Happy October everyone… I think this is the best weather of the year with cool crisp nights and warm sunny days. With the shorter days and cooler temperatures comes less exposure to UV radiation which is good in some ways (less skin cancer worries) but also less absorption of Vitamin D.
This is a good time of year to start supplementing with Vitamin D3.
I wrote a complete Blog about the benefits of taking Vitamin D3 back in December of 2017, you can access that Blog here:
https://performancehealthcenter.com/2017/12/getting-enough-vitamin-d/
More recently I came across this article (written by the writers for TB12) that highlights the benefits vitamin D3 does for athletes and I wanted to share some of that information with you here.
Vitamin D for Athletes: What Can It Do?
When it comes to athletic performance, being deficient in vitamin D can hold you back. Here are three key ways:
- influences recovery speed
If intense bouts of exercise are a part of your training, a vitamin D deficiency may slow your recovery. A study published in Nutrients found that the amount of vitamin D circulating in the blood influenced how fast active adults recovered from a high-intensity workout. The takeaway was that inadequate levels of vitamin D can lead to sluggish recovery and may adversely affect your training and performance.
- Boosts muscle growth and power
Vitamin D is now viewed as a key regulatory hormone intertwined with a number of physiological processes, including muscle growth. Muscle biopsies taken from adults deficient in vitamin D revealed muscle atrophy, in particular with the fast-twitch muscle fibers athletes count on for power and speed. In a more recent study, insufficient vitamin D levels negatively impacted the muscle power, force, and velocity that goes into jumping height.
- Assists with overall athletic performance
While researchers believe more work is required to fully understand the relationship between vitamin D and athletic performance, it’s been established that the two are associated. Russian scientists — dating back to 1938 — observed that exposure to ultraviolet radiation (UV) could actually make an athlete run faster. German scientists in 1952 found that being exposed to adequate UV had a significant positive impact on cardiovascular performance in school-age children and that vitamin supplementation achieved similar results.
WHAT ARE THE BEST SUPPLEMENTS? Many places sell Vitamin D including TB12.
Here at Performance Health Center we offer Metagenics Vitamin D3 which is the best form of Vitamin D to take. This is the version your body prefers, and one Ultra concentrated Metagenics Vitamin D3 (easy to swallow) soft gel has 5000 IU in a single dose. You can get yours here at Performance Health Center.
We have made it easy for you to enjoy the convenience and savings by ordering nutritional supplements online! Visit and order directly from our Metagenics site: Performancehealth.metagenics.com
If you have any questions about this blog or your health in general please feel free to contact me at: [email protected]