Tips for a healthier, happier winter

The internet is chock-a-block with health-enhancing miracle products, but, let’s face it, most of them don’t work. There’s no magic pill which will keep you fit, healthy and happy, whilst you continue to lead a sedentary lifestyle and eat junk food day in, day out. Sorry!

However, there are lots of natural, healthy ways you can have a happier and healthier winter.

Let’s take a look at some tips to keep you looking and feeling great this winter:

Don’t stop exercising

It may be cold outdoors, but that’s no excuse to stop exercising during the winter months. Exercise not only keeps us physically healthy, but improves our mental health too.

If you can’t face exercise outdoors, then there are plenty of workouts you can do in the cosy, comfort of your own living room!

YouTube is stuffed full of exercise videos you can access for free from Zumba to yoga to Pilates and aerobics. Whatever exercise you prefer to do, it’s there.

Get plenty of natural light

One of the main things that can negatively affect our moods in the winter is the lack of natural light. Days are shorter and we are forced to use artificial light to see later in the afternoon and early in the mornings.

This artificial light is not a good replacement for real, natural sunlight.

Make sure you go outdoors and soak up as much natural light as you can each day. Position yourself by windows at home and at work, when possible.

Ditch the salt

Long, dark nights, often mean we spend more time indoors. More time sat on our sofas binge-watching Netflix and reaching for the salty snacks!

Instead of salty snacks, try incorporating more whole foods like bananas and avocados into your diet as these are loaded with potassium, a natural antidote to the damaging effects of sodium on your blood pressure.

Choose healthy snacks like fruits, nuts and seeds, instead of crisps, biscuits and sweets!

There are many other flavour enhancers to include in your meals too, in place of salts, such as lemon juice, herbs and health-boosting spices like turmeric or chilli flakes.

Whichever strategy you choose, avoid eating processed foods as much as possible, which have a lot of hidden salt and eating too much salt regularly is linked to an increased risk of stomach cancer.

Quit cigarettes

If you smoke, now is the time to make some positive changes! It’s 2020 and it’s crazy that smoking is still a thing!

Cigarettes lead to heart disease and lung cancer, amongst so many other detrimental health issues, which is why it’s good to quit for good. However, if you can’t quit completely, then ditch the actual cigarettes and look towards e-cigarettes instead.

With e-cigarette starter kits, you can make that leap much more straightforward and get started on your smoke-free journey.

Your fitness and health will really thank you for it. Make this the winter that you make this positive change for good.

Don’t sleep more

Hopefully it will be easier to get more sleep in the winter with dark nights and cosy beds we don’t want to leave!

Make sure you aim for eight hours of quality sleep a night. Just as too little sleep can be bad for us, too much sleep is bad for us too!

Whilst it’s tempting to want to hibernate in the cold winter months, stick to your usual sleeping pattern to feel and be your best.

“Too much sleep — as well as not enough sleep — raises the risk of chronic diseases, such as coronary heart disease, diabetes, anxiety and obesity in adults age 45 and older. Sleeping too much puts you at greater risk of coronary heart disease, stroke and diabetes than sleeping too little.” – Premier Health

Boost your nutrition

Whilst the cold weather might not have us reaching for salads anymore, don’t fill that hole with too much over-processed convenience food or junk food.

Sure, have a treat, especially over Christmas, but make sure you are mostly packing your diet full of veggies and wholefoods.

Think warming winter soups, lentil cottage pies topped with sweet potato mash and vegetable stuffed chickpea curries. Yum!

There are so many easy vegan recipes you can make this winter that are healthful and immune boosting. Add turmeric to all the above suggestions as a natural anti-inflammatory and immune boosting supplement.

It’s more important in winter to keep your nutrition on point as our bodies are more susceptible to colds and viruses that are going around.

More helpful tips

Hopefully the above will inspire you to lead a happy, healthy winter this year. If you need some more advice then check out these articles for further reading: