Vitamin D and fitness – Is there any benefit?

July, 2023

Taking certain vitamins and supplements can help when trying to reach a fitness goal.

From promoting muscle growth, boosting your immune system, and providing more energy, vitamins play a significant role in keeping our bodies in good health.

In this blog post, I want to have a look specifically at vitamin D.

You probably know this as the ‘sunshine vitamin’ as it is the one we get from natural sunlight. However, as we know from living in the UK, it often feels like we have a distinct lack of sunshine!

Let’s find out if there is a beneficial link between exercise and getting your recommended intake of vitamin D.

What are the benefits of Vitamin D?

Vitamin D has the benefit of regulating our calcium and phosphate levels.

This is important for our overall health and helps to keep our bones, muscles, and teeth healthy. Vitamin D can also help to boost our immune system, especially when paired with regular exercise and it has been shown to assist with reducing fatigue and increasing energy levels.

There is also some evidence that vitamin D can promote muscle growth and development.

How do you intake the right level of vitamin D?

For most of us, we can get our recommended level of vitamin D from sunshine. While some summers in the UK can seem a bit grey and dreary, between the months of April and September, the sun should give most of us enough vitamin D.

However, during autumn and winter, it is recommended that we take vitamin D supplements.

Average adults should intake 10 micrograms or 400 IU of vitamin D per day and ensure that you don’t exceed this limit.

Some foods also help to boost your vitamin D levels and these include:

• Cereals
• Oily fish
• Egg yolks
• Red meat

Vitamin D and fitness

So, while getting the recommended daily dosage of vitamin D is important for our overall health, is it beneficial when exercising?

The answer is yes.

One advantage is that vitamin D helps to strengthen our bones. For many types of exercise – including weight lifting and running – this can help to cut down on the likelihood of injuries and it can help to boost performance.

Vitamin D is beneficial to our immune system and is often associated with alleviating fatigue. By getting the correct intake of vitamin D, you not only stand a better chance of fighting off illnesses and infection (which can hamper your exercise routine), but you can boost your energy levels as well.

Finally, vitamin D is an important nutrient for muscle growth. While taking vitamin D on its own won’t promote muscle development (you still need to put the work in!), it does help to improve strength.

Vitamin D is an important nutrient and has wide ranging health effects. It also helps with fitness and can have positive impacts alongside regular exercise. Even though you can get your vitamin D intake from natural sunlight, supplements can help too.

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