Other health problems that can arise from the deficiency include:

Low bone density
Bone softening
Heart disease
Rickets in children
Cancer

Those At Risk of Vitamin D Deficiency

A large portion of the population is at risk of vitamin D deficiency. People who live far from the equator, and those with conditions like liver disease, renal disease, and celiac, are at a higher risk. The elderly and people with darker skin also fall in this category.

Symptoms of Vitamin D Deficiency

Vitamin D deficiency presents similar symptoms to those of depression:

Mood changes accompanied by overwhelming feelings of hopelessness, sadness, and hopelessness
Fatigue
Forgetfulness
Loss of interest in activities that previously sparked excitement
Suicidal thoughts
Anxiety
Loss of appetite
Excessive weight loss or gain
Trouble sleeping‌‌

If you experience any of these symptoms similar to depression, have your vitamin D levels checked. Your doctor will do a test to determine the level of the vitamin in your blood.

For depression diagnosis, you may have to complete a self-assessment test. A blood test can't diagnose depression but may test other conditions that cause depressive symptoms.

Vitamin D and Depression

Depression is a medical condition that changes the thoughts, feelings, or behaviors of an individual. Symptoms include:

Loss of interest in activities the individual previously liked
Isolation and withdrawal
Lack of concentration and focus
Difficulty sleeping or eating
Suicidal tendencies or ideations

What Research Shows

Studies on vitamin D supplementation and depression show a relationship between the two.

The only limitation of the studies is that they don’t prove that vitamin D deficiency causes depression. People with depression may have lower vitamin D levels, but the deficiency did not cause the illness.

How Vitamin D Deficiency is Linked to Depression

If the cause of depression was a lack of the vitamin, then supplementation would help reduce the signs and symptoms. An increase in the levels of the vitamin would also prevent depression from occurring, but this is not the case.

There is another possible explanation of the correlation between vitamin D deficiency and depression. Many groups at a high risk of depression are also likely to have vitamin D deficiency.

Adolescents, people with obesity, the elderly, and those with chronic illnesses are the most prone to having vitamin D deficiency. They are also at a higher risk of depression.

Possible Causes for This Correlation

As noted above, some symptoms of clinical depression include withdrawal and social isolation. Since these individuals spend less time outside, they lack the much-needed exposure to process enough vitamin D.

Severe cases of depression make it hard for the person to get out of bed or take part in outdoor activities. Social isolation only makes the symptoms worse. This is why healthcare providers encourage people with depression to spend more time with others.

Additionally, people dealing with depression have a hard time taking care of themselves properly. They may not eat properly and may not get vitamin D supplements for themselves. Depression alters their behavior and thought processes, making them engage in behaviors that worsen vitamin D deficiency.

Treating Vitamin D Deficiency

The best way to treat vitamin D deficiency is to:

Increase your exposure to the sun
Increase your intake of food fortified with vitamin D
Take supplements

Your doctor may also give you antidepressants to treat depression. You can take them separately or with dietary supplements. Join a support group, exercise regularly and practice proper sleeping habits.

Preventing Vitamin D Deficiency

Vitamin D is as vital for mental health as it's essential for physical health. There is sufficient research to show that not having enough of the vitamin can lead to depression-like symptoms. People with depression have higher chances of having vitamin D deficiency. Prevent this from happening by adding food rich in Vitamin D to your diet and getting adequate sun exposure.

Vitamins to reduce stress and anxiety.

https://vitamina.ru/

Feeling a little uneasy?

How not to feel if the world has gone crazy. Lots of reasons to be a little nervous. Feeling irritated lately and looking for something to help you deal with your anxiety?

Here are a few simple anxiety vitamins that can help:

B vitamins are vitamins that play a key role in the natural treatment of anxiety. They are most important for the proper functioning of the nerves.

Magnesium also ranks high on the list of effective nutritional supplements. This important mineral plays many key roles in the body, mainly helping the nerves and muscles to function optimally.
Magnesium helps muscles relax. The usefulness of this supplement for stress and anxiety cannot be underestimated.

Vitamin D is by no means proven to be the right vitamin to take for stress or anxiety. However, we want to suggest that he can play a role.

Science has shown that vitamin D deficiency is associated with low levels of serotonin.
Low levels of this chemical in the brain are known to cause depression and anxiety.
Without that, taking a safe dose of vitamin D is a good idea.

Vitamin D is recommended for most of us for many reasons, including its important role in immunity.

Treating anxiety and stress is not just about vitamins. What else, you ask?

It turns out there are many simple things you can do besides taking vitamins.

The good old lifestyle advice is still very relevant. Physical exercise and healthy sleep.

In addition to these lifestyle basics, it is also worth paying attention to meditation. There are many videos on Youtube or applications on the phone.

And always remember, one important thing when choosing vitamins is to consult a doctor.

10/11/2020

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New evidence of the relationship between vitamin D levels in the human body and its tendency to depression

New evidence of the relationship of vitamin D levels in the human body and its tendency to depression is presented - Gazeta.

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January 25, 2013, 14:03 Science

100%

Decreased levels of vitamin D in middle-aged people may be associated with the development of depression, researchers at the University of London have found.

Vitamin D enters the human body in two biologically active forms: cholecalciferol (D3) and ergocalciferol (D2). Cholecalciferol is formed in human skin under the influence of ultraviolet radiation, and ergocalciferol comes with food (mainly found in fatty fish, butter, cheese). Both substances are precursors (provitamins), which, during metabolism in the liver and kidneys, are converted into the active form of vitamin D - 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol (calcitriol). The main function of vitamin D is to ensure the absorption of calcium in the small intestine.

Vitamin D deficiency is very common.

In the United States, data from a large study conducted in 2001-2006 found that the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in adults and children older than one year was 8%, and 24% of people received the status of "at risk of inadequate intake" of vitamins due to their characteristics. nutrition and climatic zones. Together, that's almost a third of the US population.

In children, hypovitaminosis (a disease that occurs when the body's needs for vitamins are not fully met), associated with vitamin D, plays a major role in the development of rickets, a disease that occurs with impaired growth and development of bones due to insufficient calcium intake for them.

A scientific study published in the journal Clinical Nutrition found this association: People with normal vitamin D levels (above 75 nmol/l) have a 43% lower risk of depression than those with low vitamin D (less than 25 nmol/l).

In addition, people with normal vitamin D levels are 67% less likely to experience panic attacks and fear.

"The high cost of mental health care, coupled with the high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency around the world, suggests that our results could be very important," said a team of researchers led by Jane Maddock from the Institute of Child Health, University of London. “We hypothesize that vitamin D deficiency may be directly related to the high prevalence of depression and panic disorders. ”

Dr. Maddock and her team analyzed the health status of about seven and a half thousand subjects over several years. People born in 1958 were selected. They were offered questionnaires to identify behavioral features at the age of 45 and 50 years. Mental disorders such as anxiety, depression, panic attacks and phobias were assessed using the Clinical Interview Schedule-Revised and Mental Health Inventory-5 special medical questionnaires.

The result was that at age 45, high vitamin D levels were associated with low rates of depression and panic attacks.

At the same time, at the age of 50 and older, such a dependence is practically not traced.

London scientists are not the first to study the effect of vitamin D levels on depression symptoms. The results of the study, published by the Women's Health Initiative in the American Journal of Epidemiology , report no effect of vitamin D on mental health.

At the same time, data from the third national study on nutrition and health (completed in 2010) covering about eight thousand people in the United States show that people with low levels of vitamin D have an 85% risk of depression in compared with those who have a normal concentration of the vitamin in the blood.

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