The Hormone You Probably Need More Of

What hormone regulates your immune system and protects you from cancer, type I diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and rheumatoid arthritis?  This same hormone is critical to over 2000 pathways in your body.  And yet this hormone level is low in most Americans because of our lifestyle.  What hormone is this – Vitamin D.  We have always thought of Vitamin D as a vitamin, but actually it is a hormone formed by your body by combining cholesterol and sunlight in your skin cells.

We were designed to get sunlight exposure over our skin surface for some amount of time every day...a minimum of 20 minutes exposure over our entire body surface (twice as much if you have dark skin).  The exact amount of light exposure is actually responsible for all the different skin colors of the people of the world.  Anthropologists have shown that the entire human species began in central Africa and spread out from there.  The high intensity of sunlight at the equator caused the development of black skin to prevent over-exposure to sunlight.  As humans expanded more toward the poles the sunlight got weaker so the skin color got lighter to allow more sunlight to penetrate down into the skin in order to form more Vitamin D.  This happened over hundreds of generations, but even now we see this effect in summer when we develop a tan to reduce sunlight penetration and excess Vitamin D production.

This is not most people’s problem.  Most people have just the opposite problem – not enough sunlight.  We spend our lives indoors or in cars.  Glass blocks the Vitamin D producing rays of the sun.  And now in a special insanity we have taken to wearing sunscreen to make sure we never produce any Vitamin D at all.  Consequently we are deficient in the hormone Vitamin D. 

Why are we wearing sun blocker?  Sunlight in the right amounts does not cause skin cancer.  In fact it actually is our best prevention from the most deadly skin cancer – Melanoma.  But as the variety of human skin colors demonstrates, too much sun can be a problem.  Excess sun – specifically when it burns you – can lead to basil cell cancer.  Dark skin protects the basil cell layer of the skin from excess sunlight.  This is one of those profoundly well known principles that we try to ignore – moderation in all things.  Everything in the body is about balance.  Everything has to be in the right amounts.  Too little water and you die.  Too much water and you also die.  Everything needs to be in the right amounts and time.  Sunlight works the same way.

Here is a just released article on Vitamin D and calcium as a preventative for 75% of breast and colorectal cancers.

For the last 80 years Vitamin D was thought to only be concerned with calcium absorption to prevent rickets.  Consequently the levels of Vitamin D recommended were the minimum levels needed to prevent rickets (around 400 IU).  Now that we know just how crucial Vitamin D is for so many of our body’s systems the estimate of how much Vitamin D we need each day is being raised by 500% to a 1000%.  Fortunately Vitamin D is easily taken as a supplement.  I take 2000 IU of D3 (the type you want to use) each day.  I tested myself with a lab blood test first for Vitamin D levels and found I had only half of what I should have.  I suggest you have your blood Vitamin D levels tested also.  If you need it I can write you a prescription for the lab work.

 Even better is to get out and make your own Vitamin D.  Start out with only 5 minutes of full sun exposure and gradually work up to the 20-minute level.  Whatever you do, do not stay out so long that you burn.  It is the genetic damage created by the burn that sets you up for skin cancer of the basil cell type.  Do not wash off your skin after your sun exposure for several hours, as the Vitamin D formed in the skin will have to gradually soak in to the blood stream level.  A quick dip in the pool will simply wash your Vitamin D away.  Come winter at this latitude the sun is not strong enough to do the job so supplementation will be necessary.  Fortunately good quality D3 is readily available to us (the inferior D2 put into milk has little value).

Sunlight has been used as a therapeutic modality for thousands of years.  It strengthens our immune system and helps us avoid many of the diseases that have become so prevalent since we became an indoor society.  So get outside and soak up some hormones.  Your body will thank you for it.