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“Can a daily dose of sunshine help lower your blood pressure? Learn how Vitamin D might be the key!”
The Sun’s Role in Heart Health: Exploring the Impact of Vitamin D on High Blood Pressure
One of the keys to lowering blood pressure could be sunshine. High blood pressure, or hypertension, is one of the most common risk factors for cardiovascular disease and stroke in the world. While traditional treatment approaches often focus on lifestyle changes and medications, emerging research has shed light on a potential natural remedy: Vitamin D. Often known as a “sunshine vitamin,” much of this vitamin is made in the skin through sunlight exposure, and has been found to help prevent heart disease as well as other diseases. Vitamin D is gaining greater prominence as a likely blood pressure client, and with the increasing evidence for this, it may provide a viable avenue to manage hypertension, particularly in populations where sunlight exposure limited for seasonal or geographical reasons.
The Relationship Between Weather and Vitamin D Deficiency
The body’s ability to manufacture Vitamin D is affected hugely by weather and its location. Ultraviolet B (UVB) rays from the sun cause a process to convert 7-dehydrocholesterol to cholecalciferol, or Vitamin D3. But the amount of UVB rays hitting the skin varies with variables in the environment, such as latitude, altitude, season and weather. For example, people who live in higher latitudes are exposed to less sunlight in winter and often this can cause Vit D deficiency. Exposure to solar radiation can be reduced still further by cloud cover, pollution, and urbanization.
These limitations disproportionately affect certain populations. For instance, those with more melanin in their skin (such as those with darker skin) need to be out in the sun a bit longer to produce the appropriate amount of Vitamin D. Likewise, if you spend most of your days indoors or cover most of your skin with clothing, you may have difficulty staying at adequate levels. Some of these groups at higher risk to develop Vitamin D deficiency, which is related to numerous health conditions such as hypertension. It is important to understand what the connection is between Vitamin D…
