Your Air Conditioner May Be Affecting Your Health

Is Air Conditioning Killing Us?

On a summer day, the hum of an air conditioner can be a welcoming sound; most of us can't imagine life without it. But researchers have warned that our addiction to A/C may have changed our lifestyles for the worse. While we don't have to suffer from the heat, our health may be harmed.

In Western culture, do you know how much sunlight does the average individual receives? We derive an indirect answer from studying the Indoor Air Quality Act that was passed by Congress in 1970. In this national U.S. study, it was found that the average American spent 93% of their 24-hour day indoors.

Since that time, air conditioning, computers, video games, and extensive television programming have become more readily available, thus increasing time spent indoors. Because of such changes in current lifestyles, humans are now more dependent on oral vitamin D supplementation than in our distant past.

Why We Need Vitamin D

Our need for vitamin D was first identified in the mid-1600s when rickets was a major health problem for young children. Families were leaving rural farming communities, heading to urban areas, which resulted in limited sunlight exposure.

Rickets is a disorder that causes bone deformities and muscle weakness, and it was an epidemic in northern Europe and industrialized northern regions of the U.S. in the 19th century. That's when a Polish researcher found that giving children fish liver oils healed their rickets. That was the first indication that a nutritional deficiency was involved - and in the 1920s vitamin D was identified as the link to rickets.

50 years later, vitamin D and its metabolites were scientifically analyzed. That's when researchers discovered that vitamin D has a unique structure that has allows sunlight synthesis -- which means the body can create vitamin D3 following sunlight exposure.

Lack of Sunlight Leads to Multiple Health Problems

When we spend so much time indoors, we don't get the sunlight exposure needed for the synthesis of vitamin D in the skin. This leads to vitamin D deficiency, which has been linked to a multitude of health problems -- including osteoporosis, psoriasis, chronic kidney disease, diabetes, asthma, periodontal disease, cardiovascular disease, schizophrenia, depression, as well as cancers of the breast, colon, prostate, ovaries, esophagus, and lymphatic system.

Recent studies have also linked vitamin D deficiency to sleep disorders, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, celiac disease, irritable bowel syndrome, and multiple sclerosis.

Sleep Disorders

Research shows that staying most of the time indoors can alter the cortisol and melatonin levels, causing a disturbance in the sleep-wake cycle.

Now, researchers in Dublin, Ireland report a higher incidence of vitamin D deficiency in people with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), which involves a pattern of interrupted breathing during the night's sleep. In their study, 98% of volunteers with were found to have a deficiency. Those with severe OSA had the greatest vitamin D deficiency. Other studies have shown similar findings.

Fibromyalgia

A growing body of research suggests that low vitamin D levels may be linked to fibromyalgia, a chronic condition that causes intense pain all over the body, as well as a host of other symptoms. Researchers believe that raising levels may ease these symptoms.

Fibromyalgia is believed to be caused by high levels of brain-stimulating chemicals which cause a hyper-aware state and sensory overload. Vitamin D is believed to help calm the brain, so a deficiency could contribute to a hyper-stimulated brain and supplementation may help combat the symptom. Vitamin D is also believed to fight inflammation involved in fibromyalgia.

People suffering from the chronic pain of fibromyalgia might benefit from taking vitamin D supplements if they suffer from low levels of the vitamin, a new study from Austria suggests.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Chronic fatigue syndrome is much more than extreme fatigue, it also has a wide range of other symptoms, including flu-like symptoms and chronic pain. Low vitamin D levels are linked to fatigue, and scientists are still investigating the connection with chronic fatigue. Additionally, they believe that vitamin D deficiency makes a person more susceptible to severe infection and inflammation.

Research indicates that vitamin D deficiency may be involved in oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction which researchers suspect are important mechanisms in chronic fatigue syndrome.

Celiac Disease

Celiac disease is a condition in which eating foods that contain the protein gluten found in wheat, barley, and rye causes damage to your small intestine. People who have celiac disease cannot absorb nutrients from their food and this can lead to serious health complications, such as malnutrition, osteoporosis, infertility, and even cancer.

Many people recently diagnosed with celiac disease find they are deficient in vitamin D. In fact, vitamin D deficiency occurs in 64% of men and 71% of women with celiac disease. The issue for those with celiac disease could be continuing malabsorption, or it could be a lack of sun exposure and adequate dietary intake.

Irritable Bowel Syndrome

IBS is a long-term health condition causing stomach cramps, bloating, diarrhea, or constipation. It may affect between 25 million to 45 million people in the United States. In one study, where 51 people with IBS participated, blood tests found 82% of them had low vitamin D levels. Those with low D also said they had less quality of life than those with higher levels of the vitamin.

Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease in which the body's immune system attacks its own tissues, including myelin, the fatty substance that coats and protects nerve fibers in the brain and spinal cord. A combination of genetics and environmental factors appears to cause vulnerability to develop MS.

A study in the Jan. 13, 2004 issue of Neurology indicated that women who get doses of vitamin D that are typically found in daily multivitamin supplements -- of at least 400 international units -- are 40% less likely to develop multiple sclerosis compared with those not taking over-the-counter supplements.

Vitamin D in Your Diet

The vitamin D found in foods or in a supplement is easily absorbed, but bodily requirements are higher than what is provided in a traditional Western diet. Only those peoples who ingest large quantities of fish, seal, or whale including the fat, such as traditional Eskimos will have an adequate intake of vitamin D in their food.

Also, vitamin D is added to cereal and milk, which originally helped prevent rickets in children.

How Much Vitamin D?

Some experts recommend between 1,000 to 2,000 IU of vitamin D daily. That far exceeds the National Institutes of Health recommendation of 600 IU/day for most adults. However, recent discoveries about vitamin D's importance to overall health are changing opinions about how much is enough.

Because the body has such a significant need for vitamin D, we humans are dependent on vitamin D supplements to fulfill this need. Talk to your doctor before taking a vitamin D3 supplement, as your doctor may request a blood test to check your levels.

We can certainly benefit from exercising outdoors in the sunlight as a means to get our vitamin D. You need 20 minutes of exercise every day for good health - so it's as easy as taking a walk in the sunshine to get your vitamin D.