8 Days to a healthy spine: Day 2 -- Get some sun

You don't want to be vitamin D deficient!

October 16 is World Spine Day

It is often that we take sunlight for granted. Most of us stay indoors, be it at home or the office we are hardly exposed to the sun. Sun is the biggest source of vitamin D which the body cannot produce. Vitamin D is important for maintaining the bone health. Sunlight leads to the production of vitamin D3 in the skin which when is then metabolised to 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D in the liver and the kidney. The main function of this dihydroxyvitamin D is to maintain calcium and phosphorus levels in the body within the normal range for cellular functions and also to promote mineralisation of the skeleton.

Most foods do not contain vitamin D and sunlight is it's best source. Most of us use sunscreens to protect ourselves from the harmful effects of the sun, but even a little amount of sunscreen and also the angle of sunlight affects the production of vitamin D3 in the skin. [1]

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Vitamin D deficiency is also the cause of metabolic bone disease and can also reduce bone mineral density causing osteomalacia and osteopenia worsening osteoporosis.

Lack of vitamin D is also linked with musculoskeletal pain. This kind of pain is associated with both the muscles and the bones and is reported as both including and excluding the joints and more than often occurs in the lower back. Studies show that vitamin D treatment helps in reducing musculoskeletal and lower back pain.[2]

So if you often stay indoors, it is important you get out and get some sun.