Fall Equinox, & Our Health
It's Fall Equinox - it started yesterday at about 9 pm EST, and it's supposed to be counted on the 22nd and 23rd of September.
An equinox is when the sun shines directly on the Equator, providing about 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness. However, because of refraction and the inclination of the Earth, we don't get exactly 12 hours of daylight. For example, in the NY area, we'll receive exactly 12 hours of sunlight more precisely on September 25th, whereas the people in the Equator line experienced exactly 12 hours of daylight on September 1st.
Anyway, after the equinox, with the start of Fall/Autumn, the sunlight starts shifting to hit the southern hemisphere for longer hours than the northern hemisphere.
People tend to have less exposure to sunlight in the Fall, and we usually obtain our vitamin D from sunlight. However, you can supplement vitamin D. Vitamin D has essential functions in our bodies: it is responsible for the formation of hormones; therefore, consuming vitamin D regularly will help you control weight, help take care of bone health and our immune system, and prevent inflammation.
Take your vitamin D supplement with a tablespoon of olive oil, since vitamin D is fat soluble, or take it with a meal containing fats - a salad with olive oil or a meal with fatty fish.
You can also add vitamin D-rich foods to your daily routine: mushrooms, for example, are rich in vitamin D.
Foods Rich in Vitamin D
During Fall, we're also looking forward to hot beverages, preferably herbal teas, that bring many health benefits and are anti-inflammatory.
On the Improving-Your-Feel-Good-Hormones-Side: consider visiting these monuments during the next equinoxes (these align with the sun during the equinoxes because the refraction and inclination of the Earth were already taken into consideration): Chichen Itza in Mexico, Stonehenge in England, or Machu Picchu, in Peru. I've been to one of these, and the other two are on my bucket list.
To Our Health in The Fall/Autumn,
Girlene
