Vitamin D deficiency can cause a number of neurological problems, including fatigue, memory loss, and difficulty concentrating. This means having a vitamin D deficiency treated with a supplement can possibly help improve your concentration levels.
Low levels of this vitamin may lead to neurodegenerative conditions such as multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinsons's disease and neurocognitive disorders. Studies have also linked vitamin D with depression.
Vitamin D is an important calcium-regulating hormone with diverse functions in numerous tissues, including the brain. Increasing evidence suggests that vitamin D may play a role in maintaining cognitive function and that vitamin D deficiency may accelerate age-related cognitive decline.
Vitamin D deficiency can lead to a loss of bone density, which can contribute to osteoporosis and fractures (broken bones). Severe vitamin D deficiency can also lead to other diseases: In children, it can cause rickets. Rickets is a rare disease that causes the bones to become soft and bend.
Finally, if vitamin D is too low, the body may have low calcium levels in the blood. This can cause feelings of “pins and needles”, muscle cramps, and even seizures. Rev. 3/2020.
Other symptoms of vitamin D deficiency include depression and pins and needles, tingling or burning sensation in the hands, feet and toes.
“Adding an over-the-counter vitamin D supplement can make improvements in just three to four months time. Vitamin D with a strength of 1000-2000 international units daily is the recommended dose for most adults,” Dr.
It can take anywhere from 1-6 months to raise vitamin D levels with supplements. How much your levels increase and how long it takes will depend on the dose and your baseline vitamin D levels.
Therefore, conditions that affect the gut and digestion, like celiac disease, chronic pancreatitis, Crohn's disease, and cystic fibrosis, can reduce vitamin D absorption.
Vitamin D deficiency is associated with increased risk of vascular disease and ischemic stroke in healthy individuals [2,3]. Vitamin D deficiency is associated with ischemic stroke risk and contributing factors being hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes mellitus and ischemic heart disease [4].
Left untreated, vitamin D deficiency can lead to osteoporosis in adults, rickets in children and adverse outcomes in pregnant women. It may also be linked to heart disease, diabetes and cancer — although more study is needed on the topic.
Although decades of research suggest a link between vitamin D deficiency and neurologic disorders including multiple sclerosis (MS), Alzheimer dementia (AD), Parkinson disease (PD), and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the role of vitamin D supplementation in the prevention and management of these conditions is ...
Well, if your vitamin D levels fall critically low, it can lead to bone disorders such as rickets or cardiovascular issues such as high blood pressure or even heart disease!
There's no set time of day that's best to take vitamin D supplements. Some people say taking vitamin D supplements at night is an insomnia risk. There's no research to confirm this, but you might want to take your supplement earlier in the day if you think it's screwing with your sleep.
In general, the two main causes of vitamin D deficiency are: Not getting enough vitamin D in your diet and/or through sunlight. Your body isn't properly absorbing or using vitamin D.
Growing evidence has demonstrated that vitamin D has a role in sleep regulation [12]. Specifically, vitamin D deficiency (VDD) can increase risk of sleep disorders and is associated with sleep difficulties, shorter sleep duration, and nocturnal awakenings in children and adults [13,14,15].
Having inadequate levels of vitamin D may correlate with unintentional weight gain. A study on women over the age of 65 found that participants with a lower vitamin D level experienced more weight gain. A systematic review of 23 different studies found similar associations between vitamin D deficiency and obesity.
Some side effects of taking too much vitamin D include weakness, dry mouth, nausea, vomiting, and others. Taking vitamin D for long periods of time in doses higher than 4000 IU (100 mcg) daily is possibly unsafe and may cause very high levels of calcium in the blood.
Those with the lowest levels should feel an improvement after just a few days, while those who only need to top up their levels may have to wait a week or two before they begin to feel healthier and more energised.
Vitamin D stimulates hair follicles to grow, and so when the body does not have enough, the hair may be affected. A vitamin D deficiency may also be linked to alopecia areata, an autoimmune condition that causes patchy hair loss.
Use the CVS Health At Home Vitamin D Test Kit to get accurate and comprehensive results in the privacy and comfort of your own home. Simply collect your blood sample using this convenient kit, mail it to the lab, and receive your results through a secure online portal in just a few days.