Vitamin D Deficiency is Linked to Mental Wellness

Vitamin D Deficiency Is Linked to Mental Wellness

If mental wellness was a mountain to climb pre-pandemic, an article published on the World Health Organization's website in October 2020 spelled out how much the pandemic has "disrupted" or "halted" mental health services worldwide.

When we talk about mental wellness, we are focusing on our mental or cognitive function and our emotions.  These all boil down to three interconnected areas; stress, sleep, and cognitive function.  Interconnection can be seen in these brief examples:

  • People may have issues with sleep, yet stress is the underlying reason they are having trouble sleeping. 

  • A person may have stress due to a lack of sleep.

  • A person may trouble cognitive function, not realizing that it is worry (stress) or sleep problems causing them not to remember something. 

As if this wasn't bad enough, poor mental wellness can impact all aspects of our lives, including cardiovascular health, immune health, weight control, elevated blood sugar, pain management, our relationships, difficulties at work, home, and school, and many other areas.

Vitamin D deficiency plays a role in these key areas of mental health and wellness.  Here is the science:

Cognitive Function

Population research has found that low vitamin D levels are associated with worse cognitive performance and cognitive decline when compared to high vitamin D levels in healthy adults[i]

Stress and Depression

  • A small clinical study suggests that vitamin D may modestly improve anxiety in patients with General Anxiety Disorder.[ii]

  • Low vitamin D levels are associated with increased symptoms of depression and anxiety. [iii]

Sleep

  • A small meta-analysis of clinical shows that taking vitamin D improves sleep when compared with control[iv]

  • Vitamin D deficiency is linked to poor sleep quality[v]

How does Vitamin D help?

  • Vitamin D is Neuroprotective[vi]

    • Vitamin D increases neurotrophic factors such as nerve growth.

  • Impact on Neurotransmitters

    • A recent study revealed that vitamin D may play a role in restoring balance between the neurotransmitters GABA (calming) and glutamate (excitatory).

    • Vitamin D is implicated in regulating the gene expression of various neurotransmitters such as acetylcholine, dopamine serotonin, and gamma butyric acid. [vii]

 


[i] Balion C, Griffith LE, Strifler L, Henderson M, Patterson C, Heckman G, Llewellyn DJ, Raina P. Vitamin D, cognition, and dementia: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Neurology. 2012 Sep 25;79(13):1397-405. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0b013e31826c197f. PMID: 23008220; PMCID: PMC3448747.

[ii] Eid A, Khoja S, AlGhamdi S, et al. Vitamin D supplementation ameliorates severity of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Metab Brain Dis. 2019;34(6):1781-1786

[iii] Akpınar Ş, Karadağ MG. Is Vitamin D Important in Anxiety or Depression? What Is the Truth? Curr Nutr Rep. 2022 Dec;11(4):675-681. doi: 10.1007/s13668-022-00441-0. Epub 2022 Sep 13. PMID: 36097104; PMCID: PMC9468237.

[iv] Abboud M. Vitamin D Supplementation and Sleep: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Intervention Studies. Nutrients 2022;14(5):1076

[v] Jung, Y. S., Chae, C. H., Kim, Y. O., Son, J. S., Kim, C. W., Park, H. O., ... & Kwak, H. S. (2017). The relationship between serum vitamin D levels and sleep quality in fixed day indoor field workers in the electronics manufacturing industry in Korea. Annals of occupational and environmental medicine, 29(1), 25.

[vi] Sultan S, Taimuri U, Basnan SA, Ai-Orabi WK, Awadallah A, Almowald F, Hazazi A. Low Vitamin D and Its Association with Cognitive Impairment and Dementia. J Aging Res. 2020 Apr 30;2020:6097820. doi: 10.1155/2020/6097820. PMID: 32399297; PMCID: PMC7210535.

[vii] Sultan S, Taimuri U, Basnan SA, Ai-Orabi WK, Awadallah A, Almowald F, Hazazi A. Low Vitamin D and Its Association with Cognitive Impairment and Dementia. J Aging Res. 2020 Apr 30;2020:6097820. doi: 10.1155/2020/6097820. PMID: 32399297; PMCID: PMC7210535.o   A recent study revealed that vitamin D may play a role in restoring balance between the neurotransmitters GABA (calming) and glutamate (excitatory).

o   Vitamin D is implicated in regulating the gene expression of various neurotransmitters such as acetylcholine, dopamine serotonin, and gamma butyric acid. [i]


[i] Sultan S, Taimuri U, Basnan SA, Ai-Orabi WK, Awadallah A, Almowald F, Hazazi A. Low Vitamin D and Its Association with Cognitive Impairment and Dementia. J Aging Res. 2020 Apr 30;2020:6097820. doi: 10.1155/2020/6097820. PMID: 32399297; PMCID: PMC7210535.