Here’s How You Can Protect Your Health This Winter

Most people can expect to pick up some kind of bug or illness during winter time – but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing you can do to stay healthy. Aiming to stay healthy during winter will ensure you don’t end up feeling run down and lethargic and keep you in good habits ready for the better weather. Read on for a few things you can do to start taking better care of your health now:

Take A Vitamin D Supplement

In winter we get less sunlight, which means we often need to take a vitamin D supplement to ensure we’re staying healthy. Getting outside for a small amount of time each day is still important, but a vitamin D supplement can help to top things up nicely.

Look After Your Mental Health

With the darker nights and colder weather, some people find that their day to day mindset and mood is affected. This can be SAD, which refers to seasonal affective disorder. This is a very real type of depression that hits people hard during wintertime. Come summer, you can feel the fog lift. To help SAD, you can try using a light therapy box. You may not suffer with SAD, but taking care of your mental health is still important.

Eat Balanced Meals To Stay Satiated Throughout The Day 

We tend to want to comfort eat during winter, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Bodies change, and we shouldn’t be shamed for putting on weight. However, to stay at a healthy weight, make sure you’re eating balanced meals. You should be eating enough to stay satiated for a few hours each time you eat. If you feel the urge to snack a little too much, then it could be a sign you’re not eating enough at mealtimes.

Stay Active 

Try not to lead too much of a sedentary lifestyle during winter. See if there are ways you can stay active, whether from walking or even doing home workouts. Short workouts count, so just find something you enjoy and try to stick to it. If you struggle with this, try to get your exercise done in the morning so that the rest of the day can’t get in the way – people easily begin to make excuses not to exercise when they leave it too late in the day. Going on a winter walk in the morning could be just what you need to wake you up, too!

Stay In Touch With Your Loved Ones 

Winter can feel bleak, and in some cases, can make people feel like they are alone. Stay in touch with your loved ones and you’ll feel better. You never know what they are going through either, so make sure you check in with them and ask them how they are really doing.

Don’t Miss Your Health Appointments 

Stay up to date with your health appointments, whether you’re going to the dentist or you need your eyes checked. To make your life easier, you can even use the Simple Online Doctor to fulfill your prescription. Staying on top of your health appointments will give you peace of mind and ensure you go through winter feeling good.

Make Sure Your Home Is Healthy

Something that could be betraying you without your knowledge is your home. Making sure your home is healthy is absolutely crucial, whether you live alone or with family. In winter people tend to light more candles and items to make the home smell nice, but in reality they could be releasing toxins and chemicals that are damaging for the tenants of the house. Using essential oils can be a healthier way of making your home smell great, along with a humidifier to stop the air from going dry – which can easily happen when you have the heating on all the time during winter.

Get More Sleep If You Need It 

In winter our bodies tend to naturally need a little more sleep. Try to sleep earlier and get up earlier, in keeping with the setting and rising of the sun. You’ll feel so much better for it, but don’t feel guilty if you need an extra hour or two on top of what you would usually have. If you struggle to get up, try using an alarm clock that simulates the dawn.

Protecting your health during the winter requires a slightly different approach to other times of the year, but just about anybody should be able to follow the advice here. Thanks for reading and leave your own advice below!