Is there Vitamin D behind that cloud?
Is it us or is it a cruel joke that Girl Scout Cookie selling season starts just as most people are giving up their resolutions? Or is it simply demonstrating excellent knowledge of the market?
Enough daydreaming. We’ve got some longer pieces this week, so let’s get to it!
- Maggie Ruvoldt & Stephanie Majercik
The Tasting Menu
The Importance of Vitamin D
Simple Daily Health Habits
Birth Control After 40 - Questions for Your Healthcare Provider
The Importance of Vitamin D
In the dead of winter, it’s dark when we wake up, it’s dark when we get home, and there’s a good chance you’re seeing the sun peek out from behind the clouds once every few weeks, which not only gives us seasonal depression, but also means we’ve got to work a little harder to get enough vitamin D.
What is vitamin D?
Vitamin D is a critical nutrient that regulates how much calcium and phosphate is in our body. It’s critical to keeping bones, teeth, and muscles healthy.
It can be found in some foods - salmon, tuna, red meat, liver, egg yolks, or fortified foods - along with supplements. We can also get it from the sun, thanks to a complex process that converts cholesterol into Vitamin D. Unfortunately, between October and March, we’re not able to produce as much due to lack of exposure to sunlight and a lower amount of UVB rays needed to synthesize it.
What happens if I have low vitamin D?
Recent research has shown a link between low levels of vitamin D and heart disease, heart failure, cancer, and autoimmune diseases.
If you’re pregnant, low vitamin D could lead to preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, or other negative pregnancy outcomes.
How much vitamin D do I need?
We read several different articles all stating something similar: there’s disagreement about how much vitamin D you need for “optimal health”. There’s many factors that influence how much vitamin D you might need, so there isn’t an exact science.
The general recommendation (according to Yale Medicine) is that under the age of 70, you should be getting 600 IU of vitamin D per day (15 mcg). If you’re over 70, the recommendation is 800 IU (20 mcg) because it becomes harder for people to synthesize it and absorb the calcium (particularly for women after menopause).
If you have too much vitamin D, you can develop vitamin D toxicity that creates a build up of calcium in your bloodstream, leading to nausea, weakness and even kidney stones. The warning here is to keep a close eye on the dosage of any vitamin D supplements you pick up during the winter months. There are 50-60,000 IU supplements in the market, which is way more than the average person needs.
Additional resources and reading on vitamin D
What Are The Benefits Of Vitamin D And How Much Do You Really Need Per Day (Women's Health)
Simple Daily Health Habits
Whether you have kept your resolutions going (if you made any) or are trying to build a healthier life generally, there is science behind creating a habit. We’ve got some info to share on habit formations AND some simple ones that can add up to a big impact.
Create a habit loop to make it self-reinforcing. From the cue that starts the loop going through the reward that teaches your brain to desire to repeat the action
Plan for failure. We’ve got faith in you, but none of us are perfect. Have an idea of what you’ll do when you fall short. We love the strategies James Clear of Atomic Habits shared for this.
Bundle it with another habit … 43% of us repeat actions every day without thinking about them. You don’t need a reminder to brush your teeth, do you? Likely not because it is part of a routine, you see your toothbrush when you enter your bathroom. Want to floss more regularly? Put the floss next to your toothpaste. When making a new habit, drop it into the pattern or context that already exists.
As far as simple habits that can have a great health boost, try some of these:
Increase your daily hydration by one glass of water at a time. Add one more glass of water to one meal a day.
Meditate for 1 minute when you sit down at your desk in the morning or at the end of the day after you shut it down. All you need to do is set a timer for one minute, close your eyes and count your inhales and exhales for one minute.
Go to bed 15 minutes earlier.
Stimulate your brain with 10 minutes or non-work related items like reading a chapter of a book or a puzzle like Sudoku or a crossword. Even better, swap social media time for one of these.
Great reading and listening on habits
James Clear - Atomic Habits
Charles Duhigg - The Power of Habit
Wendy Wood - Good Habits, Bad Habits
NPR - Habits: How They Form and How to Break Them
Betterup blog on Building Habits
Birth Control After 40 - Questions for your Healthcare provider
Whether or not you’ve started to see signs of perimenopause, your 40s are a good time to revisit your birth control choices with your provider. There is still a risk of an unplanned pregnancy until you reach menopause. Here are some questions to get the conversation started with your provider:
Are there health benefits to continuing with your current form of birth control? Especially hormonal birth control that may mitigate signs of perimenopause.
What can you expect if you decide to change your method of birth control?
Is hormone therapy an option for me?
Are there estrogen-free options we can discuss?
The World Health Organization suggests long-acting methods such as IUDs are best for women in this age group. Can we discuss that option?
And here’s the big one: Do you have any special training treating women during perimenopause and menopause? Only 20% of gynecologists received any training in menopause (including perimenopause). This might be time to seek a specialist.
Medical Term of the Week
You’ve heard of lymph nodes (or felt them swell when you were sick). But have you ever heard or thought about what flows through them?
Lymph is a fluid that flows through your lymphatic system. It plays a critical role in your immune system.
The fluid moves throughout your body and is a collection of excess fluid as well as other substances such as proteins or bacteria. The other component is lymphocytes, which are white-blood cells that fight infections.
This week’s medical term of the week is dedicated to Tara (you know who you are!) for introducing Maggie to The Little Book of Lymph. Highly recommended read.
As new study is keeping us up at night. 33% of Gen Z is getting its medical information from TikTok. They trust it more than they trust medical providers! (From Forbes)
A recent study of over 600 women indicates that shortened periods may be an indicator of the age of onset for perimenopause and severity of symptoms. (From Contemporary Ob/Gyn)
Maternal depression is serious and can be debilitating. A recent study, that prioritized BIPOC participants, shows intervention has long-lasting positive impact (From Medical Life Sciences News)