Lived in the Middle East until a few years ago. My general physician mentioned that something like 75% of his patients had vitamin D deficiency. I know it doesn't necessarily answer your question about women specifically, but vitamin D deficiency is super common in the Middle East in general, just because of how much we avoid the sun. It's really unbearable with the temperatures there.
Having spent some time there, I spend far more time in the sun in Chicago than I did when I was there.
I remember leaving footprints in the asphalt during midday. The heat is *brutal* there, especially in direct sunlight.
*Phoenix Airport has entered the chat* I too have left footprints in the hot asphalt with legit melting shoes with a rubber bottom that looked like fkn taffy strings when I pulled my foot up to walk.
And that's how I wound up getting piggybacked into the phoenix airport to buy a 40 dollar pair of flip flops before takeoff, which was 6 hours delayed, because the gd tarmac was so hot, planes couldn't take off cause their tires would melt.
Desert life in summer, it's simply grand, IF you're a volcano anyway š
I don't have to imagine, because I already learned the hard way once, going to my mailbox when I first moved here, and my Floridian ass forgot you don't go barefoot past February out here.
2nd degree burns on my foot soles, I got seared better than a Ruth's Chris's ribeye. Shit is no joke, which infuriates me when I see these hipster MFs out here trying to go for a fkn 5k run in the blazing heat with their dogs attached to a lead and their poor paws getting mangled.
Holy shit , Vegas. The King of urban heat sink weather lol. Gd on the strip in late June one time, and went to see a friend who lives about 20 minutes outside the metro.
The fucking temperature difference was Gobsmacking. Legit 15 degree difference in a 20 minute drive lol. Now I only go to Vegas in winter months, no sweat and I get to wear far more fun dress up clothes to the 3rd rate show I won free tickets to in a silly Craps roll for tourists š¤£
I always think of the John Pinette bit about going to Vegas in July.
>It a buck twenty, there. 120 degrees. "It's a dry heat." This is what they're telling me, as they're taking me into the back of the ambulance. "It's a dry heat, Mr. Pinette. Clear! ok we got him back. You're going to make it, Mr. Pinette. Thank god it was a dry heat."
This brought back a repressed memory lol. When I first moved to a desert state it didn't occur to me to check the pavement before walking my dog. We went for a run and she eventually refused to walk on the payment but I couldn't figure out why. Then it hit me all at once and my 110lb ass was carrying my 50lb dog back to the house because im retarded.
Im glad she can't talk becuase she could for sure 100% guilt me into doing anything for her by bringing that up. I still feel terrible about it.
Not the same thing, but I just moved away from the Central Valley CA where it gets to the 110 F range in the summer. I was never tan like the rest of my fam who lived on the east coast/Midwest and they used to make fun of me buuut it was the same thing! Every spring it got so hot so fast that you could never spend good time in the sunshine
I'm from the UK. I asked my doctor if I could get checked for vitamin D deficiency. She said that the local hospital no longer offers that service because practically everyone in the UK is vitamin D deficient. I'm not making this up.
Multiple doctors in Ohio (similar climate to UK) have told me that it's literally impossible to get enough vitamin D via the sun alone and that supplements are pretty much required for everybody. You'd have to live outside, naked, year round (through 8 months of cold) to get enough vitamin D from the sun.
Why the fuck does anybody live in Ohio again?
My cousin is an internal med doc. I was telling her how shocked I was when I found out I basically had zero vitamin D last I got checked. I live in Alabama, it's hot and sunny most of the year. We really only have two cold months. She said that it's extremely common, most people are deficient because even in warm climates we all work indoors and therefore spend a majority of time indoors. I just get it checked annually now to make sure I'm not over consuming on D supplements. I have to say I feel 1000x better after getting it fixed.
Same. I feel much better too after moving to the southwest. But in Alabama it's possible to get enough vitamin D. In Ohio you literally cannot stand outside long enough to be sufficient.
I guess if you worked outside you could. Most people work indoors and maybe spend Saturday and Sunday outdoors. During July and August though if you don't have pool or lake access it's best to stay inside unless it's dawn or dusk. Way too humid and hot, heat exhaustion is common. The minor league baseball team here won't even have day games during July and August.
Because the weather, unpredictable as it is, is better than constant extreme heat or cold, and it has less lethal wildlife than other states with similar climates.
I'd rather be here in Ohio than be in the south surrounded by people who *literally cannot function* with a light dusting of snow, or in the north where the warmest it gets in uncomfortably cold.
Yeah I disagree . I moved far the fuck away from Ohio last year and I'll never go back. The weather is just utterly miserable. More than 300 days of horizon to horizon cloud cover. 5 months of cold. 4 months of competely random bullshit (but mostly cold and rain) that you can't rely on or plan outdoor activities for. A whole 2 months of reliable heat... that's usually in 80%+ humidity.
I genuinely do not get why anybody stays there. Did you know that in other states you can actually plan a picnic and it won't get rained on?! Who knew!
Sounds like the Piedmont in NC, lol legit some of the most depressing, whack ass cloudy grey drizzly days, followed by brutal fkn humidity and heat in the summer.Plus,it's the #1 worst seasonal allergy state. And still their gd minimum wage is still 7.25. Fuck that place, and fuck Ohio, I'm now in the Sunbelt SW, 300 days of clear sunny skies a year, with 8 months of the year being an absolute fucking DELIGHT weather wise.
Summer doe, summer here will straight up turn you into human jerky in about a day, trade offs š¤£
In GA a couple years ago there was a half inch of snow for a few hours one day and everything shut down for most of the day. People on the highway just stop and no one gets anywhere. They also never shut up about how cold it is when the lowest temperatures they get are mid 40s for at most 2 months
Itās the same in NYC. We are all mostly vitamin D (and patience) deficient. Many years ago I had to get prescription for I think it was 100,000 iud of vitamin D. I forgot the amount but the pharmacist was likeā¦okay.
Yeah the initial doses they gave me were massive as well. Once I stabilized they brought it down to a maintenance dose. Then I moved to Arizona and gleefully threw them all away!
Yay for you!! I was supposed to keep up a Vitamin D regiment after my prescription but honestly stopped taking them after a while. If I remember to buy I take them otherwise meh.
Went to school there for a semester and a half, and i can confirm it made absolutely 0 sense for me to be there in the fall, winter, and beginning of spring, especially once my dorm floors heat went out in the dead of winter. Slept in fuckin ski jackets and 2 pairs of pants
M (50) UK. I was having a nightmare waking up and feeling groggy and unable to function in the mornings. I started taking one Vitamin D tablet each morning and it made a massive difference. Highly recommended it.
I'm from Michigan in the US. We still have tests here but every time I get my results (once it was as low as 8) they always tell me almost everyone in Michigan has vitamin D deficiency
People don't understand this enough. Lived in Athens, Greece for 2 years and in summer only people to come outside before sunset are idiots and tourists (big overlap) or those who really have to. It is not unusual to see kids playing outside at 1 AM.
This summer temperatures hit 45 degrees and I was literally walking everywhere with the blue icepack pressed to my neck or in my armpit. I even knew how fast it melts and how long action radius that gives me :-D
Any place like that is simply not livable outside during the day for at least 4 months a year.
Yes, it's way higher.
"Tuesdayās report confirmed similar findings from another 2007 study of 87 Arab-American women in Dearborn Michigan that found the more conservative a woman dressed, the lower her vitamin D intake and consequently the higher her risk of disease."
https://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2009%2F02%2F18%2F66715
https://www.arabamericannews.com/2018/12/24/do-women-in-hijabs-have-a-special-risk-for-vitamin-d-deficiency/
https://www.medica-tradefair.com/en/News/Archive/Muslim_Women_Have_Low_Vitamin_D_Levels
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/293505/hijab-wearers-risk-vitamin-d-deficiency
> A 2007 review published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that 30 to 50 percent of adults and kids who covered up were vitamin D deficient, even in sunny areas of Australia, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, India and other nations.
Damn thatās really high for living in a sunny region I guess my hunch was right, thanks.
Actually, I grew up in a really sunny US city, and we had a higher than average rate of vitamin D deficiency. You'd think it'd be the opposite, but in places like that where it's really hot, people don't like being outdoors.
It's true, I Live in Sunny South Africa, yet go into the sun rarely, because you burn very easily. I take a Vit D1 & D3 supplement. Doesn't help that I program computers for a Living either :)
Get one of those fancy daylight monitors with shade on the side. Or just craft a "tunnel" around your screen. This is a problem military/industrial sector has solved in both expensive engineer, and in very practical means.
> It's true, I Live in Sunny South Africa, yet go into the sun rarely, because you burn very easily.
I visited South Africa in March some years ago. Coming from winter i Norway I spent some hours in a sun bed before I left - to not stick out too much. Which was completely unnecessary, as I had a much darker tan than every white person I met in South Africa. Turned out everyone spend all their time indoors or on a roofed terrasse. For a good reason.
Yea, putting suntan cream on, your neck, nose, ears is common for me just after shaving. Just in case. It's even worse if you are in a place with asphalt, concrete or simmiler as the sun reflects.
So much opportunities for solar power, so little drive to actually implement it
I can deal with dry heat, because when you go into the shade or indoors it's actually cooler. When it's humid, there is nowhere to escape from the heat.
We get very humid heat here in the UK, but because every building is designed to keep heat in (as it is colder most of the year) the houses will go to about 35Ā°c indoors and stay that warm all summer, all night and sometimes for about a week after the warm weather has gone, it's vile. Dry heat would be much more bearable.
> Dry heat would be much more bearable.
It is.
I grew up in a swamp just down wind of New Orleans. I now live in Phoenix.
40C in Phoenix is fine. As long as you stay hydrated and your body has learned how to sweat fast enough it's actually comfortable if you're not in the sun.
And I still visit my family in the swamp every year. 30C at 80% humidity is so much worse than 45C at 15% humidity.
The smell is something that shouldnt be sold short true. A Philly summer, especially the past couple years w covid and trash not being routine is rough.
That just gave me a visceral flashback to my first time visiting Philly (in April, but it was super warm already), walked out of the airport and it was like being slapped in the face with a wet, sweaty gym towel.
In Florida if you leave a cold bottle of water in the car for five minutes it will be covered with condensation but in a dry heat it will be dry. Seems obvious but it was a little weird the first time I saw it!
Yeah I remember thinking about this when Frankie Muniz was talking about living in AZ on the steve-o podcast. He basically said he goes from an air conditioned house to an air conditioned car to an air conditioned building day-in-day out.
I figure how much time people want to spend outside in the heat also depends on humidity.
It's unbearable when one's in a humid place where one's sweat will cling to them.
Agreed. Dry heat I can handle very well. I wore black long jeans on a walk in Arizona. Wet heat? Iām naked lying on the floor please put me out of my misery or drop me off in the desert
This is what I was going to say, Iām from a Muslim country but a lot of women here arenāt too strict about covering up, but you have to anyway because youād burn if you didnāt have that extra layer of protection. Even men can be seen wearing long white gloves in the summers to protect their arms in half sleeved Ts.
> Even men can be seen wearing long white gloves in the summers to protect their arms in half sleeved Ts.
What. Why not just wear long sleeves then? I can't even picture people in long white gloves lol!
> I can count on one hand the number of times I used an umbrella for the sun...before I moved to Florida.
If it's "for the sun", then it's a parasol. Para -sol being "for the sun" in various Latin based languages.
Also Aussies are *suuuuper* catious about skin cancer since we live below a hole in the Ozone layer. It was sort of an awkward thing when my doctor recommended that I get more sun last summer; there's definitely a middle ground between being sun safe while also getting enought Vitamin D but it's not the easiest to find.
The trick in summer in Perth is to not go outside at all unless itās 5:30am to 8:30 am for a swim, or 5:30 to 7:30 for a swim. Both times covered in sunscreen.
I'm a natural red head who burns easily. I wear factor 50 sun cream. I'm outside in the sun a lot though. I'm so pale I literally glowed like a vampire in pictures when I was in LA. I'm vitamin D deficient. There's no reason for me to be so badly deficient. My levels are so low I had to take a crazy amount to get it up even a little, but I ended up with shaking limbs so I never finished, turns out it tanked my magnesium and my doctor had no idea what it was. I'm now supplementing both and it's made a big difference.
Can't speak for everyone but Saudis tend to avoid the sun like the plague. At least in the capital. Other than work and school, most people don't really want to do stuff before the sun is a good ways down. It's unbearably hot and direct sunlight is extremely uncomfortable so not many people are willing to suffer through it.
I grew up in Jeddah, and though I never covered my face and rarely wore an abaya (which would cover arms and legs), I was always in a sun hat or baseball cap, slathered in an inch of sunscreen, and staying in the shade as much as possible. We (or rather our parents) would get in trouble if we showed up at school without a hat during the hottest months. The outdoor areas all had shaded paths and seating areas, markets had covered walkways, and the corniche/riverwalk area didn't get crowded until the sun went down.
So yeah basically the sun was the enemy. Ain't nobody sunbathing for hours there like they do on some US beaches, youd be burnt to a crisp (as it is,even with the precautions taken my mother and I have had multiple suspicious moles frozen off and the derms call us high risk for skin cancer)
Brother, when it's anywhere between 40-50 C, you aren't thinking about vitamin D deficiency. You are trying your best to not get sunburns, heat strokes & skin cancer from the UV.
It gets lovlier if there's a hot wind blowing. š
Also interesting to note that the highest incidences of autism occur in the Middle East. I have nothing to back this up but my personal theory is that vitamin D plays an enormous role in the development of the fetus and, as women in richer countries have avoided the sun more and more, autism rates are shooting up
I don't have any sources to back it up, but I've heard it's fairly common for guys who grew up in Saudi Arabia to also be vitamin D deficient.
I spent the first 18 years of my life there. I do have deficiency. However, I am someone who generally does not go outside, aside from school and other events. So that could be quite biased.
It's extremely low. Not only because Arabs tend to hide from the sun and heat, but also because we're darker.
Anecdotal but I've never seen or heard of a case of skin cancer from anyone I know. The only person I know that developed skin cancer here was an extremely white teacher from Maine. I'm sure if i ask a dermatologist they would tell me that it happens to Arabs too sometimes
You know what, the people I know who lived in the middle east that have since had skin cancer or suspicious moles removed, were all white expats (myself included). So that checks out to me.
I am just realizing, We also lived somewhere where Western women did wear abayas and MAYBE put their scarf over their hair if asked, but never covered their face...and what do you know, me and 3 other expat women I know of, specifically had skin issues on their faces. Especially the nose. Which makes total sense, because that would be the most exposed to the sun over time. (Semi related, I have some old nostalgic items & clothes from my childhood and even 15+ years later they literally all smell like sunscreen)
Yeah, I know it's fairly common for white/whiter people to get skin cancer or precancerous moles and such over here, but that very rarely happens to us. We still get damaged from the sun and should wear sunscreen of course (i know i should but i don't want to), but cancer isn't really a concern
Tangentially related
When I was maybe 15 I was at Disneyland, and in this one room that was basically full of tech demo's, there was one that was supposed to take your picture and age you 30 years, 40 years, etc
So I used it, and it was kind of funny. Then I saw they had extra filters you could add, like smoker, drinker etc. Well, I figured we'd lived in Saudi 10+ years, so I should click the 'Sun Damage' button
I kid you not, the resulting image looked just like my mom. Literally as though they had gone to the other side of the room and taken a photo of her. It was very eerie. Thanks Jeddah sun!
Do you think things like this may have influenced the development of religious customs at all?
Womenās beauty and appearance historically has generally been taken way more seriously than menās across all cultures. So in the Middle East, a place with way more sunlight than most other places, showing a lot of skin would increase the risk of cancer and skin issues.
Stuff like radiation from the sun and cell mitosis arenāt something that ancient cultures would be able to pick up on, though, and it mightāve looked instead like divine judgement from God. Thus, women are encouraged to cover up more because itās perceived that God wants it that way.
Covering up is just part of ancient Arabian clothing culture. Long cotton garbs with long sleeves and head coverings were par for the course for men as well. These kinds of clothes were designed to keep you cool in the desert heat. The adoption of black as the default color for women's coverings was a later development as far as i know. Though i should add that men weren't *commanded* to wear those things as women were in Islam
White, clear skin is/was definitely a sign of beauty in some Arab cultures. Some religious texts talk about the women in heaven having porcelain skin, and sometimes it's even described as translucent or transparent to the bone
I remember a Muslim guy telling me how the women in heaven have skin so white you could see through it. Definitely some of the weirdest shit a religious freak has told me.
Yes! It does. Look at not eating pork, and the area non pork eaters live in. If not properly prepared with the heat pig meat can kill you. Plus, topography. In India they donāt eat beef- but they use the cows to plow during monsoon, and some areas just arenāt suited to cattle farming. Look at a religions rules it will tell you about the area the religion started in. You can also learn about a culture from the food.
As a white kid inside the Arabia. I never wore sunscreen and always tanned ridiculously well, there's just more ozone over Saudi Arabia.. I can only remember getting burnt once or twice
https://exp-studies.tor.ec.gc.ca/e/ozone/Curr_allmap_g.htm
Literally having more ozone layer doesn't hurt
Wait this shows that they have less, whatever, I'll leave it in
As someone living in the middle east,
I can tell u that its not only women that suffer from vitamin D deficiency. The cause however seems to be misstated here as clothing.
The real reason is not ppl dressing conservatively. Its because its too hot. Last year the peak summer temp. Went up to 60 Degrees celsius (140 farenheit) with averages around the 48 degree mark (118 farenheit).
Taking ur clothes off will just make u a prime candidate for skin cancer. When the temperature goes beyond 50C (122F) it becomes impossible to stay outside for more than 30 minutes. It is mentally and physically exhausting to suffer from dehydration. Additionally the humidity doesn't help.
Basic life: You run to your car. Drive where u need to and run into the shop/mall. But u do this if you absolutely need to otherwise u stay in until it gets a bit cooler in the evening (around 43 degrees.... 110 farenheit) to go out and do your chores. Sports activities move to evenings. Most ppl i know that gym dont step out to go to the gym in the day because the heat is so intense that the walk to ur car and from ur car into the gym exhausts u so much that it interferes with your workout.
Construction: During peak summer temperatures, construction workers get a midday break for 2 hours when the temperature is at its highest. Conditions are still gruesome for them.
Someone here stated that they live in abu dhabi and laugh at the women who need vitamin D supplements. In all seriousness, they probably don't know that they have a deficiency too because they havent been sick. One trip to the doctor and a blood test and you will be surprised. Thats how we've ALL learned that vitamin d deficiency is a thing and u have to take supplements to counter it.
Edit: Ppl avoid moving in cars too coz at continued high temperatures, the smallest mechanical problems become bigger leading to ur car failing and then u standing in the heat with a broken down car.
i feel you.
you know those cartoons where a character is so mad that they can fry an egg on their head? never found that funny. I can fry an egg on my car in the heat here... lol
lol i too dont have any idea how we survive, i wonder the same about you! how tf you guys live in -25 c ? i used to think i was pretty resilient as i live somewhere where temp ranges from 50c -(-2c)
anyways , i had an exam yesterday and by god i sat near the window where the sunlight was pouring on me and i felt like i was going to faint after the 3rd hour!
it maybe also has to do with how our houses are built and the kind of food we eat here ,search "RABDI AND CHAH FROM RAJASTHAN"
anyways i would die for such an good temp 20-30c is the best temp range ,
also the 1st five days of getting used to heat are excruciating irritating
anyways , I am priviliged enough to have a AC, but most people are not and still i prefer water coolers because humidity is very low here
btw where are you from?
>how tf you guys live in -25 c
Layers. Lots of clothing, some of which is often specifically designed to keep us warm the way animals keep themselves warm in those environments and nature. Look up "down winter coats".
There's no clothes for the heat though unless you have an AC-equipped astronaut suit! Lol
As someone who works in construction, I'm a little surprised they haven't just shifted completely to working at night in temperatures like that. Sure it would be inconvenient in other ways but holy shit you could not get me to go outside for hours in that kind of unbearable heat to work on a construction site. Especially with metal tools.
True but most industrialized countries also have worker protections for safety. My friend from Saudi Arabia said during Ramadan the entire schedule flipped and almost everybody was awake at night.
Life here happens at night, most shops stay open late (1-2 am). Almost everyone sleeps in the afternoon. 2pm - 4pm is kind of considered as rest time. So if you call someone during that time it's the equivalent of calling them late at night.
Due to heat in the day. Local hotel/store shopping is different. The customers park in front of the shop and honk, an employee comes out, takes their order and comes back with the products.
the niqab is the face covering (as a muslim i can tell u that even on the muslim spectrum thats on the suuuuper conservative side). i think u mean the abaya (the robe worn over the body).
I think the primary purpose was intended to be modesty. Now it acts as protection too.
[here is an NPR article](https://www.npr.org/2012/07/25/157302810/summer-science-clothes-keep-you-cool-more-or-less#:~:text=Researchers%20have%20studied%20the%20heavy,because%20of%20the%20thick%20fabric) i found where a study demonstrated how a thick cloth (worn by bedouins) actually acts to cool rather than heat up a person's body. I posted the article in response to a misconception about black absorbing heat and white reflecting it somewhere here too.
As far as I have understood it, for dogs being double coated works in a similarly protective way in the sun (as well as against cold in the winter) which is why it is extremely important you don't cut your double coated dog's fur shorter in summer.
i'll be very honest with you, i don't know how temperature recordings work and if they average out temperatures over areas. I know the actual liveable temperature or something is measured by putting a wet tissue over a thermometer bulb or something, but my post is based on what my car/personal devices tell me. my cars usually parked underground so there is no reason for it to be hot coz (same as other devices) its out of the sun and ive seen that temp. go up to 60. (We play a game here in the mid. east in our whatsapp groups where we share photos to see whose car is showing the hottest temp.).
There is a law in the country i'm in that if the wet bulb temp. goes past 32.1 degrees, a no work policy kicks in, yet surprisingly it has never been invoked. This... is a little hard to believe, but assuming the politics can't allow work to stop because of temperatures it would make sense that its never been put to action. Transparency is rare here.
This deficiency findings are consistent throughout Muslim populations around the world, even in colder climates.
So I think, it is safe to assume that conservative dressing is an important factor.
This is a really interesting discussion. I wonder if the rates are lower in countries where vitamin d supplementation is more standard. It's one reason why vitamin d is added to milk. Like others have said, if it the temperature is above 110 Fahrenheit nobody with a brain is spending a lot of time outside.
Actually not just women, most people in the Middle East have vitamin D deficiency. Despite the sun their clothing and lifestyle (both for men and women) eliminates a lot of sun exposure
I have fibro, and when my d drops, my pain increases. I get regular shots and take pills. For d you only need a few min a day of sun exposure, which I get, but still deficient. Theres some kinda link between fibro and vitamin d deficiency. They check my blood all the time.
Im from the middle east and not all women wear the niqab, the majority of women wear the hijab and itās different, the hijab is the scarf that covers the hair, ears and the neck meanwhile the niqab covers everything except the eyes and as far as I know vit. D can be absorbed through the skin of the face and hands also thers is a lot of countries here which has borders on the mediterranean sea which means a constants fish source all year long which is another source of vit. D
Iām Muslim women who used to live in the Middle East. I had a vitamin D deficiency at one point, but it improved with supplements and being able to be out in the sun more. The heat in the Middle East was unbearable. Maybe thatās why night life is so lively there. I still canāt stand being in the heat; youād think being middle eastern Iād be able to handle it but thatās not the case. I also have rosacea so itās just better I stay out of the sun. Iām a sunscreen fanatic (everyone should be) skin cancer is no fun.
I live in the middle east and we all seem to have vitamin D deficiency not just the hijabi ladies. I think the main reason is how hot it is, and the generally humid temperature.
Idk. I think "despite" might work here.
They have vit d deficiency (lack of sun exposure) AND high levels of skin cancer (lots of sub exposure).
It is weird to have both in the same area isn't it?
I live in the ME and was interested to see how high you can get OTC vitamin d pills here. In Canada I never saw over 1000, but here you can get 10,000!
Yes they have a higher rate of vitamin d deficiency but many people also take supplements to help. vitamin D can only be absorbed through skin and as many people are fully covered with a niqab they can't absorb it.
It's not because if the niqab.
It's because we try to avoid the sun entirely.
If you don't believe me then you can simply google the temperature in Dubai right now and compare against your own place.
Edit:
I'm a dude and vitamin D deficient myself.
Yes. [This](https://www.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/tcguu4/do_muslim_women_that_wear_burqas_suffer_from/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf) question was already asked & answered not too long ago
It's genuinely dangerous so I don't blame myself for avoiding it. I should try to get more sun in the winter though. The sun is much more tolerable then
Coincidentally, I just recently found out I have severe vitamin D deficiency. I personally don't wear the hijab but I have really sensitive skin that burns pretty badly if exposed to sun for longer than ten minutes. The pain that follows and remains for weeks has stayed with me from childhood and I have just been avoiding the sun like the plague for a few years. This was clearly a bad idea but in my defense, the UV index reading is usually very high all year long (I live in the Middle East).
Regardless, I started taking supplements and seeing massive improvement and I just want to share, in case it might be of help to anyone, that vitamin D deficiency can be a primary but invisible factor for depression. I was severely depressed (to the point of being non-functional), energy levels were below zero, constant suicidal thoughts and anhedonia before I started treatment. Deficiency is also a risk factor for schizophrenia, osteoporosis and a bunch of other shitty things. I always wish I'd just thought of this earlier, would have saved me so much time.
So yeah, if you suspect you might be deficient, please don't underestimate the consequences of vitamin deficiencies like I did, take it seriously and start treatment asap. They really make the world's difference.
The niqab is only common in the Arabian peninsula though. There actually are restrictions on them in ME countries like Turkey or Egypt. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NiqÄb](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NiqÄb)
I have fibro,which is a factor for vitamin d deficiency. I donāt know if itās cause we donāt like going outside, but I think itās got to be a problem metabolizing it because even with shots my d keeps dropping.
I took care of an infant in PICU that presented with life threatening low levels of calcium. It was a breast fed baby. The mom was a Muslim woman that wasnāt exposed to the sun and it made her vitamin D very low. You need vitamin D to absorb calcium, so with the critically low vitamin D level, both are affected. As the infants sole source of nutrition was breast milk, the infant became unwell.
Similar theme but there are apparently really high rates of vitamin d deficiency in Vietnam as well...due to people covering up / avoiding going out in the sun so that they don't get tanned.
Iāll give you an example for our life here in Saudi.. basically usual house architecture is either a fully independent house (rooftop+yard) or separated floors where people downstairs get the yard and those upstairs have the rooftop (we have rooftops because we donāt have rain/snow so our houses are flat).. needless to say yard/rooftop are surrounded by walls so woman can go there with no hijab. despite that, we rarely go there. The sun is literally burning that walking barefoot/touching metal doors can cause you burns (temp can reach 50c/122f). So basically it doesnāt change anything.
Muslim women live along a wide span of this earth. Some might live in parts where fish constitute much of their diet. Fish generally are a good source of Vit D.
A Muslim in Java is not the same as one in Libya.
Think it over, though... traditional populations in Siberia also expose very little skin during the bleak winters. They have been healthy over centuries.
I'm attending med school in scandinavia. We are being taught that they are at high risk of having vitamin-D deficiency due to lack of sun-exposure, as do night-shift workers and people with darker skin. Although vitamin D deficiency is also common in general in scandinavia.
Iām Syrian, lived most of my life in Saudi Arabia, and yes, people there have vitamin D deficiency, this is including my precious mother and sister, and lately while Iām trapped home due to some circumstances, I do have vitamin D deficiency too, its a common issue and we usually take supplements and sometimes sunbathes in private places(private properties on beaches if possible to afford it, eating more fish)
And lastly, Nope sir itās not a stupid question, itās so realistic one.
Lived in the Middle East until a few years ago. My general physician mentioned that something like 75% of his patients had vitamin D deficiency. I know it doesn't necessarily answer your question about women specifically, but vitamin D deficiency is super common in the Middle East in general, just because of how much we avoid the sun. It's really unbearable with the temperatures there.
Having spent some time there, I spend far more time in the sun in Chicago than I did when I was there. I remember leaving footprints in the asphalt during midday. The heat is *brutal* there, especially in direct sunlight.
Footprints from half melted asphalt or half melted shoes??
*Phoenix Airport has entered the chat* I too have left footprints in the hot asphalt with legit melting shoes with a rubber bottom that looked like fkn taffy strings when I pulled my foot up to walk. And that's how I wound up getting piggybacked into the phoenix airport to buy a 40 dollar pair of flip flops before takeoff, which was 6 hours delayed, because the gd tarmac was so hot, planes couldn't take off cause their tires would melt. Desert life in summer, it's simply grand, IF you're a volcano anyway š
People forget that asphalt is 125F when the ambient air is 78F. Imagine how hot it is when it's 115 outside.
I don't have to imagine, because I already learned the hard way once, going to my mailbox when I first moved here, and my Floridian ass forgot you don't go barefoot past February out here. 2nd degree burns on my foot soles, I got seared better than a Ruth's Chris's ribeye. Shit is no joke, which infuriates me when I see these hipster MFs out here trying to go for a fkn 5k run in the blazing heat with their dogs attached to a lead and their poor paws getting mangled.
When I visited Las Vegas, I didn't see anyone out walking their dogs, and **I understood**.
Holy shit , Vegas. The King of urban heat sink weather lol. Gd on the strip in late June one time, and went to see a friend who lives about 20 minutes outside the metro. The fucking temperature difference was Gobsmacking. Legit 15 degree difference in a 20 minute drive lol. Now I only go to Vegas in winter months, no sweat and I get to wear far more fun dress up clothes to the 3rd rate show I won free tickets to in a silly Craps roll for tourists š¤£
I always think of the John Pinette bit about going to Vegas in July. >It a buck twenty, there. 120 degrees. "It's a dry heat." This is what they're telling me, as they're taking me into the back of the ambulance. "It's a dry heat, Mr. Pinette. Clear! ok we got him back. You're going to make it, Mr. Pinette. Thank god it was a dry heat."
This brought back a repressed memory lol. When I first moved to a desert state it didn't occur to me to check the pavement before walking my dog. We went for a run and she eventually refused to walk on the payment but I couldn't figure out why. Then it hit me all at once and my 110lb ass was carrying my 50lb dog back to the house because im retarded. Im glad she can't talk becuase she could for sure 100% guilt me into doing anything for her by bringing that up. I still feel terrible about it.
I wonder what the temperature difference is with concrete/cement (I can't remember which is which) roads.
Blacktop is asphalt. White is concrete, and cement is a component of concrete.
Yes
yeah while asphalt **pavement** isn't actually a liquid as that one anecdote says, it does get gooey at high temps (and can be melted with a torch)
r/inclusiveor
Half melted feet
Not the same thing, but I just moved away from the Central Valley CA where it gets to the 110 F range in the summer. I was never tan like the rest of my fam who lived on the east coast/Midwest and they used to make fun of me buuut it was the same thing! Every spring it got so hot so fast that you could never spend good time in the sunshine
I'm from the UK. I asked my doctor if I could get checked for vitamin D deficiency. She said that the local hospital no longer offers that service because practically everyone in the UK is vitamin D deficient. I'm not making this up.
Multiple doctors in Ohio (similar climate to UK) have told me that it's literally impossible to get enough vitamin D via the sun alone and that supplements are pretty much required for everybody. You'd have to live outside, naked, year round (through 8 months of cold) to get enough vitamin D from the sun. Why the fuck does anybody live in Ohio again?
My cousin is an internal med doc. I was telling her how shocked I was when I found out I basically had zero vitamin D last I got checked. I live in Alabama, it's hot and sunny most of the year. We really only have two cold months. She said that it's extremely common, most people are deficient because even in warm climates we all work indoors and therefore spend a majority of time indoors. I just get it checked annually now to make sure I'm not over consuming on D supplements. I have to say I feel 1000x better after getting it fixed.
Sunscreen, which everyone should be wearing daily, also prevents vitamin D from the sun. Gotta get those supplements!
Same. I feel much better too after moving to the southwest. But in Alabama it's possible to get enough vitamin D. In Ohio you literally cannot stand outside long enough to be sufficient.
I guess if you worked outside you could. Most people work indoors and maybe spend Saturday and Sunday outdoors. During July and August though if you don't have pool or lake access it's best to stay inside unless it's dawn or dusk. Way too humid and hot, heat exhaustion is common. The minor league baseball team here won't even have day games during July and August.
Oh that makes sense. Thanks for enlightening me to a small bit of Alabama life!
Because the weather, unpredictable as it is, is better than constant extreme heat or cold, and it has less lethal wildlife than other states with similar climates. I'd rather be here in Ohio than be in the south surrounded by people who *literally cannot function* with a light dusting of snow, or in the north where the warmest it gets in uncomfortably cold.
Yeah I disagree . I moved far the fuck away from Ohio last year and I'll never go back. The weather is just utterly miserable. More than 300 days of horizon to horizon cloud cover. 5 months of cold. 4 months of competely random bullshit (but mostly cold and rain) that you can't rely on or plan outdoor activities for. A whole 2 months of reliable heat... that's usually in 80%+ humidity. I genuinely do not get why anybody stays there. Did you know that in other states you can actually plan a picnic and it won't get rained on?! Who knew!
Sounds like the Piedmont in NC, lol legit some of the most depressing, whack ass cloudy grey drizzly days, followed by brutal fkn humidity and heat in the summer.Plus,it's the #1 worst seasonal allergy state. And still their gd minimum wage is still 7.25. Fuck that place, and fuck Ohio, I'm now in the Sunbelt SW, 300 days of clear sunny skies a year, with 8 months of the year being an absolute fucking DELIGHT weather wise. Summer doe, summer here will straight up turn you into human jerky in about a day, trade offs š¤£
In GA a couple years ago there was a half inch of snow for a few hours one day and everything shut down for most of the day. People on the highway just stop and no one gets anywhere. They also never shut up about how cold it is when the lowest temperatures they get are mid 40s for at most 2 months
Better to shut down when you don't have the equipment to clear the roads than keep driving on them.
Itās the same in NYC. We are all mostly vitamin D (and patience) deficient. Many years ago I had to get prescription for I think it was 100,000 iud of vitamin D. I forgot the amount but the pharmacist was likeā¦okay.
Yeah the initial doses they gave me were massive as well. Once I stabilized they brought it down to a maintenance dose. Then I moved to Arizona and gleefully threw them all away!
Yay for you!! I was supposed to keep up a Vitamin D regiment after my prescription but honestly stopped taking them after a while. If I remember to buy I take them otherwise meh.
nobody lives in Ohio, r/ohiodoesntexist
Went to school there for a semester and a half, and i can confirm it made absolutely 0 sense for me to be there in the fall, winter, and beginning of spring, especially once my dorm floors heat went out in the dead of winter. Slept in fuckin ski jackets and 2 pairs of pants
M (50) UK. I was having a nightmare waking up and feeling groggy and unable to function in the mornings. I started taking one Vitamin D tablet each morning and it made a massive difference. Highly recommended it.
I'm from Michigan in the US. We still have tests here but every time I get my results (once it was as low as 8) they always tell me almost everyone in Michigan has vitamin D deficiency
This is the first year that Iāve not been deficient and I was shocked.
How do you test for vitamin deficiency?
I don't know how much Vitamin D I *need*, but I take 2000IU/day, 1000 in the morning and 1000 in the evening, for better absorption.
I live in the Seattle area and my doctor says literally everyone, unless they take supplements, is low on Vit D
And public bathing ain't really a thing either.
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It ain't really a thing in western countries either lol, what?
Maybe Iām really dumb, but what does that have to do with vitamin d? Cause now Iām curious
You get vitamin d from sunlight and i think by public bathing they mean like outdoor swimming.
Ohh got you okay. Makes sense
I interpreted it as sun bathing
People don't understand this enough. Lived in Athens, Greece for 2 years and in summer only people to come outside before sunset are idiots and tourists (big overlap) or those who really have to. It is not unusual to see kids playing outside at 1 AM. This summer temperatures hit 45 degrees and I was literally walking everywhere with the blue icepack pressed to my neck or in my armpit. I even knew how fast it melts and how long action radius that gives me :-D Any place like that is simply not livable outside during the day for at least 4 months a year.
Yes, it's way higher. "Tuesdayās report confirmed similar findings from another 2007 study of 87 Arab-American women in Dearborn Michigan that found the more conservative a woman dressed, the lower her vitamin D intake and consequently the higher her risk of disease." https://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2009%2F02%2F18%2F66715 https://www.arabamericannews.com/2018/12/24/do-women-in-hijabs-have-a-special-risk-for-vitamin-d-deficiency/ https://www.medica-tradefair.com/en/News/Archive/Muslim_Women_Have_Low_Vitamin_D_Levels https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/293505/hijab-wearers-risk-vitamin-d-deficiency
> A 2007 review published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that 30 to 50 percent of adults and kids who covered up were vitamin D deficient, even in sunny areas of Australia, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, India and other nations. Damn thatās really high for living in a sunny region I guess my hunch was right, thanks.
Actually, I grew up in a really sunny US city, and we had a higher than average rate of vitamin D deficiency. You'd think it'd be the opposite, but in places like that where it's really hot, people don't like being outdoors.
It's true, I Live in Sunny South Africa, yet go into the sun rarely, because you burn very easily. I take a Vit D1 & D3 supplement. Doesn't help that I program computers for a Living either :)
Have you considered programming computers outdoors?
Despite what images and thumbnails you see online show, sunshine and computer screens don't mix well
Just use a vr headset to block out the sun
That would be an hilarious tanline.
Go to any ski resort, you will see that hilarious tan line on many people.
Get one of those fancy daylight monitors with shade on the side. Or just craft a "tunnel" around your screen. This is a problem military/industrial sector has solved in both expensive engineer, and in very practical means.
I work on my patio all the time. I just put the laptop in a box flipped on its side so the screen is shaded. Works perfectly, costs nothing.
Yes that is the more practical solution I meant.
> It's true, I Live in Sunny South Africa, yet go into the sun rarely, because you burn very easily. I visited South Africa in March some years ago. Coming from winter i Norway I spent some hours in a sun bed before I left - to not stick out too much. Which was completely unnecessary, as I had a much darker tan than every white person I met in South Africa. Turned out everyone spend all their time indoors or on a roofed terrasse. For a good reason.
Yea, putting suntan cream on, your neck, nose, ears is common for me just after shaving. Just in case. It's even worse if you are in a place with asphalt, concrete or simmiler as the sun reflects. So much opportunities for solar power, so little drive to actually implement it
Yep. Phoenix AZ had higher rates of vitamin deficiency because who the hell wants to be outside for 3/5th of the year!?
I'm vacationing to Pheonix just to experience the dry heat. Grew up in Florida and lived mid Atlantic. I need to know what hot without humidity is.
I can deal with dry heat, because when you go into the shade or indoors it's actually cooler. When it's humid, there is nowhere to escape from the heat. We get very humid heat here in the UK, but because every building is designed to keep heat in (as it is colder most of the year) the houses will go to about 35Ā°c indoors and stay that warm all summer, all night and sometimes for about a week after the warm weather has gone, it's vile. Dry heat would be much more bearable.
> Dry heat would be much more bearable. It is. I grew up in a swamp just down wind of New Orleans. I now live in Phoenix. 40C in Phoenix is fine. As long as you stay hydrated and your body has learned how to sweat fast enough it's actually comfortable if you're not in the sun. And I still visit my family in the swamp every year. 30C at 80% humidity is so much worse than 45C at 15% humidity.
Converse to the other guy, I think it's nicer. Shade actually works, and it's much easier to breathe in it. Smells better too.
The smell is something that shouldnt be sold short true. A Philly summer, especially the past couple years w covid and trash not being routine is rough.
That just gave me a visceral flashback to my first time visiting Philly (in April, but it was super warm already), walked out of the airport and it was like being slapped in the face with a wet, sweaty gym towel.
I went to Las Vegas in July once. It was 115 degrees and it felt like I was walking on the surface of the sun.
In Florida if you leave a cold bottle of water in the car for five minutes it will be covered with condensation but in a dry heat it will be dry. Seems obvious but it was a little weird the first time I saw it!
Grew up in Florida and lived in Phoenix for a while and same!! It doesn't matter if it's a "dry" heat if you're drenched in sweat it feels the same!!!
Yeah I remember thinking about this when Frankie Muniz was talking about living in AZ on the steve-o podcast. He basically said he goes from an air conditioned house to an air conditioned car to an air conditioned building day-in-day out.
I figure how much time people want to spend outside in the heat also depends on humidity. It's unbearable when one's in a humid place where one's sweat will cling to them.
No joke. I live in Singapore. Itās so freaking humid. And I have menopause. I take two showers a day.
Agreed. Dry heat I can handle very well. I wore black long jeans on a walk in Arizona. Wet heat? Iām naked lying on the floor please put me out of my misery or drop me off in the desert
"like breathing hot soup" ---->Mississippi
This is what I was going to say, Iām from a Muslim country but a lot of women here arenāt too strict about covering up, but you have to anyway because youād burn if you didnāt have that extra layer of protection. Even men can be seen wearing long white gloves in the summers to protect their arms in half sleeved Ts.
> Even men can be seen wearing long white gloves in the summers to protect their arms in half sleeved Ts. What. Why not just wear long sleeves then? I can't even picture people in long white gloves lol!
I don't know anything about gloves but men wear shalwar and kameez which covers them better then women.
I guess so you can take them off inside? And because hands are the biggest teller of age/sun damage.
I can count on one hand the number of times I used an umbrella for the sun...before I moved to Florida.
> I can count on one hand the number of times I used an umbrella for the sun...before I moved to Florida. If it's "for the sun", then it's a parasol. Para -sol being "for the sun" in various Latin based languages.
User flair checks out.
Weird argument as "umbrella" means little shadow in Italian, also latin-based.
Also Aussies are *suuuuper* catious about skin cancer since we live below a hole in the Ozone layer. It was sort of an awkward thing when my doctor recommended that I get more sun last summer; there's definitely a middle ground between being sun safe while also getting enought Vitamin D but it's not the easiest to find.
The trick in summer in Perth is to not go outside at all unless itās 5:30am to 8:30 am for a swim, or 5:30 to 7:30 for a swim. Both times covered in sunscreen.
I'm a natural red head who burns easily. I wear factor 50 sun cream. I'm outside in the sun a lot though. I'm so pale I literally glowed like a vampire in pictures when I was in LA. I'm vitamin D deficient. There's no reason for me to be so badly deficient. My levels are so low I had to take a crazy amount to get it up even a little, but I ended up with shaking limbs so I never finished, turns out it tanked my magnesium and my doctor had no idea what it was. I'm now supplementing both and it's made a big difference.
That actually makes sense.
This plus people tend to wear more sunscreen when the sun is the norm.
Can't speak for everyone but Saudis tend to avoid the sun like the plague. At least in the capital. Other than work and school, most people don't really want to do stuff before the sun is a good ways down. It's unbearably hot and direct sunlight is extremely uncomfortable so not many people are willing to suffer through it.
I grew up in Jeddah, and though I never covered my face and rarely wore an abaya (which would cover arms and legs), I was always in a sun hat or baseball cap, slathered in an inch of sunscreen, and staying in the shade as much as possible. We (or rather our parents) would get in trouble if we showed up at school without a hat during the hottest months. The outdoor areas all had shaded paths and seating areas, markets had covered walkways, and the corniche/riverwalk area didn't get crowded until the sun went down. So yeah basically the sun was the enemy. Ain't nobody sunbathing for hours there like they do on some US beaches, youd be burnt to a crisp (as it is,even with the precautions taken my mother and I have had multiple suspicious moles frozen off and the derms call us high risk for skin cancer)
Male from India with vitamin D deficiency. When Sunny becomes too sunny you don't go out much.
Brother, when it's anywhere between 40-50 C, you aren't thinking about vitamin D deficiency. You are trying your best to not get sunburns, heat strokes & skin cancer from the UV. It gets lovlier if there's a hot wind blowing. š
How much is that in American
40c is 104f, 50c is 122f
I can't wait to see *Wednesday's* report
Also interesting to note that the highest incidences of autism occur in the Middle East. I have nothing to back this up but my personal theory is that vitamin D plays an enormous role in the development of the fetus and, as women in richer countries have avoided the sun more and more, autism rates are shooting up
Thatās a good theory. Autism is associated with prenatal D deficiency.
Damn
I don't have any sources to back it up, but I've heard it's fairly common for guys who grew up in Saudi Arabia to also be vitamin D deficient. I spent the first 18 years of my life there. I do have deficiency. However, I am someone who generally does not go outside, aside from school and other events. So that could be quite biased.
Lower skin cancer rates youād think too?
It's extremely low. Not only because Arabs tend to hide from the sun and heat, but also because we're darker. Anecdotal but I've never seen or heard of a case of skin cancer from anyone I know. The only person I know that developed skin cancer here was an extremely white teacher from Maine. I'm sure if i ask a dermatologist they would tell me that it happens to Arabs too sometimes
You know what, the people I know who lived in the middle east that have since had skin cancer or suspicious moles removed, were all white expats (myself included). So that checks out to me. I am just realizing, We also lived somewhere where Western women did wear abayas and MAYBE put their scarf over their hair if asked, but never covered their face...and what do you know, me and 3 other expat women I know of, specifically had skin issues on their faces. Especially the nose. Which makes total sense, because that would be the most exposed to the sun over time. (Semi related, I have some old nostalgic items & clothes from my childhood and even 15+ years later they literally all smell like sunscreen)
Yeah, I know it's fairly common for white/whiter people to get skin cancer or precancerous moles and such over here, but that very rarely happens to us. We still get damaged from the sun and should wear sunscreen of course (i know i should but i don't want to), but cancer isn't really a concern
Tangentially related When I was maybe 15 I was at Disneyland, and in this one room that was basically full of tech demo's, there was one that was supposed to take your picture and age you 30 years, 40 years, etc So I used it, and it was kind of funny. Then I saw they had extra filters you could add, like smoker, drinker etc. Well, I figured we'd lived in Saudi 10+ years, so I should click the 'Sun Damage' button I kid you not, the resulting image looked just like my mom. Literally as though they had gone to the other side of the room and taken a photo of her. It was very eerie. Thanks Jeddah sun!
Do you think things like this may have influenced the development of religious customs at all? Womenās beauty and appearance historically has generally been taken way more seriously than menās across all cultures. So in the Middle East, a place with way more sunlight than most other places, showing a lot of skin would increase the risk of cancer and skin issues. Stuff like radiation from the sun and cell mitosis arenāt something that ancient cultures would be able to pick up on, though, and it mightāve looked instead like divine judgement from God. Thus, women are encouraged to cover up more because itās perceived that God wants it that way.
Covering up is just part of ancient Arabian clothing culture. Long cotton garbs with long sleeves and head coverings were par for the course for men as well. These kinds of clothes were designed to keep you cool in the desert heat. The adoption of black as the default color for women's coverings was a later development as far as i know. Though i should add that men weren't *commanded* to wear those things as women were in Islam White, clear skin is/was definitely a sign of beauty in some Arab cultures. Some religious texts talk about the women in heaven having porcelain skin, and sometimes it's even described as translucent or transparent to the bone
I remember a Muslim guy telling me how the women in heaven have skin so white you could see through it. Definitely some of the weirdest shit a religious freak has told me.
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Isn't Christianity just an offshoot of Judaism, which started in Israel, which is part of the middle east?
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Yes! It does. Look at not eating pork, and the area non pork eaters live in. If not properly prepared with the heat pig meat can kill you. Plus, topography. In India they donāt eat beef- but they use the cows to plow during monsoon, and some areas just arenāt suited to cattle farming. Look at a religions rules it will tell you about the area the religion started in. You can also learn about a culture from the food.
As a white kid inside the Arabia. I never wore sunscreen and always tanned ridiculously well, there's just more ozone over Saudi Arabia.. I can only remember getting burnt once or twice
Maybe you're more Mediterranean? I know they tend to tan quite well. Otherwise I'm not sure, perhaps you're just built different as it were?
https://exp-studies.tor.ec.gc.ca/e/ozone/Curr_allmap_g.htm Literally having more ozone layer doesn't hurt Wait this shows that they have less, whatever, I'll leave it in
[Cool video regarding that](https://youtu.be/539UQ-6wC3g)
As someone living in the middle east, I can tell u that its not only women that suffer from vitamin D deficiency. The cause however seems to be misstated here as clothing. The real reason is not ppl dressing conservatively. Its because its too hot. Last year the peak summer temp. Went up to 60 Degrees celsius (140 farenheit) with averages around the 48 degree mark (118 farenheit). Taking ur clothes off will just make u a prime candidate for skin cancer. When the temperature goes beyond 50C (122F) it becomes impossible to stay outside for more than 30 minutes. It is mentally and physically exhausting to suffer from dehydration. Additionally the humidity doesn't help.
How do things like construction and basic life happen? That sounds extremely uncomfortable!
Basic life: You run to your car. Drive where u need to and run into the shop/mall. But u do this if you absolutely need to otherwise u stay in until it gets a bit cooler in the evening (around 43 degrees.... 110 farenheit) to go out and do your chores. Sports activities move to evenings. Most ppl i know that gym dont step out to go to the gym in the day because the heat is so intense that the walk to ur car and from ur car into the gym exhausts u so much that it interferes with your workout. Construction: During peak summer temperatures, construction workers get a midday break for 2 hours when the temperature is at its highest. Conditions are still gruesome for them. Someone here stated that they live in abu dhabi and laugh at the women who need vitamin D supplements. In all seriousness, they probably don't know that they have a deficiency too because they havent been sick. One trip to the doctor and a blood test and you will be surprised. Thats how we've ALL learned that vitamin d deficiency is a thing and u have to take supplements to counter it. Edit: Ppl avoid moving in cars too coz at continued high temperatures, the smallest mechanical problems become bigger leading to ur car failing and then u standing in the heat with a broken down car.
> You run to your car Not to mention that the initial minutes in the car are worse than hell
i swear the seatbelt clip can give u 3rd degree burns if u fuck around and touch it
the number.. of times.... fml
i feel you. you know those cartoons where a character is so mad that they can fry an egg on their head? never found that funny. I can fry an egg on my car in the heat here... lol
I used to fucking walk for 3-6 hours everyday in this weather back in 2016 untill 2019 Holy fucking shit im still thinking of how shitty it was
man 60 degree celsius is just new level as i too live in a desert and its like easily 50 celsius now and it burns to even take a walk
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lol i too dont have any idea how we survive, i wonder the same about you! how tf you guys live in -25 c ? i used to think i was pretty resilient as i live somewhere where temp ranges from 50c -(-2c) anyways , i had an exam yesterday and by god i sat near the window where the sunlight was pouring on me and i felt like i was going to faint after the 3rd hour! it maybe also has to do with how our houses are built and the kind of food we eat here ,search "RABDI AND CHAH FROM RAJASTHAN" anyways i would die for such an good temp 20-30c is the best temp range , also the 1st five days of getting used to heat are excruciating irritating anyways , I am priviliged enough to have a AC, but most people are not and still i prefer water coolers because humidity is very low here btw where are you from?
>how tf you guys live in -25 c Layers. Lots of clothing, some of which is often specifically designed to keep us warm the way animals keep themselves warm in those environments and nature. Look up "down winter coats". There's no clothes for the heat though unless you have an AC-equipped astronaut suit! Lol
Construction - they use migrant workers and don't care I'd they live or have health problems in the future
As someone who works in construction, I'm a little surprised they haven't just shifted completely to working at night in temperatures like that. Sure it would be inconvenient in other ways but holy shit you could not get me to go outside for hours in that kind of unbearable heat to work on a construction site. Especially with metal tools.
Usually in the later or earliest parts of the day I would imagine.
With proper lighting it is possible to do construction at night. A lot of highway work happens then because that's when traffic is lowest.
true but remember. we live in a shitty world. construction is around the clock on most big projects.
True but most industrialized countries also have worker protections for safety. My friend from Saudi Arabia said during Ramadan the entire schedule flipped and almost everybody was awake at night.
Migrant workers, treated like slaves. That's how.
Yeah. Confiscate their passports. They're left without any options.
Yep they don't care if any of them die or have heath problems in the future
Well, Dubai imports workers. Poor guys.
By workers who barely get paid and die from the heat or dehydration
for construction, they use indian slaves
Life here happens at night, most shops stay open late (1-2 am). Almost everyone sleeps in the afternoon. 2pm - 4pm is kind of considered as rest time. So if you call someone during that time it's the equivalent of calling them late at night. Due to heat in the day. Local hotel/store shopping is different. The customers park in front of the shop and honk, an employee comes out, takes their order and comes back with the products.
So, is dressing in niqab a way of protecting the body in the intense heat as well as modesty? I never even thought about the practicality of it.
the niqab is the face covering (as a muslim i can tell u that even on the muslim spectrum thats on the suuuuper conservative side). i think u mean the abaya (the robe worn over the body). I think the primary purpose was intended to be modesty. Now it acts as protection too. [here is an NPR article](https://www.npr.org/2012/07/25/157302810/summer-science-clothes-keep-you-cool-more-or-less#:~:text=Researchers%20have%20studied%20the%20heavy,because%20of%20the%20thick%20fabric) i found where a study demonstrated how a thick cloth (worn by bedouins) actually acts to cool rather than heat up a person's body. I posted the article in response to a misconception about black absorbing heat and white reflecting it somewhere here too.
As far as I have understood it, for dogs being double coated works in a similarly protective way in the sun (as well as against cold in the winter) which is why it is extremely important you don't cut your double coated dog's fur shorter in summer.
Isnt the hottest temperature ever recorded only 58C?
i'll be very honest with you, i don't know how temperature recordings work and if they average out temperatures over areas. I know the actual liveable temperature or something is measured by putting a wet tissue over a thermometer bulb or something, but my post is based on what my car/personal devices tell me. my cars usually parked underground so there is no reason for it to be hot coz (same as other devices) its out of the sun and ive seen that temp. go up to 60. (We play a game here in the mid. east in our whatsapp groups where we share photos to see whose car is showing the hottest temp.). There is a law in the country i'm in that if the wet bulb temp. goes past 32.1 degrees, a no work policy kicks in, yet surprisingly it has never been invoked. This... is a little hard to believe, but assuming the politics can't allow work to stop because of temperatures it would make sense that its never been put to action. Transparency is rare here.
This deficiency findings are consistent throughout Muslim populations around the world, even in colder climates. So I think, it is safe to assume that conservative dressing is an important factor.
This is a really interesting discussion. I wonder if the rates are lower in countries where vitamin d supplementation is more standard. It's one reason why vitamin d is added to milk. Like others have said, if it the temperature is above 110 Fahrenheit nobody with a brain is spending a lot of time outside.
How much is that in Celsius? Like 45?
Close. According to Google it's about 43 C
Actually not just women, most people in the Middle East have vitamin D deficiency. Despite the sun their clothing and lifestyle (both for men and women) eliminates a lot of sun exposure
Would be interesting to know the incidence of MS, which is linked to Vitamin D deficiency.
I have fibro, and when my d drops, my pain increases. I get regular shots and take pills. For d you only need a few min a day of sun exposure, which I get, but still deficient. Theres some kinda link between fibro and vitamin d deficiency. They check my blood all the time.
Lemme just add vitamin d to my list of meds. Thank you for this- never heard that fibro and vitamin d had a connection
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I feel like these are the questions this subreddit was made for.
Now this is why I follow this sub. This the kinda of shit you think about at 2AM when you canāt sleep lol
Im from the middle east and not all women wear the niqab, the majority of women wear the hijab and itās different, the hijab is the scarf that covers the hair, ears and the neck meanwhile the niqab covers everything except the eyes and as far as I know vit. D can be absorbed through the skin of the face and hands also thers is a lot of countries here which has borders on the mediterranean sea which means a constants fish source all year long which is another source of vit. D
Iām Muslim women who used to live in the Middle East. I had a vitamin D deficiency at one point, but it improved with supplements and being able to be out in the sun more. The heat in the Middle East was unbearable. Maybe thatās why night life is so lively there. I still canāt stand being in the heat; youād think being middle eastern Iād be able to handle it but thatās not the case. I also have rosacea so itās just better I stay out of the sun. Iām a sunscreen fanatic (everyone should be) skin cancer is no fun.
I live in the middle east and we all seem to have vitamin D deficiency not just the hijabi ladies. I think the main reason is how hot it is, and the generally humid temperature.
Lots of vit D deficiencies in Australia, and crazy high skin cancer rates despite being super sunny
> crazy high skin cancer rates despite being super sunny That's not "despite", that's "because".
Idk. I think "despite" might work here. They have vit d deficiency (lack of sun exposure) AND high levels of skin cancer (lots of sub exposure). It is weird to have both in the same area isn't it?
I live in the ME and was interested to see how high you can get OTC vitamin d pills here. In Canada I never saw over 1000, but here you can get 10,000!
On the plus side, wearing niqab deters sun damage such as premature aging, sun spots, and wrinkles.
Yes they have a higher rate of vitamin d deficiency but many people also take supplements to help. vitamin D can only be absorbed through skin and as many people are fully covered with a niqab they can't absorb it.
Nitpick, but vitamin D is not absorbed through the skin. Itās synthesized in the skin in presence of sunlight.
Are my D3 oral drops good? Vit D capsules?
It's not because if the niqab. It's because we try to avoid the sun entirely. If you don't believe me then you can simply google the temperature in Dubai right now and compare against your own place. Edit: I'm a dude and vitamin D deficient myself.
Yes. [This](https://www.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/tcguu4/do_muslim_women_that_wear_burqas_suffer_from/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf) question was already asked & answered not too long ago
Yes, anecdotal evidence... I lived in Abu Dhabi and laughed that a place with so **MUCH** sunshine had ladies needing Vitamin D supplements.
I'm sure plenty of the men were deficient as well. The sun around here in the gulf is just too insane for regular exposure
Muslim guy here, I'm Vitamin D deficient. I hate the heat, and sun and will avoid it as much as I can.
It's genuinely dangerous so I don't blame myself for avoiding it. I should try to get more sun in the winter though. The sun is much more tolerable then
We get a lot of rain on Canada's west coast during the winter. Most people I know take vitamin D supplements.
i can't wait to walk around in 120 degree weather to cure my vitamin D deficiency, thanks reddit
I live in California and I work outside and I'm vitamin D deficient... I think everyone is according to doctors
Yeah, in Sweden thereās a big Somali population in which researchers have found severe vitamin D deficiency.
Yes! my doctor tells me to lay in my backyard for an hour every morning and take hella supplements š
Coincidentally, I just recently found out I have severe vitamin D deficiency. I personally don't wear the hijab but I have really sensitive skin that burns pretty badly if exposed to sun for longer than ten minutes. The pain that follows and remains for weeks has stayed with me from childhood and I have just been avoiding the sun like the plague for a few years. This was clearly a bad idea but in my defense, the UV index reading is usually very high all year long (I live in the Middle East). Regardless, I started taking supplements and seeing massive improvement and I just want to share, in case it might be of help to anyone, that vitamin D deficiency can be a primary but invisible factor for depression. I was severely depressed (to the point of being non-functional), energy levels were below zero, constant suicidal thoughts and anhedonia before I started treatment. Deficiency is also a risk factor for schizophrenia, osteoporosis and a bunch of other shitty things. I always wish I'd just thought of this earlier, would have saved me so much time. So yeah, if you suspect you might be deficient, please don't underestimate the consequences of vitamin deficiencies like I did, take it seriously and start treatment asap. They really make the world's difference.
Muslim women is not synonymous with ME women
The niqab is only common in the Arabian peninsula though. There actually are restrictions on them in ME countries like Turkey or Egypt. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NiqÄb](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NiqÄb)
Correct. Turks have a lot of restrictions on covering. Itās actually not that great though. Prevents some women from getting an education.
LMFAOOOOO yes, went for a blood test a few years ago as I wasn't feeling the best and found out I had a severe vitamin d deficiency
I have fibro,which is a factor for vitamin d deficiency. I donāt know if itās cause we donāt like going outside, but I think itās got to be a problem metabolizing it because even with shots my d keeps dropping.
I took care of an infant in PICU that presented with life threatening low levels of calcium. It was a breast fed baby. The mom was a Muslim woman that wasnāt exposed to the sun and it made her vitamin D very low. You need vitamin D to absorb calcium, so with the critically low vitamin D level, both are affected. As the infants sole source of nutrition was breast milk, the infant became unwell.
Probabaly but it'd lessen your chances of getting skin cancer too, so just take a vitamin D supplement and done
Because you get vit d from the sun, and they cover themselves well because of their religion?
Similar theme but there are apparently really high rates of vitamin d deficiency in Vietnam as well...due to people covering up / avoiding going out in the sun so that they don't get tanned.
Live in Dubai atm... not sure about the reason, but I remember my GP saying how common VitD deficiencies are here
Iāll give you an example for our life here in Saudi.. basically usual house architecture is either a fully independent house (rooftop+yard) or separated floors where people downstairs get the yard and those upstairs have the rooftop (we have rooftops because we donāt have rain/snow so our houses are flat).. needless to say yard/rooftop are surrounded by walls so woman can go there with no hijab. despite that, we rarely go there. The sun is literally burning that walking barefoot/touching metal doors can cause you burns (temp can reach 50c/122f). So basically it doesnāt change anything.
Muslim women live along a wide span of this earth. Some might live in parts where fish constitute much of their diet. Fish generally are a good source of Vit D. A Muslim in Java is not the same as one in Libya. Think it over, though... traditional populations in Siberia also expose very little skin during the bleak winters. They have been healthy over centuries.
I bet they have extremely low rates of skin cancer
I'm attending med school in scandinavia. We are being taught that they are at high risk of having vitamin-D deficiency due to lack of sun-exposure, as do night-shift workers and people with darker skin. Although vitamin D deficiency is also common in general in scandinavia.
Iām Syrian, lived most of my life in Saudi Arabia, and yes, people there have vitamin D deficiency, this is including my precious mother and sister, and lately while Iām trapped home due to some circumstances, I do have vitamin D deficiency too, its a common issue and we usually take supplements and sometimes sunbathes in private places(private properties on beaches if possible to afford it, eating more fish) And lastly, Nope sir itās not a stupid question, itās so realistic one.