How Fitness And Vitamin D Are Connected
Are you struggling to achieve your fitness goals despite working hard and sticking to the plan you’ve laid out for yourself? If so, you may be overlooking an important piece of the puzzle—vitamin D. This essential nutrient not only supports bone health but also plays a vital role in muscle strength and immune function. With so many people spending the majority of their time indoors, it’s becoming increasingly common to have low levels of vitamin D, which can hold you back when it comes to your fitness goals. Let us explain.
Vitamin D and Your Muscles
Having healthy muscles is extremely important. Even if you aren’t setting out to get toned or become a powerlifter, keeping your muscles strong and healthy is crucial. Why? Because your muscles play a major role in everything you do—from the activities you enjoy, like dancing, walking the dog, and playing sports, to activities that feel less fun, like doing the dishes, mowing the lawn, and mopping the floor. Your muscles are what allow you to move freely, and they also help protect your joints from being damaged.
By now, we all know the important role that calcium plays in supporting our muscles. This is one of the areas where vitamin D is so important. This is because the human body needs vitamin D in order to properly absorb calcium. Obviously, it’s important, but researchers have discovered that this may not be the only way that vitamin D supports strong, healthy muscles.
Scientists have found vitamin D receptors in skeletal muscles, which are the muscles that surround your bones. Research related to these receptors and the role they play in supporting musculoskeletal health is still ongoing, but the studies that have already been conducted have shown that providing your body with vitamin D may help improve muscle strength, prevent muscle injury, maintain a healthy muscle mass, and protect against proximal weakness (weakness of muscles close the midline of your body).*
Other Health Benefits of Vitamin D
Of course, supporting your muscles isn’t the only way vitamin D can help you make progress toward your fitness goals. This important vitamin also impacts other areas of health that can help or hinder you during your fitness journey and in other areas of your life as well.
- Bone Health. You already know that calcium is a vital mineral for keeping your bones strong and healthy, and since vitamin D is necessary for your body to absorb calcium, it’s easy to see how vitamin D plays an important role here as well.*
- Immune Health. The cells that make up your skeletal muscles aren’t the only ones in your body that have vitamin D receptors—many of your immune cells have these receptors too. This indicates that vitamin D plays an important role in your immune function, and research has found that this important vitamin can help modulate both innate and adaptive immunity*
- Gut Health. The gut is at the core of our overall health, and it needs many nutrients to stay in the best shape possible. Vitamin D is one of those nutrients, as it has been found to help support a healthy, happy gut in a number of different ways.*
- Brain Health. We all want to keep our minds in tip-top shape, especially as we age, and vitamin D can help with that, too. Researchers have found that vitamin D can help prevent cognitive decline as we age and even help improve cognitive function in adults who had already experienced some decline in this area.*
How to Get More Vitamin D
With an estimated 41% of Americans not getting enough vitamin D, there are many people who are wondering what steps they can take to get more of this important vitamin. If that’s you, then here are three of our favorite tips.
1. Spend Time Under the Sun
We’re often told that spending time in the sun is bad for our health because of the sun’s UV rays, and while we should always take steps to protect our skin, this doesn’t mean that sun exposure is all bad. In fact, the sun’s UV rays actually play an important role in our health. What happens is that as you are exposed to more sunlight, your skin cells “harvest” these rays and produce vitamin D as a byproduct of the process. In order to protect your skin from sun damage while also soaking up some vitamin D, you can take steps like wearing sun-protection clothing, putting on sunscreen, and avoiding prolonged sun exposure between the hours of 10 am and 3 pm which is when the sun’s harmful UV rays are the strongest.
2. Incorporate Vitamin D-Rich Foods in Your Diet
Your diet is a very important part of your health journey, and this case is no different since your diet is a great way to provide your body with vitamin D. Just like with other nutrients, there are some foods that have a higher concentration of this vitamin, and including them in your diet is a simple and effective way to boost your vitamin D intake. Consider trying foods like milk, sardines, tuna, salmon, egg yolks, and fortified cereals, which are all known for being rich in vitamin D.
3. Take Natural Supplements
Sunshine and food aren’t the only ways to get your daily dose of vitamin D. If you prefer, you can also get it from a supplement. If you choose to go this route, choose your supplement carefully. Do your research and find a company and product that uses natural, whole food ingredients and is certified safe.
Boost Your Vitamin D with Renew
Whether you are looking to boost your progress toward your fitness goals or support your body as much as possible, adding a vitamin D supplement to your routine can help. And if you’re on the hunt for the right supplement, look no further than Renew from New Earth.
Not only does Renew includes vitamin D3, which is the more effective form of vitamin D, but it also include a powerful blend of other all-natural ingredients like organic Wild Microalgae®, green tea extract, wild blueberry extract, and carnosine. All of these ingredients work syngistically to help nourish your body from the inside out so you can continue to look and feel your best.
The best part? You can put Renew to the test risk-free with our 90-day money-back gaurantee!
At New Earth we are on a mission to positively impact the health of every body and soul we come in contact with. We specialize in producing third-party certified, organic whole food supplements including a variety of probiotics, and digestive support. Our supplements feature a rare, yet highly nutritious superfood, Aphanizomenon flos-aquae (AFA). Also known as organic Wild Microalgae®, AFA is a unique type of microalgae that is available in many forms including tablets, capsules, and powders all designed to help you on your journey to holistic wellness. The best part? We offer a 90-day money-back risk-free guarantee on all of our products. Visit our website to learn more.
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
