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westerville, reynoldsburg,
new albany pilates ashtanga
aerobics Columbus Gahanna
Ohio OH
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Patti Helsten Petrella
teaching Pilates and Yoga
Body/Spirit Fitness offers you ideas and
information for fitness and health for the
body, mind and spirit.
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Sunlight
by Patti Petrella
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Most people are familiar with the seasonal affective disorder
(SAD), but, we all may suffer with it to lesser degrees and it
can affect our weight loss
Serotonin levels are low with people who are depressed due
to SAD, but a new study show that even healthy people have
lower levels of Serotonin in the fall and winter.
Symptoms include:
• Depression, feelings of gloom and despondency for no
apparent reason
• Lethargy, lack of energy
• Anxiety, inability to cope
• Social problems, irritability not wanting to see people
• Sleep problems, finding it hard to stay awake during
the day and having disturbed nights
• Loss of libido, not interested in sex or physical contact
• Craving for carbohydrates and sweet foods, increased
appetite leading to weight gain.
Even if you do not have full blown SAD, you may have some
or all of these symptoms to a lesser degree and they may
interfere with your weight loss.
There are several other ways in which sunlight may help your
weight loss. It has been found that farm animals living out
doors don’t gain fat as easily as those raised indoors.
Sunlight stimulates the thyroid gland, which increases the
metabolism and causes more calories to be burned.
In his book Sunlight, by Dr. Zane R. Kime, he writes,
"Stimulation of the thyroid gland (by sunlight) increases the
body's basal metabolism rate, burning up more energy or
calories.''
Vitamin D deficiency has also been linked with obesity.
Vitamin D has recently been shown to lower leptin secretion.
Leptin is a hormone produced by fat cells and is involved in
weight regulation. It is thought that the hormone signals the
brain when fat cells are "full," but exactly how the hormone
controls weight is not completely clear.
Additionally, obesity by itself, probably further worsens
vitamin D deficiency due to the decreased bioavailability of
vitamin D from skin and dietary sources, because of its being
deposited in body fat.
Of course, taking vitamin D is tricky, because there can be
Vitamin D toxicity, since it is an oil soluble vitamin. A good
multi vitamin will help.
The other alternative to combat SAD is making sure that you
get some sunlight. It is difficult in the fall and winter months
to get enough.
One of the ways that you can balance out this lack of
sunshine in the winter is through the use of full spectrum
lights.
We offer them at our fitness center and online. I like to keep
a flood light (as seen below) by my computer all winter long. I
usually leave it on for an hour or so a day. Other people
might try the “light boxes” to sit in front of for additional full
spectrum lighting.
Sun screen is important, but it is also beneficial to get a little
sun now and then, especially in the shorter days of light.
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