It’s the time of year that Floridians eagerly anticipate. The advent of fall! The air is getting cooler, kids are back in school, football season is in full effect and the holiday season is coming up quickly.
Along with no state income tax and beautiful beaches, Florida offers something unique, abundant and free (yes free!) to keep you healthy all season so the whole family can enjoy the activity packed months ahead. What is it you ask? It’s SUNSHINE. They don’t call us the sunshine state for nothing! The warm rays we hide from in the summer are integral to helping boost our immunity and keeping us healthy.
Sunshine in safe doses plays a critical role in the synthesis of vitamin D. Decades of research confirms that healthy vitamin D levels play a key role in supporting our immune system, particularly in fighting upper respiratory infections.
We’ve been trained to think of vitamin D as a vitamin, a substance that we get from our diets, like vitamin C. But, despite its name, vitamin D is not a vitamin, and you cannot rely on your diet to obtain it; you do however make it in your skin. Vitamin D is in a class by itself. It is a secosteriod hormone that directly or indirectly targets more than two thousand genes in the body. Vitamin D receptors are everywhere in the body. The fact that every tissue and cell in the body has a vitamin D receptor speaks volumes to how important it is to our overall health.
In all, 90 to 95 percent of most people’s vitamin D requirement comes from casual exposure to sunlight. The best time to boost production of this amazing hormone is between the hours of 10AM and 3PM mainly in the late spring and early fall. Take those walks, play 9 holes or just relax and read a book illuminated by sunshine to activate those receptors just waiting to soak in the rays and reward you with amazing health boosting benefits. Vitamin D is fat soluble, so it is stored in body fat. These fat cells then release the vitamin D throughout the winter months allowing you to be vitamin D and immune system strong throughout the year.
If you aren’t sold yet on the free sunshine I’m selling, what if I told you- but wait there’s more! How about prevention of prostate and breast cancer, multiple sclerosis, dementia, hypertension and diabetes. All thrown in for free! Yes, it’s true. There is strong evidence to suggest that all of these diseases can be linked to or exacerbated by vitamin D deficiency.
Whether you are a native or a newbie, Florida is a special place to call home. Maybe you didn’t get the waterfront home you dreamed of, but you did get the immune boosting, disease fighting, magical hormone activator that is recession and inflation proof. No matter where you live, your property value just went up. And that is D-lightful!
