HOW VITAMIN D IMPROVES HAIR GROWTH
Great hair is one of the most visible signs of good health. A number of factors contribute to healthy hair, but one we are only beginning to understand is vitamin D. Once regarded as necessary for the prevention of rickets and other bone conditions, vitamin D is now understood to benefit healthy bones and teeth, as well as helping in the prevention of various cancers and other serious conditions. What’s more, vitamin D deficiency is often noted among the causes of hair loss.
What is Vitamin D?
Vitamin D is special, not just because of what it does for your overall health, but because it’s actually not a vitamin at all; it’s a “pro-hormone” that your body can generate for itself. Typically having five to 10 minutes of sun exposure on your bare skin three times a week will generate adequate vitamin D for your body’s needs. However, vitamin D deficiency is common.
What does Vitamin D Do?
Vitamin D helps your body absorb important nutrients like calcium and phosphorous during the digestive process. Your body uses vitamin D, whether taken in supplement form or created by your body, to do many important things. Vitamin D deficiency can lead to many serious conditions, including:
Cardiovascular disease
Hypertension
Diabetes
Frequent illnesses
Bone loss and weakness
Hair loss
Vitamin D supports numerous body systems, working with other nutrients to bolster everything from your immune system to absorption of nutrients from food. Hair loss is one example of how a lack of vitamin D impacts your body’s normal functions with a direct, visible result.
How Hair Loss Happens
Hair Growth
While numerous changes to your body over time could lead to hair loss, a vitamin D deficiency causes hair loss in a particular way. Vitamin D helps your body create new hair follicles and maintain the healthy production of hair in existing follicles. Without follicles, you’d have no hair at all. Over time, follicles can become blocked or malnourished and produce thinner, less healthy hair. Sometimes hair follicles die altogether, and this can be irreversible. However, if your hair loss is truly due to vitamin D deficiency, boosting your consumption of vitamin D should help resolve the problem.
Boost Your Vitamin D Intake
Getting more vitamin D is fairly simple. As we noted earlier, for most people with fair skin, 10 minutes of sun exposure three times a week will help stimulate your body’s production of vitamin D. But, the weather isn’t always cooperative, and darker skinned people produce less vitamin D from sun exposure. You can add more vitamin D through your diet by including extra portions of foods rich in vitamin D, including:
Fatty fish
Cheese
Eggs
Mushrooms
Fortified cereals
Juices
Some milks
You can also choose a vitamin D supplement in accordance with your medical team’s advice.
Common symptoms of vitamin D deficiency can be easy to overlook, but they include:
Dizziness
Feeling over tired
Bone and back pain
Depression
Slow healing from even small injuries
If you’re concerned about your hair loss and curious about your vitamin D level, testing for this deficiency is simple, and many doctors already include that blood draw with your annual cholesterol and other tests. Luckily, for most of us with low vitamin D levels, treatment is as easy as getting out to take a walk in the sun every so often and including certain foods in our diet.
HEALTHABLE
What is Vitamin D?
Vitamin D is special, not just because of what it does for your overall health, but because it’s actually not a vitamin at all; it’s a “pro-hormone” that your body can generate for itself. Typically having five to 10 minutes of sun exposure on your bare skin three times a week will generate adequate vitamin D for your body’s needs. However, vitamin D deficiency is common.
What does Vitamin D Do?
Vitamin D helps your body absorb important nutrients like calcium and phosphorous during the digestive process. Your body uses vitamin D, whether taken in supplement form or created by your body, to do many important things. Vitamin D deficiency can lead to many serious conditions, including:
Cardiovascular disease
Hypertension
Diabetes
Frequent illnesses
Bone loss and weakness
Hair loss
Vitamin D supports numerous body systems, working with other nutrients to bolster everything from your immune system to absorption of nutrients from food. Hair loss is one example of how a lack of vitamin D impacts your body’s normal functions with a direct, visible result.
How Hair Loss Happens
Hair Growth
While numerous changes to your body over time could lead to hair loss, a vitamin D deficiency causes hair loss in a particular way. Vitamin D helps your body create new hair follicles and maintain the healthy production of hair in existing follicles. Without follicles, you’d have no hair at all. Over time, follicles can become blocked or malnourished and produce thinner, less healthy hair. Sometimes hair follicles die altogether, and this can be irreversible. However, if your hair loss is truly due to vitamin D deficiency, boosting your consumption of vitamin D should help resolve the problem.
Boost Your Vitamin D Intake
Getting more vitamin D is fairly simple. As we noted earlier, for most people with fair skin, 10 minutes of sun exposure three times a week will help stimulate your body’s production of vitamin D. But, the weather isn’t always cooperative, and darker skinned people produce less vitamin D from sun exposure. You can add more vitamin D through your diet by including extra portions of foods rich in vitamin D, including:
Fatty fish
Cheese
Eggs
Mushrooms
Fortified cereals
Juices
Some milks
You can also choose a vitamin D supplement in accordance with your medical team’s advice.
Common symptoms of vitamin D deficiency can be easy to overlook, but they include:
Dizziness
Feeling over tired
Bone and back pain
Depression
Slow healing from even small injuries
If you’re concerned about your hair loss and curious about your vitamin D level, testing for this deficiency is simple, and many doctors already include that blood draw with your annual cholesterol and other tests. Luckily, for most of us with low vitamin D levels, treatment is as easy as getting out to take a walk in the sun every so often and including certain foods in our diet.
HEALTHABLE
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