Awhile back someone said to Joyce, "Your skin is so smooth, how do you manage that?" Of course what was left unsaid was "your skin is smooth for someone of your age". Nevertheless, I've noticed that neither one of us has many wrinkles yet, and the secret is not some rejuvenating lotion or treatment. All you have to do is live in a place where the sun shines less than a third of the time.
As we all have been told repeatedly, the sun damages the skin and causes aging.
Of course there are other factors at work when you live in cloud country. Joyce and I also recently discovered that we have a vitamin D deficiency and of course, vitamin D is supplied by sunshine. In fact, Joyce was so depleted that with a normal range of 30 to 80, she tested 9. I was much better, probably because I spend time in the garden and get more sun. However, my results was 19. So, we are both taking 5,000 units of prescription strength vitamin D once a week for the next 12 weeks.
The really interesting thing is that lack of vitamin D causes all kinds of symptoms that we both thought were simply the result of the aging process. For example, dry skin, painful joints and muscles, depression, high blood pressure, type 1 diabetes, kidney problems and a pasty face are but a few. So I am hopeful that this course of vitamins will make us both feel better, or at least more energetic. I've always noticed that I have much more energy when the sun shines and usually a rush of optimism and euphoria. Of course this doesn't last long since the sun usually disappears after a couple of days.
This also might explain why I feel so good when we are on vacation in a place like Hawaii or Spain. (I mean besides not having to work and being able to do whatever we feel like.) In fact, my own personal prescription for vitamin D deficiency is frequent trips to the tropics. Wish I could get the doctor to prescribe that treatment and have it covered by my health insurance. Oh well, at least they covered the blood test and gave us a break on the price of the vitamins. In this day and age I suppose you can't do much better.
That's really interesting. I noticed how wrinkle-free people from Seattle were when we arrived at the airport last time. I guess that's the downside of living in such a sunny city... But the vitamin D thing... I'm glad you found out about it. incredible.
ReplyDeleteJust to be on the safe side, wash those nasty ol' Vitamin D tablets down with a decent quality red wine, and you'll live to be 102 with not a wrinkle in sight......
ReplyDeleteI think regular trips to Spain are the best treatment possible. Arabella seconds the motion (probably because she just loves to be outside and she knows that's what you would need too... little rascal!).
ReplyDeleteCorrection - The vitamin capsules are 50,000 units, not 5,000. That amount can only be gotten by prescription.
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