Vitamins: from when we are little kids, we are all told about the importance of them. Your parents might have done this by forcing you to eat your vegetables or by giving you the little gummies that you could only have one of a day, even though you thought they were candy and wanted them all. If you were like me, you didn’t really care or listen because all you could think about was eating sweets. For a long time the power of vitamins was just a vague concept that I did not really appreciate. Recently however I have changed my tune.

Last month I had been in what I would call “a bit of a funk.” Nothing was necessarily wrong, but I just felt a bit off. I didn’t really talk to anyone about it for a few days and then one day I was on the phone with my sister and just mentioned it in passing. She said she had been feeling similarly and that she started feeling better after she began taking vitamin D tablets. I thought I would give it a try so the next day I went to Boots and went straight to the vitamin section. I got calcium with vitamin D, I went back to my room, I took the recommended amount, and bam! I felt a kick of energy! I mean, that was probably just a bit of a placebo, but still. After a couple days of taking it, I found myself in a much better mood, I had more energy, and the little things that would bother me throughout the day did not have the same effect. It was like I was back to my normal self! I was genuinely so shocked by this discovery, which wasn’t really a discovery but rather a realization.

Now I know that some of you who are actually good at adulting and have your life together might be thinking “no duh vitamins are important! wow what an idiot!” which is a fair statement. However, I feel like it is important information for the people that are like me and neglect vitamins a bit. Sometimes common knowledge goes unheard. So I would like to take the rest of this article to assume the role of our parents and talk a bit about different vitamins that could be useful to your health. According to the Washington Post “10 vitamins/nutrients that can boost your mood and help depression are ​calcium, chromium, folate, iron, magnesium, ​omega-3 fatty acids​, vitamin B6, ​vitamin B12​, ​vitamin D​ and zinc.” Also general vitamins that help your immune system, which is always important this time of year but especially during the current pandemic, are mainly vitamin C but also B6 and E. I would seriously recommend getting tablets that have some of these nutrients in them or eating more foods that contain them.

Finally I just want to reiterate that I know this whole article may seem a bit self-explanatory and most of you know that vitamins are important, but if you have been in a bit of a weird mood or are worried about your immune system just pop into Boots or Superdrug and buy some vitamin C or D tablets. You might not even realise that your mood has been a bit worse until you see how much more energy you have once you take them! Plus it’s not like they can hurt you, so just give them a try!