The Winter Blues

How Low Levels of Vitamin D Can Affect You

Are you experiencing low levels of energy? Dreaming of the summer or being on a vacation somewhere warm? Or even just feeling the “winter blues”? The reason may have less to do with the desire to escape and more to to do with a lack of Vitamin D.

According to Statistics Canada, low vitamin D status is extremely common in Canada. Optimal blood levels are 150nmol/L (don’t worry about the complicated sounding units!), whereas the average level for Canadians is 64! Below 75 in Canada is considered full-blown deficient, with below 50 being extremely deficient. Statistics Canada says that during the winter months 40% of Canadians are extremely deficient, and 25% of Canadians are extremely deficient in the summer time!

It may seem strange that so many of us are this deficient in the summer time, but when you consider that in the summer time we’re often hiding from the heat inside with air conditioning, or are at work from 10am-4pm (i.e. when the sun is strong enough to produce vitamin D), it starts to make sense! Also, the darker one’s skin tone, the more sunlight they need to produce vitamin D.

An easy way to resolve low levels of Vitamin D is to use supplements, however dosing for Vitamin D supplementation can vary widely.  Commonly prescribed doses can range from 1,000 IU’s to 10,000 IU’s per day. It can vary this widely due to a person’s size, and how much they’re working out.

As a Naturopathic Doctor I can order blood work for my patients, so running blood work for my patient’s Vitamin D levels is something I do all the time. Establishing a baseline blood level of someones Vitamin D greatly helps in determining the proper dose for my patients, and it’s fantastic to be able to monitor their blood level every 1-3 months to make sure they’re getting their levels of vitamin D to the optimal level we spoke about above.

Once a patient reaches their optimal level of Vitamin D, their energy has often improved along with their ability to be more alert and wake up in the morning ready to tackle the day ahead. The highlight is that they experience fewer midday and end-of-day energy crashes. No more hitting that dreaded 3pm wall that everyone runs to the coffee machine for.

Book your appointment with me, Dr. Peter Woznik ND, here at The Core Optimum Health Centre and I would be more than happy to help you get your energy back on the right track.