Vitamin D is an important vitamin for maintaining health. Vitamin D keeps the brain sharp, keeps bones strong, and helps a person sleep better. But low Vitamin D levels are somewhat common and can affect a person’s quality of life. And when the daylight hours are shorter (such as in the winter months), Vitamin D levels can drop quite drastically since one of the main sources of Vitamin D is sunlight.
If you are concerned that your loved one might be low on Vitamin D, a simple blood test can get the results for you and your loved one. Often, being low in Vitamin D has no symptoms, but if your loved one is suffering from several of these symptoms and has no other health condition that may be causing the symptoms, having a doctor do a quick blood test to check Vitamin D levels could be a good course of action to determine what is causing your loved one to experience these symptoms.
- Not sleeping well.
If your loved one is tossing and turning more at night or has shared with you and her senior home care team that she’s exhausted because she can’t sleep at night, it could be that she’s low on Vitamin D. Not sleeping well leads to daytime exhaustion that can be hard for her to overcome. - Aches in her bones.
When your loved one says she just hurts all over and it goes down to her bones, a lack of Vitamin D may be the culprit. This achiness and pain can also really tire her out, making doing any sort of activity, even ones she enjoys like going on a walk in the garden with her senior home care provider, seem like too much effort to do. - Feeling depressed and morose.
Someone whose Vitamin D levels are low may find themselves in a bit of a funk that they can’t seem to get out of. They may begin to feel depressed and sad, not really having a reason why, but just a general feeling of being blue that doesn’t seem to go away. Since Vitamin D helps manage a person’s mood, when it’s low, depression may come on without much warning. - Getting sick more often than normal.
If your loved one can’t seem to shake that cold, or has battled a sore throat several times this season, it might be because she doesn’t have enough Vitamin D. - Hair loss or looking pale.
Both of these symptoms, when combined with any of the above, could be due to a lack of Vitamin D.
People with darker skin, who are obese, or who have osteoporosis are more likely to suffer from low Vitamin D levels. If your loved one has those risk factors in addition to several of the symptoms listed above, it might be as simple as a deficiency in Vitamin D, which can easily be treated with supplements, food choices, and of course, plenty of sunshine.
If you or an aging loved one is considering senior home care in Huntley, MT, call the caring staff at SYNERGY Home Care of Billings today. 406-839-2390
