Sunshine, sunshine, a happy day.

Quick, the sun's shining, let's get out there and gobble up a bit of Vitamin D. As with many vitamins and minerals, opinion is divided as to how much Vitamin D is needed for optimum health, but I think it's safe to say that most of us in the North-east of England are running on very low stocks. Vit D is best known for being needed to keep bones and teeth healthy by regulating the uptake of calcium and other bone minerals but deficiency has also been linked with other health problems such as aching muscles and bones, fatigue and depression. The best way to increase your Vit D levels is to go out into the sunshine, expose as much flesh as is decent (!) and stay out for about half the time it would normally take for you to burn. So being quite fair skinned I only need about 7 minutes in the midday sun, if you are darker skinned you'll need longer.

Why not combine your healthy sun session with a brisk walk? This will really push you into a healthy zone. Walking will help lift your mood, it is weight bearing exercise with helps to guard your bone density (thus warding off osteoporosis), it increases your breathing rate thus helping with cardiovascular strength and blood return from your feet and ankles. The rise and fall of the diaphragm and movement through your low back massages your abdomen which helps gut efficiency. OK, shut down your device, be it tablet, phone or pc. GET OUT THERE (just remember to cover up once your Vitamin D sunbath time is up)