I don’t need to do research to know that I’m living in the middle of an epidemic of skeletal problems and sleep disorders among the over 50 crowd. Every gathering brings news from people I know about scheduling surgery to fix some kind of joint or skeletal problem and other people complaining about how they don’t sleep well anymore. The unspoken assumption is that these problems can not be prevented or reversed. Medical pills and procedures are the only options. The major culprit is age – human beings weren’t meant to live past 50. These statements are hypothesis, not natural law. If you asked me, I’d say many of our ancestors lived tough lives and put lots more stress on their skeletons in 30 years than we ever would today even in 300 years. For a long time, my hypothesis has been that something has changed about the environment we live in today that is responsible for these problems. Now I have an idea about what it might be. Sunshine has profound effects on our metabolism. I’ve recently been studying melatonin and vitamin D3, two hormones regulated by exposure to sunlight. Vitamin D3 is produced in the skin by UVB radiation from the sun. The amplitude of the “melatonin wave” that underlies the circadian rhythm – the chemical signal that orchestrates the transition from awake to asleep to back awake again – varies depending on the difference in intensity between the brightest light we see during the daytime and the darkness of night time. Sunlight is also known to alleviate/eliminate allergies, to cause special cells in the skin to produce the alpha melanocyte stimulating hormone (so sunshine has been proven by science to cause the produce of at least three hormones!), to cause the production of a couple of neuropeptides, and to cause the release of endorphins. So while you’re in the sun getting vitamin D, you’ll also be producing a variety of other regulatory chemicals essential for optimal health. I’m continuing to look for other hormones influenced by sunshine, and other effects of sun exposure, and I’m expecting to find some. What I like about this idea is that it is way outside the mainstream. I don’t know anyone, who knows anyone, who is really worried that she/he is spending too much time indoors. In fact, just the opposite. I see more and more people avoiding the sun and more and more people wearing shaded glasses or glasses that automatically tint when you walk out into the bright light. Based on what I’ve read and how I feel, I’m going the other way. I’m spending more and more time outside (still, however, just a small fraction of the day) and intentionally staring into the bright sky to get a really strong signal into my pineal gland during the small fraction of the day that I can spend outside. Vitamin D and melatonin are powerful hormones. By largely moving indoors thanks to office work, the internet, the ipad, legitimate fear of skin cancer, and air conditioning, we are, like it or not, changing the amounts of vitamin D and melatonin that we produce. Vitamin D and melatonin both play central roles regulating sleep, and healthy sleep is needed for optimal healing (see you tube videos by sleep specialist gominak). If you’ve got a problem with your teeth or your joints, you’ve got much to gain and little to lose by spending more time outside in the sun during the middle of the day.
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Your body oscillates between an awake state and a sleeping state. The oscillation coincides with day and night. Oscillations of this type are also known…
Hi Steve. I know you posted this message a couple of years ago and hope you are still checking this forum.
I am in graduate school and was feeling tired. A friend recommended vitamin D3. I live in Miami, so probably didn't need any to begin with…
I took 10,000 IU for 15 days. After which I started experiencing the following symptoms:
1. Extra stimulated, as if I was on 20 cups of coffee
2. Insomnia
3. Anxiety
4. Palpitations
5. Difficulty breathing
I felt like my heart was going to get out of my chest, so I stopped the supplements exactly a month ago.
I had to go to the hospital where they did an EKG (sinus tachychardia). They checked my lungs and they were fine through Xrays. They also did a 2d echochagraphy of my heart, which was fine.
No one at the hospital believed that vitamin D could do such a thing and I told them to look at your blog.
It's been a month exactly since I stopped taking the last one. I would say I feel 40% better. The heart symptoms have slowly gone down, but I still have a bit of shortness of breath and anxiety. The anxiety stems from the fact that I am scared this will last forever…
I cannot wait till all this is gone. Is the half-life of vitamin D3 one month? two months?…
Thank you so much for your precious help to everyone on this blog!
Isabelle
Steve,
I believe you are right on track. Vitamin D supplements only begin to take the place of sunshine, as you point out, and not very well if I might add.
The first place to look for solutions to wide-spread chronic conditions is changes to the way we live. This is true of diet, exercise and exposure to the elements. Another "exposure" issue is our immune system as identified by the hygiene hypothesis.
Rusty
Hi, Steve. I was just on your website, and a lot of the links that you provide in your content no longer work. I'm speaking of links to external websites outside of yours. One of them for example is your link to Vitamin C for IV use here.
Being a women, I have to take extra care about my health to avoid common issues that arises with the growing age, so I always keep vitamin D spray with me. It helped reducing pain during menstruation, and I liked using this modern health supplement.
Steve – Great info about how sunshine is essential for our well being. But with the thinning of the ozone layer, the sunshine that hits the earth is becoming potentially dangerous. Vitamin supplements MUST be taken to address this problem. It would be interesting to know what wavelength UV stimulates the body in a good way and which UV light harms the body. I have done tests that show that UVC is hitting the earth. Small as this amount is, it demonstrates that we must be aware of our environment – the good and the bad. Thank You for your work and dedication to help mankind.
Stam Peden
Aromas, CA
note – radiation reading March 16, 2018 on my kitchen table is 12,000 CPM