When I was a kid in Minneapolis, I would get up in the morning and look out my window. In my simple world back then, my evaluation of what kind of day it was going to be was straightforward. Looking out the window, if it was a yellow day it would be a good day, and if it was a gray day, not so much.
Groundhogs Day in Reverse
I loved the sun, and everyone I knew loved it as well. Sunscreen was unheard of. As a matter of fact, as I got a little older, we encouraged the sun by lying on the beach and coating ourselves with oil, frying to a golden brown on all sides. Remember the Coppertone ad with the dog pulling the little girl’s pants revealing such a tan>
Times Have Certainly Changed
Now we lather sunscreen on generously, looking for the ultimate SPF of about a million, or so it seems. That’s not the only thing that changed, though.
We also lost a powerful tool for defending our health – Vitamin D.
By some reports, nearly 80% of us are deficient in this vitamin. But, you ask, so who cares? What difference does it make?
Well, one striking statement from and interview on a recent NBC Today show said that the proper amount of D could lower the likelihood of dying from anything. Okay, big claim. Hold your horses; while there is certainly a little hyperbole there, it may not be that far off.
Miracle Nutrient?
Vitamin D could actually be the “miracle nutrient,” not a statement I would make a practice of saying lightly. This vitamin, often called the sunshine vitamin, is crucial to both body and brain health.
More than likely, you don’t get enough of it. If you live in one of the northern states, like maybe the soon-to-be frozen tundra here in Minnesota, you are even less likely to get enough of it. That does make sense. If there were no sun, there wouldn’t be life on the planet. So we must benefit from it in a number of ways other than being able to see where we are going.
So, what does this mean for you, the boomer who is reading this?
Research is ongoing, but there is plenty of evidence of the benefits of Vitamin D as we get older. Think about it, what are some of the things we worry about these days? Osteoporosis, personal brain drain, or, as Richard Conte said in the original Ocean’s 11 – the big Casino, cancer.
I’m going way long here already, so we’ll get back to this tomorrow and take a look at some of the banes and benefits of the sunshine vitamin, especially as it relates to you.
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