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You're probably well aware of this, but Vitamin D supplements have been life changing for me. There was an article a while back pleading to the FDA to fix the r
by leesec 8y ago
You're probably well aware of this, but Vitamin D supplements have been life changing for me. There was an article a while back pleading to the FDA to fix the recommended daily limit, suggesting it might be 10x too low. I take 10,000 IU a day and the difference is very noticeable.
- PascLeRasc 8y agoI get pretty significant SAD and 5000 IUs of Vitamin D helps a lot, but it's not enough for me. I'm planning to move to somewhere else in a year or two, maybe Seattle.
- ChrisClark 8y agoVancouver Island isn't far from Seattle, and I had no sun at all all winter, be sure to check it out in the winter before you move there.
- PascLeRasc 8y agoThanks, I hear Vancouver is beautiful. I'm planning on taking a west coast trip next summer so hopefully I'll be able to check Seattle out, along with Portland and SF, though I don't want to have to choose SF.
- tlavoie 8y agoIt might not be that sunny in the winter, but it'll be warm enough that you're not completely bundled up away from the sunlight you do get if it's not actually raining. Winnipeg might be much sunnier in the winter, but I'm not sure you'd get much more sun exposure given things like wind chill. BTW, where on VI are you? Quadra here.
- vondur 8y agoI'd think Seattle would not be my first choice for a city with a lot of Sunshine. Something in California would be better, especially SoCal. (I think the Silicon Valley area gets plenty of sun too, the Bay Area can be quite cloudy)
- binarysolo 8y agoThe west half of SF starting Fillmore Street-ish down to Daly City and Pacifica (all the lands alongside the Ocean) basically are known for fog issues, but most of the Peninsula, South Bay, and East Bay are super sunny.
- Silfen 8y agoI'm a Seattle native and love it here. Unfortunately it is not a good place to get sunlight. We are very far north (for an American city) and overcast for most of the year. Seattle averages about 5.5 hours of sun per day. San Francisco averages nearly 8.5.
- devmunchies 8y agoWhy would you use avg sunlight per day? Thats takes the avg sunlight per year and maps it onto a daily avg, which is useless as a metric. You want sunny days per year. Which Seattle gets less than 90. Most cities in California get over 200.
- Silfen 8y agoThat's a good point and a better metric, but it's not meaningless. Very long summer days are worth something! They're just not helpful with SAD.
- artursapek 8y agoDenver/Boulder area gets 300!
- sixstringtheory 8y agoCame here to say, CO is sunny as all get out. Spent the last year in the San Luis Valley, which gets 350! Although it’s really rural, so you make some tradeoffs. I could probably live there forever :)
- crunchlibrarian 8y agoDenver/Boulder is the sunniest spot in the USA that actually has a decent job market for everything. Even more sunny days than Los Angeles.
- Johnny555 8y agoClimate change is here -- summers in Seattle are much sunnier than they used to be, I think this year we had nearly 90 sunny days just in June-August, September has started off with nice sunny days as well. Last year was unusually warm and sunny in the summer as too, though I guess a couple years isn't really a climate change, it's just unusual weather. On the flip side, people that got along without air conditioners 5 or 10 years ago are revisiting that decision, I called around a few places to get a quote for a split unit to be installed, and they were booked up through August.
- artursapek 8y agoSeattle is cloudy a lot of the year. I'd reconsider that.
- cjarrett 8y agoSeattle will get you SAD during winter. The summers are great, but winters for the past few years have been unrelentingly overcast. I was also heavily warned to buy those bulbs to put in the office by a coworker who suffered from it.
- zerealshadowban 8y agoSeattle is North enough that the sun sinks too low for your skin to be able to produce vitamin D between mid-September and mid-March! The May-August period has very few clouds and a not-too-hot sun, so that is a fine season from the point of view of spending time outdoors and letting your skin work for your body.
- CryoLogic 8y agoSeattle might have a decent yearly average of sunlight hours/day, but during the winter there are often weeks to months of almost no direct sunlight due to the overcast.
- rconti 8y agoMoved from Seattle to California, in large part because I realized how much happier I am when it's sunny. Was a great choice for me.
- sushid 8y agoThat seems to be almost too high. Vitamin D is fat soluble and you're taking way more than the RDA of 600 IU. Even at 6000 IU, which you suggest is optimal, you're taking 2x. I'm not a doctor either but have you consulted your doctor about this (or is this a short time frame for you to get back up to a health level?).
- 1auralynn 8y agoApparently we synthesize ~10,000 IU just from being outdoors on a sunny day for a couple hours.
- leesec 8y agoIt was actually my doctor who recommended this after a blood test showing I had a Vitamin D deficiency, and initially I was taking 15000 IU for a short period. I have been doing this for at least 6 months now with no ill affects, and many positives ones ( better mood, better sleep, better energy, etc...)
- SpikeDad 8y agoDo any testing of your Vit D blood levels after taking increasingly large doses? Seems like once you hit the normal levels in your blood taking more is a waste of money?
- leesec 8y agoI haven't had blood work done recently tho I do notice the difference if I'm away or forget and don't take the supplements regularly. Cost isn't really an issue, I pay 15 dollars on Amazon for 360 5000 IU softgels. Should note that I work in a windowless office room and almost definitely get less sunlight then the average person.
- quartus 8y agoFor a healthy dose of skepticism, check out the New York Times article "Vitamin D, the Sunshine Supplement, Has Shadowy Money Behind It". It points out, among other things, that a 2010 National Academy of Medicine (then known as the Institute of Medicine) report found that most Americans get enough vitamin D, and that "the evidence supports a role for vitamin D and calcium in bone health but not in other health conditions" http://www.nationalacademies.org/hmd/Reports/2010/Dietary-Reference-Intakes-for-Calcium-and-Vitamin-D.aspx http://www.nationalacademies.org/hmd/Reports/2010/Dietary-Re... https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/18/business/vitamin-d-michael-holick.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/18/business/vitamin-d-michae... On a related note about sunshine, Sam Altman recommends a full spectrum LED light in the morning as his most beneficial productivity booster. http://blog.samaltman.com/productivity http://blog.samaltman.com/productivity