1. Your Skin Is Dark
Darker skin and vitamin D deficiency can go hand-in-hand. This is important if you are Black, because then you are at greater risk for low vitamin D in your blood. In fact, you may need as much as 10-25 times more sun than lighter skin folk to produce the same amount of this vitamin. The reason is pigmentation. The more pigment your skin has, i.e. the darker it is, the more protection from the sun it provides. Kind of a Catch 22—because your dark skin protects you from the sun, you need more sun to compensate. If your skin is dark, read about the rest of these symptoms to know if you do, in fact, need more vitamin D.
2. You’re Feeling Down
It’s been proven that people with deficient vitamin D also have deficient positive energy. Often, a diagnosis of depression is coupled with a diagnosis of low vitamin D. In a small but telling study, three severely depressed women who also suffered from a vitamin D deficiency began taking oral vitamin D supplements. When their D levels normalized, each reported feeling better and markedly less depressed. In a much larger study, researchers found a strong correlation between depression and lack of vitamin D. Perhaps it’s called the “Sunshine” vitamin because of the positive state of mind it provides.