They say doomsday is near.
But you’ve been safe
from the chaotic world
in your bunker for months.
Now your bones are cracking,
you haven’t been able to sleep for days
and the blues are hitting you hard.
It seems that staying isolated
from the outside world
didn’t keep you safe after all.
But we’re here to help.
Vitamin D is a hormone
that your body creates
when sunlight gets on your skin.
Its job is to help you absorb nutrients
like calcium and phosphorus.
Without sunlight,
your body has a higher risk
of developing high blood pressure,
diabetes
and some autoimmune diseases.
Children can develop rickets,
which affects bone development
and could deform their bones.
It could even kill a child.
Living in the darkness
can affect your circadian rhythms,
the mental,
behavioral
and physical changes
that follow a 24-hour cycle.
They respond to dark
and light changes in the environment.
When your eyes perceive light,
it signals your body to produce
hormones like cortisol to wake you up.
When the night comes,
your body
receives signals that there’s less light
and produces melatonin to make
you feel tired and drowsy.
That's your cue to sleep.
Without these changes
of light and darkness,
your internal clock can go out of sync.
You could be awake for days.
But you can mimic sunlight
during the day
by exposing your body to bright,
artificial light.
Lightboxes and
desk lamps do the trick.
Just remember to turn them off at night
so you can adjust your circadian rhythm.
According to the Arthritis Foundation,
enjoying 15 minutes in sunlight
every other day
would produce enough Vitamin D
to have healthy bones.
If you don’t have enough vitamin D,
it might keep your body
from absorbing calcium.
Your body needs calcium and collagen
to build bones.
Without them, your bones can ache,
throb and become brittle.
Being stuck in a bunker
could make it impossible to get sunlight
on your skin.
So you may want to consider
taking vitamin D supplements.
Cod liver oil is a natural option.
You might hate the taste,
but your bones will thank you.
Trust me.
Shying away from sunlight
can give you SAD.
That’s right,
seasonal affective disorder
is a kind of depression
related to seasonal changes.
Symptoms usually start around autumn
and last through the winter.
You’ll feel moody and without energy.
Without enough sunlight,
levels of brain chemicals
like serotonin drop.
That can trigger depression.
You can raise your serotonin levels
without getting exposed
to ultraviolet B radiation.
Working out regularly
for at least 30 minutes
can improve your mood.
A 2014 study published in the
Journal of Clinical Endocrinology
& Metabolism
revealed that cancer patients
with high levels of Vitamin D
had higher survival rates
than patients with vitamin D deficiency.
You can also get vitamin D
by eating a lot of egg yolks,
cheese
and fatty fish, like salmon.
So it might be a good idea
to stuff the fridge with these foods
before entering your bunker.
Around the globe up to
1 billion people
have low blood levels of vitamin D,
and some people have a higher risk
of a vitamin D deficiency.
Being an older adult or not including dairy
in your diet
can make your health more vulnerable
when you lack this vitamin.
Drinking milk can help.
In countries like Canada and Sweden,
the law obliges manufacturers
to add vitamin D to cows' milk.
You survived without sunlight.
But what about the opposite of that?
Sunburns cause the most common
type of cancer in the U.S.
If you want to know how to avoid it,
we have the video for you
here on How to Survive.