If you're often tired, it may be because you're deficient in vitamin D. Your body needs vitamin D to perform a variety of functions, such as keeping your bones strong, but your body also needs enough vitamin D to regulate your cells that provide energy to every part of your body, says the University of Maryland Medical Center, which adds that vitamin D deficiency is common in the United States.
Mental Fatigue
If you lack enough vitamin D in your body, you may be suffer mental fatigue from seasonal affective disorder, a type of depression that is associated with the low levels of sunlight in winter and taking vitamin D supplements may improve the tired and sad moods that seasonal affective disorder can cause, the University of Maryland Medical Center reports. WomentoWomen.com says that the lack of enough vitamin D can cause many different kinds of mental fatigue, including depression, mood swings and disturbed sleep.
Physical Fatigue
You may also experience physical fatigue caused by a vitamin D deficiency in the form of muscle weakness that's often accompanied by muscle pain, reports Merck Manuals.com. Your whole body may simply feel generally tired if you're deficient in vitamin D, WomentoWomen.com says. Also, the University of Maryland Medical Center reports that a vitamin D deficiency may increase your risk of developing multiple sclerosis, a central nervous system disease that causes many symptoms, including fatigue.
Recommended Amounts
The adequate daily intake amount of vitamin D in the United States has been set at 200 IU for adults up to age 50 and 400 IU for people ages 51 to 70, but some researchers think those amounts may be too low, reports the University of Maryland Medical Center. The older you get, the more vitamin D your body requires, making you more prone to vitamin D deficiency and the fatigue that's associated with it, says Merck Manuals.com, which adds that seniors may need as much as 1,000 IU to 2,000 IU of vitamin D daily to prevent suffering from a vitamin D deficiency.
Sources
You can get vitamin D from spending time outside exposed to sunlight, since your body makes vitamin D when your skin is exposed to the sun's ultraviolet rays, the University of Maryland Medical Center says. But many people don't spend enough time in the sun to get all the vitamin D that their bodies need, so they take a vitamin D supplement either by itself or through a multivitamin pill, reports Merck Manuals.com. Another way to get vitamin D is through food, and foods that contain vitamin D include eggs, fatty fish like tuna and salmon, cod liver oil, and milk and cereal that have been fortified with vitamin D, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center.
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