Do you live in a big city or an area where you are sometimes forced to inhale car and truck exhaust? If so, you should strongly consider using a face mask, because exhaust causes arteries to lose their flexibility. Researchers writing in the journal Particle and Fibre Toxicology found that exposure to engine pollution resulted in arterial stiffness in a group of healthy volunteers.
Now a new and controversial book by an American doctor suggests that taking even higher levels of the vitamin - 10 to 15 times the recommended amounts - can work wonders.
Dr James Dowd, who works at the Arthritis Institute of Michigan, has been prescribing vitamin D to people suffering from chronic disorders such as arthritis, back pain and headaches and the result, he claims, is a huge improvement in their symptoms.
In his book, The Vitamin D Cure, Dr Dowd describes a number of success stories using this approach. One of his patients, Barbara, for instance, was obese, and suffered from arthritis in one leg as well as high blood pressure.
As Dowd explains: "In the past I would have given her anti-inflammatory drugs, pain medication, a pill to lose weight and drug treatment for hypertension."
You can begin the positive mental reprogramming process by writing down your goals, changing your internal dialogue and taking a few minutes to relax, quiet your mind and perform a session of visualization or mental rehearsal every day.