Importance of Vitamin D for us

Vitamin D is one of the most important vitamins for our overall health, but many people worldwide, are not getting enough of it. Although vitamin D can be stored in our body fat until it is needed, the problem is that it is not so easy to get enough vitamin D into our body.

The main job of vitamin D is to keep the right amount of calcium and phosphorus in our blood. These are the 2 nutrients that work together to make our bones strong. Without enough calcium and phosphorus being absorbed in our body, our bones would become brittle and break easily.

Until recently, experts believed that the main role of vitamin D was to keep our bones healthy and prevent them from breaking-up. But new research has shown many other reasons why this vitamin is so important for our health.

The Reasons Why Vitamin D Is So Important

It helps to:

• Prevent bone fractures

• Prevent falls in older people and osteoporosis

• Reduce the risk of cancer, especially colon cancer, prostate cancer, and breast cancer

• Reduce the risk of diabetes, especially in young people and in those living in high altitude

• Protect against heart disease, including high blood pressure and heart failure

• Reduce risk of multiple sclerosis

• Improved mood

• Improved lung function.

If You Don't Get Enough Vitamin D

• Bones can become weak and can break

• Children can get "rickets," a disease that prevents their bones from growing properly, delays their growth, and causes problems with their immune system

• Adults can develop "osteomalacia," a disease that weakens the bones and makes them hurt, and also causes fractures

• Older adults can get osteoporosis, which does not cause pain, but makes the bones thin and easy to fracture

The best way to know if one is getting enough vitamin D is to have a specific blood test. Otherwise, one may not know that one is not getting enough vitamin D until symptoms associated with vitamin D deficiency manifest.

What Are the Best Sources?

The best source for vitamin D is sunlight. Only a few foods supply vitamin D in significant amounts. The best source for this vitamin for humans is the Sun, not supplements. The problem is that too much exposure to the Sun can cause skin cancer, but too little Sun exposure is the reason that many people today don't get enough vitamin D either.

Because it's difficult to get all the vitamin D one needs from food, and since one does not want to be exposed to too much sunlight, most people need short-time sun exposures and daily vitamin D supplements. Spending a short time in the Sun each day, without sun block, may not be a bad idea, unless one has a special sensitivity to sun exposure.

If one is exposed to summer sunlight for about 10 to 15 minutes at least twice a day, the person is probably getting enough vitamin D. But when sunscreen is used, it prevents the skin from soaking up enough vitamin D.

Who Is at Risk for Vitamin Deficiency?

If one belongs to any of the following groups, he/ she may be at risk of vitamin D deficiency, in which case you should ask your doctor to for the vitamin D test:

• People who don't get a lot of exposure to sunlight

• People who use sunscreen often

• Older people are at very high risk, in part because aging skin doesn't absorb sunlight as well as younger skin

• People who are obese

• People who have medical conditions that interfere with their body's ability to absorb fat, such as cystic fibrosis, celiac disease, or pancreatitis

• People who have liver or kidney problems

• People who take certain medicines, like anti-seizure drugs or steroids.

Power of Visualization - A tool for achieving personal goals

As if COVID-19 was not enough we bore the brunt of Nature in the form of Amphan. It has been a scale of devastation that the city of Kolkata has never witnessed in the past. During this time of the year we are occasionally greeted by the oh-so pleasing norwester (kalbaishakhi) in the evenings. But then, something of this sort? Who knows if it is an early sign of things to come on account of global warming? Let us now focus on an engaging theme which shall test our will-power for a rewarding future.

The Greek philosopher Plato had once remarked, “Take charge of your life and you can do with it what you will.” This statement holds good for ‘visualization’. It is a time-tested powerful technique for transforming dreams into realities.

Visualization is an act of mentally picturing ideas, events, circumstances and concrete objects. The effectiveness of visualization is in enhancing our ability to achieve. A person who visualizes clearly sees the results that would come in pursuit of goals. The following steps are noteworthy:

1. When we visualize a goal it fuels motivation. It generates intense urgency and fuels intensity to keep motivation burning. Procrastination, inertia and indecision disappear. We are energized to keep moving towards the accomplishment of goals. Moreover, in the majority of situations vision gives more accurate knowledge than any other source. This is substantiated by the fact that we customarily think in pictures.

2. By constant practice we can improve our power of visualization and turn it into a forceful habit that increases our personal productivity. But it needs to be supported by concrete action. Once we start visualizing regularly and as per plan we shall find it be the most helpful tool used for harnessing the power of imagination. It also intensifies beliefs and commitments.

3. That seeing is believing has more than a grain of truth. When we visualize in possession of a goal we believe in our ability to achieve it.

4. Visualization sharpens concentration because it shows the exact path to the destination. We are no longer distracted by outward circumstances.

5. Visualization relieves stress. Anxiety and stress creep-in when uncertainty and doubt associated with the future. It reduces stress by providing believable information.

Paul J Mayer, a pioneer in the self-improvement industry, commented, “Whatever you vividly imagine, ardently desire, sincerely believe and enthusiastically act upon must inevitably come to pass.”Therefore, the crises we are face-to-face calls for individual efforts in thinking positive for a better future. It will for certain come to pass.

Sleep is a natural medicine but…do we know how to sleep?

Medical science, as our readers are aware, generally agrees that on an average 7/8 hours of daily sleep is necessary for an adult. Sleep is widely believed to be a natural medicine against various ailments. It also helps to soothe frayed nerves. However, is it not true that we do not come across as many articles on quality of sleep? For example, is 5/6 hours of sleep sufficient if the quality of sleep is good? A common-sense approach seems to suggest so. If it be so then does it not make sense to understand how to sleep better? Let us explore it.

Recently we came across the titled Living Within. It is a compilation of excerpts from the writings of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother of the Pondicherry Ashram. We approached the topic with curiosity and a tinge of scepticism. But the succinct explanation of the art of sleeping bowled us for. A few sections are quoted for the benefit of the readers.

• “If one is physically very tired, it is better not to go to sleep immediately, otherwise one falls into the in conscient.”

• “If one is very tired, one must stretch out on the bed, relax, loosen all the nerves one after the another until one becomes like rumpled cloth on one’s bed, as though one had neither bones nor muscles.”

• “When one has done that, the same thing must be done in the mind. Relax, do not concentrate on any idea or try to solve a problem or ruminate on impressions, sensations or emotions you had during the day.”

• “And then the mind also – the mind, try to keep it like that, without any activity. You must put upon the brain the force of peace, great quietude, of silence if possible and not follow ideas actively…” (Does it not sound familiar with the third step of Quality Mind Process – QMP – elaborated in the previous Issue?)

• “I guarantee that if you do this carefully, you are sure to sleep, and also sure that instead of falling into a dark hole you will sleep in light, and when you get up in the morning you will be fresh, fit, content, happy and full of energy for the day.”

The four steps highlighted above indicate the need for a steady and persistent effort for mastery oversleep. Both for fevers and for mental trouble sleep is a great help and its absence undesirable – it is the loss of a curative agency. Adoption of the above method of sleeping augurs well not only for the senior citizens but also for persons who are actively pursuing their respective careers. On a lighter note, come to think of it, saving two hours of sleep daily can be utilized for pursuing activities for which we apparently do not get time!