What You Should Be Doing To Look After Your Health This Winter

Your health isn’t something that’s only important at one time of the year. However, some seasons can make it more difficult to look after yourself than others.

Winter is obviously the biggest problem for this, with the cold, miserable weather putting a damper on people’s physical and mental wellbeing. Illness tends to be rife during these months, which is why it’s essential that you take even greater care of yourself than normal. What’s the best way to do that, though?

Here’s a selection of the best tips to follow to ensure that you stay fit and healthy this winter.

Avoid Indulging In Carbs

Carbs definitely have their benefits, and a healthy diet ought to include them. However, indulging in too much of them is never a good idea, especially in the winter. Although they boost your serotonin, the more you eat, the more they can mess with your blood sugar levels and make you feel lethargic. Unfortunately, people’s cravings for carbs tend to be higher in the winter, which can obviously make it harder to avoid them.

Make sure to eat plenty of protein in the morning to boost your energy levels and help you get through the day. If you need a jolt of serotonin to keep you going, try one of these suggestions. Hopefully, this should make it easier to limit your carb intake.

Use Herbs And Spices

If you’re not a particular fan of hot food, then your kitchen cupboards probably don’t contain that many spices. However, you may want to consider experimenting with this stuff for the months ahead. Not only do spices add flavour to a meal and give it a kick, but they can also work wonders for your health.

For instance, cinnamon is believed to lower blood sugar levels, while turmeric is apparently good as an anti-inflammatory. Herbs can also be effective at improving your health, with holy basil reportedly known to boost immune function. With so many benefits, it may be worth adding some seasoning to your meals this winter.

Take Supplements

Whenever you’re low on certain nutrients, supplements are there to restore them to the right levels. Vitamin D supplements are something that can be particularly beneficial to take in the winter due to the lack of sunlight. Without this natural source of vitamin D, your body can suffer greatly, and that can have an impact on your mental wellbeing too. There’s a reason why so many people are affected by seasonal affective disorder in the winter.

If you do struggle mentally at this time of year, it may also help to take CBD supplements. These are commonly used to help cope with issues like stress, anxiety, and depression, so you might want to consider CBD gummies. The range available at Handpicked CBD are from trusted brands whose products do exactly as advertised. So, munching on their CBD gummies could be the perfect pick-me-up for you this winter.

Exercise Regularly

It’s not always easy to exercise in the winter, especially if you’re someone who prefers doing physical activity outside. The low temperatures and shorter days can make it difficult to follow your usual fitness routine, and that can put you off being as active as normal. That’s why it’s important to find something that you can enjoy doing in the winter if your usual exercise isn’t an option.

Home workouts like yoga can be good at this time of year, as can going to the gym. If you don’t want to be stuck inside, maybe it’s worth finding an exercise that’s appropriate to the season, such as ice skating. Whatever you do doesn’t matter, so long as you get that blood pumping and don’t sit around all day. That won’t do your physical health or mental wellbeing any good.

Heat Your Home

The bitter cold that often comes with winter isn’t always pleasant to deal with. Not only does it leave you feeling chilly, but it can also weaken your body's ability to fight diseases. Plus, get too cold and you risk developing hypothermia, which could put your health at serious risk.

To avoid this, always keep your home heated to some degree once the temperature starts to drop. The NHS has plenty of advice on how to stay warm in winter if you’re uncertain about anything, so don’t be afraid to look to them if you need help.

Spend Time With Others

It’s important not to forget that your mental wellbeing matters just as much as your physical health. There’s no point in being completely fit if you’re deeply unhappy on the inside.

As well as taking supplements to try and boost your mental state, it’s also important to spend time with other people, especially if you live alone. The cold and dark can make a person feel incredibly isolated, which isn’t good for the mind. However, if you make the effort to see others and enjoy your time with them, it’s possible that you can fight off some of that loneliness.

Maintain A Sleep Schedule

Given how early it gets dark in the winter, it can be tempting to fall asleep super early. That’s something you shouldn’t do, though, if you want to stay healthy at this time of year. Even napping is best avoided because it can throw off your sleeping pattern, making you restless at night when you’re meant to be asleep.

The best thing to do is to go to bed at a reasonable time every night, giving yourself plenty of opportunity to wind down with these night-time routines. By doing this, you should find it easier to get as much rest as you need, allowing you to wake up energised the next day. Your body uses sleep to rest and repair itself, so the more you get in winter, the less likely you are to fall ill.

While winter might not be avoidable, the negative impacts it can have on your health are. Although these tips aren’t foolproof, following them should give you the best chance of making it to spring with a clean bill of health.