Vol 28–Sunshine, Vitamin D, and Light Exposure Start Enhancing Your Health Now With This Information

1 oz of water to garden your health

2 Tools for growth

1 Cool Product

Random Musings

Reading Time: 4 minutes and 50 seconds

This week's newsletter is brought to you by light 🔆.

I live in a state where we get ~40% of sunshine a year, look yours up and type in “Days of Sunshine Per Year in __”.

What about the lack of sunshine percentage? I thought to myself how am I offsetting this? Am I taking enough vitamin D? how am I creating an artificial light environment that mimics the sun and tricking my body into thinking there is the sun?

We get so busy in our lives that we forget just how important the sun affects every aspect of our lives.

Action to water your health

Vitamin D. Let’s go over how vitamin D is created.

Vitamin D2 is produced in fungi and yeast by UVB (ultraviolet B radiation) exposure to ergosterol (provitamin D2), whereas vitamin D3 is produced by UVB exposure to provitamin D3 in the skin. So vitamin D2 is made by plants and we make D3.

Humans do not make vitamin D2, and most oil-rich fish such as salmon, mackerel, and herring contain vitamin D3.

Great, so sunlight hits our skin and we make vitamin D3 and we’re good right? Not yet.

Our liver and kidneys have enzymes (help with chemical reactions) that need to make the inactive vitamin D3 to active. Without this step, we would have floating inactive vitamin D3 in our bodies. The chemical reaction is complex but you can read more here.

Vitamin D enhances the absorption of calcium by 30-40% and phosphorus by 80%. But vitamin D also does an insanely amount of other things.

Including:

• Regulating up to 200 genes.

• Reduce cancer cell growth.

• Help control infections.

• Reduce inflammation.

• Bone health muscle strength

Vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol) vs Vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol). Which is better to buy? the research says vitamin D3 raises blood concentrations of vitamin D3 more and sustained those levels longer than D2.

Lack of Vitamin D. Affects almost 50% of the population worldwide! That’s ~1 billion people worldwide. I had no clue until researching this, that’s so high.

Likely made worse by COVID causing reduced outdoor activity and let’s not forget who wants to go outside when the air pollution is toxic in many countries.

How much Vitamin D should I take? Table 2 (below) shows the recommended doses from the National Institute of Health (NIH).

With that being said the tolerable upper Intake Level is the maximum daily intake unlikely to cause harmful effects on health is 4,000 IU per day. Some studies say 10,000 IU/day.

Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin, meaning that it does not dissolve in water and is absorbed best in your bloodstream when paired with high-fat foods.

So if you take vitamin D with your coffee or empty stomach its unlikely it will be well absorbed (~15-30% less). 11 grams of fat is the optimal amount that leads to higher absorption.

its also important to consider people that have intestinal absorption issues. If they take oral vitamin D the amount that is actually ingested is ??? so sunshine would be the best, since it skips the fat absorption issue altogether.

Light Controls Circadian Rhythm. Light exposure has an unconscious influence on the level of the cell, behavior, circadian cycle

For instance, if you’re sitting in your office and the sun hits your eyes telling you to wake up, the blue light ensures you stay alert.

The second factor of light that’s important to our bodies is the circadian rhythm.

Circadian rhythms are 24-hour cycles in biochemical, physiological and behavioral processes.

When we aren't exposed to light, our melatonin levels flux and rise.

How can you have a circadian rhythm cycle with less sunshine? By tricking your body with an artificial light that mimics the sun’s natural light.

Sure, if there is sun available go outside for ~15 minutes no sunglasses. Your bodys circadian system will become synchronized.

The more we deviate from intrinsic rhythm, the more we see increased rates of depression, anxiety, and adverse mental health outcomes.

Seasonal Affecive Disorder (SAD). Is a seasonal pattern of recurrent major depressive episodes that most commonly occurs during autumn or winter and remits in spring.

One cochrane review (link), showed light therapy reduced the incidence of seasonal affective disorder (SAD).

Protocol Used in Cochrane Study. To achieve an effect on circadian rhythms,the dosage of brightlight given should be greater than the artificial lighting usually used in homes - about 5000 lux per day (2500 lux fortwo hours, or 10,000 lux for 30 minutes).

Action. At some point I would get serum (blood) levels of vitamin D (yes even if you live in a sunny area). Get real sunshine or artificial light first thing in the am to awaken the circadian system.

Tools for growth

Letterloop: Private group newsletters for friends, families & teams. Still not sure how I feel about this one.

On one hand great way to send private-ish information to friends and family without the need to call, and text. But do you want to hear from that weird cousin? LMK what you think.

Talk to Books: This website is awesome. You can browse passages from books using experimental AI. Try it out, any question you can think of. It will provide a reasonable answer. You might even buy a book because of it.

Cool Product

Salad Spinner: I know not groundbreaking but I used it the other day and thought “dam that was nice.” 🥗

Random Musings

1. Sometimes I find myself over-researching information, thinking about idea etc. When I should just be working. Starting. No motivation. Just work.

2. The question to ask when you feel pride is this what am I missing right now that is more humble person might see?

3. Fall is one of my most favorite seasons. Except the never ending leaves falling. Looks beautiful until you have to rake them all.

4. I’ve tried hundreds of coffee beans. But reforma roasters is still one of my favorities of all times. Smooth, favorful and has blends for everyone.

5. What’s your favorite thanksgiving dish? Mine is panes con pavo is a popular traditional Salvadoran sandwich prepared with roasted turkey and its sauce, as well as raw and pickled vegetables.

You're an awesome human

Martin, CEO of braincrumbss

Stuff I created, that you might find helpful.

1. I created a sleep 💤 course after 6+ months of reading books, research studies, blogs, and podcasts. I wrote a post that includes a sneak preview of the content too 💤💤

2. This product is free. It is the most comprehensive tool for digital nomads who end up with diarrhea 💩. How to treat it, when to worry, and what to pack. Everything. I spend an embarrassing amount of time writing this.