3 ms·

Everyone should try a Vitamin D cycle if only to see if makes a big difference in daily life, especially if you live in area with sad winters. It's one of the f

Everyone should try a Vitamin D cycle if only to see if makes a big difference in daily life, especially if you live in area with sad winters. It's one of the few supplements that dramatically improves mood for those deficient or sensitive to large doses.

James_Henry 6y ago
Vitamin D tests aren't usually too expensive (as far as medical tests go), so it might be worth just getting tested rather than trying to see what difference it is making (which can be tricky if you are someone sensitive to the placebo effect or if the effect of vitamin D supplementation isn't immediate or what not).
- Jeriko 6y ago
  If you are trying to use it to treat mild depression specifically, a placebo effect is great! Placebo effects get a bad rap. If something improves your subjective quality of life that should be considered a win, especially for depression. Honestly the best thing vitamin D has going for it is being super inexpensive and safe. Because of that you can supplement vitamin D for almost any reason and expect to see at worst a very small cost (someone up thread said 3 cents a day, which seems in the ball park) and at best a significant subjective benefit (even if it's from a placebo effect).
  - James_Henry 6y ago
    Placebo effects can be great; they can mask underlying issues though. Also, if you actually have a vitamin D deficiency (or some other health issue), it could be good to know why. Perhaps your kidneys are having issues, for instance.
jcampbell1 6y ago
After having several kitesurfing vacations ruined by sunburns, I decided to just go to a tanning salon in the winter. It had a profound mood effect and respiratory effect almost immediately. Now I go a few times per month in winter regardless if I am going to the tropics. The UV does is completely metered. It may be a risky, but given that people that work outside have half the risk of melanoma as people who work indoors, I think regular low dose UV exposure may be a net positive even for cancer risk. Spending 5 minutes under UV lamps is a guaranteed way to get a huge dose reasonably safely, and you will know the effect almost immediately. The vitamin D seems to be maintained for 2-3 weeks after as well.
- James_Henry 6y ago
  One concern that I would have is that I've heard that the light from a tanning salon doesn't match the light output by the sun. Supposedly the sun has more UVB or something and there are reasons to believe it may be healthier. Do you, or anyone else, have any knowledge on this?
  - jcampbell1 6y ago
    That is a concern, and the salons pitch expensive machines using high pressure bulbs with basically no UVA which will make your skin brown with little worry about sunburn and has little vitamin d effect. Since you wouldn’t be going for aesthetics, the best is to use one of the cheap beds that makes UVA and don’t go for very long. Your skin will take a month before it gets even subtly darker. The salons call the cheap machines “sun burning” machines to up sell the more expensive “browning beds”, but just use that cheap machine and only use it for say 5 minutes instead of the max 20. I also cover my face. I am in no way noticeably tan after years of doing this, and the low dose protocol I use makes my body similar to the color my forearms are from normal sun exposure. I hope that is helpful, and it was years ago that I was evaluating the risks and I don’t have the exact figures anymore, but you can lookup the UV profile of the bulbs that are in the machine. Just google search the numbers on the bulb.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
y-c-o-m-b 6y ago
I can provide my anecdote. I live near Portland, OR and been taking 5000IU of Vitamin D for years. It doesn't do anything to help with seasonal sadness. Neither do those "sun lamps". The only thing I've found helpful (although short-lived) for that is literally leaving the state for a week to somewhere warmer; like Hawaii or San Diego. The sadness comes back shortly after returning though, and sometimes even worse than before. It seems to me that treating seasonal depression is more complicated than simply taking medication or sitting in front of a lamp.
- 0DHm2CxO7Lb3 6y ago
  Yeah, it would be nice to be able to replicate a warmer and sunnier climate indoors during the winter. Another thing you can try is to use red to near infrared light which has been shown to affect the mitochondrial electron transport chain. I read "Brain Photobiomodulation Therapy: A Narrative Review" a couple of days ago which is pretty interesting. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6041198/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6041198/

James_Henry 6y ago

Vitamin D tests aren't usually too expensive (as far as medical tests go), so it might be worth just getting tested rather than trying to see what difference it is making (which can be tricky if you are someone sensitive to the placebo effect or if the effect of vitamin D supplementation isn't immediate or what not).

Jeriko 6y ago
If you are trying to use it to treat mild depression specifically, a placebo effect is great! Placebo effects get a bad rap. If something improves your subjective quality of life that should be considered a win, especially for depression. Honestly the best thing vitamin D has going for it is being super inexpensive and safe. Because of that you can supplement vitamin D for almost any reason and expect to see at worst a very small cost (someone up thread said 3 cents a day, which seems in the ball park) and at best a significant subjective benefit (even if it's from a placebo effect).
- James_Henry 6y ago
  Placebo effects can be great; they can mask underlying issues though. Also, if you actually have a vitamin D deficiency (or some other health issue), it could be good to know why. Perhaps your kidneys are having issues, for instance.

jcampbell1 6y ago

After having several kitesurfing vacations ruined by sunburns, I decided to just go to a tanning salon in the winter. It had a profound mood effect and respiratory effect almost immediately. Now I go a few times per month in winter regardless if I am going to the tropics. The UV does is completely metered. It may be a risky, but given that people that work outside have half the risk of melanoma as people who work indoors, I think regular low dose UV exposure may be a net positive even for cancer risk. Spending 5 minutes under UV lamps is a guaranteed way to get a huge dose reasonably safely, and you will know the effect almost immediately. The vitamin D seems to be maintained for 2-3 weeks after as well.

James_Henry 6y ago
One concern that I would have is that I've heard that the light from a tanning salon doesn't match the light output by the sun. Supposedly the sun has more UVB or something and there are reasons to believe it may be healthier. Do you, or anyone else, have any knowledge on this?
- jcampbell1 6y ago
  That is a concern, and the salons pitch expensive machines using high pressure bulbs with basically no UVA which will make your skin brown with little worry about sunburn and has little vitamin d effect. Since you wouldn’t be going for aesthetics, the best is to use one of the cheap beds that makes UVA and don’t go for very long. Your skin will take a month before it gets even subtly darker. The salons call the cheap machines “sun burning” machines to up sell the more expensive “browning beds”, but just use that cheap machine and only use it for say 5 minutes instead of the max 20. I also cover my face. I am in no way noticeably tan after years of doing this, and the low dose protocol I use makes my body similar to the color my forearms are from normal sun exposure. I hope that is helpful, and it was years ago that I was evaluating the risks and I don’t have the exact figures anymore, but you can lookup the UV profile of the bulbs that are in the machine. Just google search the numbers on the bulb.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]

y-c-o-m-b 6y ago

I can provide my anecdote. I live near Portland, OR and been taking 5000IU of Vitamin D for years. It doesn't do anything to help with seasonal sadness. Neither do those "sun lamps". The only thing I've found helpful (although short-lived) for that is literally leaving the state for a week to somewhere warmer; like Hawaii or San Diego. The sadness comes back shortly after returning though, and sometimes even worse than before. It seems to me that treating seasonal depression is more complicated than simply taking medication or sitting in front of a lamp.

0DHm2CxO7Lb3 6y ago
Yeah, it would be nice to be able to replicate a warmer and sunnier climate indoors during the winter. Another thing you can try is to use red to near infrared light which has been shown to affect the mitochondrial electron transport chain. I read "Brain Photobiomodulation Therapy: A Narrative Review" a couple of days ago which is pretty interesting. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6041198/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6041198/