8th of March, 2017
Take Advantage of Spring: Vitamin D
As we begin to approach spring, the days are getting longer and the sunlight is available more hours of the day. There are great advantages to this; going for walks at the parks, hiking, beautiful beaches and just spending more time outdoors. One of the major benefits of spring is being able to spend time outside and enjoying the sunshine. The sunshine releases feel good chemicals such as serotonin and improves the mood. However, it is also a great source of Vitamin D. Vitamin D from the sun is essential to growing and keeping strong and healthy bones!
A large majority of elderly people do not spend a lot of time outside and unfortunately this contributes to the deterioration of their skeletal system. Taking your aging parent or grandparent for walks or to just sit in the sun is beneficial to preventing fractures during falls and deterioration of bones.
Vitamin D actually facilitates the absorption of calcium, which is also an essential part of healthy and strong bones. Getting Vitamin D just from your foods is not as advantageous as getting it from food AND the sun!
So this spring, take a walk outside and enjoy the sunlight - it has more health benefits than you think!