The Link Between Vitamin D Deficiency and Depression is Real

I have lived in Chicago my whole life and one of the things I hate most about it, is that we set the clocks back. In just a few days we will set the clocks back and slowly, the days will go from about 11 hours a day to barely 9 hours a day. By the middle of December the sun will rise at about 7:15 am in the morning and will set about 4:15 pm in the early evening. What is really horrible about this fact, is that many of us, get up before the sun rises and go home after the sun set which translates into no time in the sun.

Now just the simple notion that I could preform my day without ever having the sun actually touch my skin is depressing enough, but there is another factor which is all too common. Vitamin D deficiency is not only real, but effects millions of people and many don't even know it.

Vitamin D is a necessary vitamin and essential for numerous body functions including playing an important role in maintaining bone structure, immunity, muscles, lungs and kidneys. It is also know as the happiness vitamin. It plays a role in our mood. While Vitamin D can be found in certain foods, about 80% of this important vitamin usually comes from just simply being in the sun. With just as little as 20 minutes a day, your daily requirement of Vitamin D is filled. The problem is that many of us during the short winter days, do not even get this.

This will be a problem for some people who are susceptible to depression associated with vitamin D deficiency. I know about depression caused by vitamin D deficiency all too well.

Last winter was an especially hard one for me. I had some personal things going on and I chalked up my blues to this. It seemed that as the long winter months dragged on I could not shake my feelings of sadness, depression and anxiety. Even after some of my problems corrected themselves, I still was left with a feeling of hopelessness. I do not have a history of depression and therefore didn't have an knowledge of how to deal with it.

My daughter was the one who brought up the subject of a lack of vitamin D, learning about it from her health class at school. She suggested that maybe I had a deficiency and that a vitamin might do the trick. I brushed her off. There was no way that these feelings could be cured with a simple vitamin.

I went to the doctor and after my blood work came back, I couldn't believe what she told me. I did have a deficiency and I needed to take a supplement. Even when the doctor told me this, I still didn't believe that a simple vitamin could make a difference but I was desperate to change my thought patterns so I tried it.

It made such a difference beginning on the very first day I took it. I didn't realize it right away but suddenly, like a small miracle, I started to feel better. I started to feel like my old self. I started to feel normal. My thought patterns and self talk improved and I could think positively about my day and the future.

I have been taking a vitamin supplement with a dose of 1,000 IU of vitamin D ever since. Even if you have not felt the effects of vitamin D deficiency in the form of depression, it is important to take a supplement, although I am not a doctor, so please check with yours first. Because as we all know living in Chicago, you probably will not get the required dosage from the sun, beginning in just a few short days.

You can find Melanie Gangolf on facebook or read more at melaniegangolf.com .