Winter Guide: Essential Lifestyle Tools For Winter Health
If you’ve read our Winter Nutrient Guide, you’ll know that from season-to-season, our needs change drastically. In Spring, the body requires foods and herbs that naturally support detoxification, whilst Summer requires us to choose nutrients that hydrate and cool us. When it comes to Autumn and Winter, this shifts again, with an increased demand for fatty foods and immune boosting compounds to bolster us against the colder months. The same goes for our lifestyle; our ancestors didn’t just eat seasonally, they lived seasonally too, adapting their way of life to perfectly sync with the world around them.
The Importance of Living Seasonally
‘Seasonal living’ has become a growing trend over the last few years, but truly living seasonally is about a lot more than what we might see on social media. Connecting intimately with nature, sunlight, and whatever the weather brings us helps align our bodies and minds with the season, and research shows this can have a profoundly positive impact on immunity, mood, sleep, and much more.
When it comes to Winter, this is often thought of as a time to hibernate or let go of our good habits. The thing is however; Winter is the perfect time to focus on your health. Instead of pausing on your wellbeing until Spring, think of adopting what many are now referring to as your ‘Winter Arc’; an opportunity to re-focus on self-improvement and positive habit-forming, supporting your health all the way through Winter, instead of waiting until the new year.
In this guide, you’ll find free and low-cost ways to support your health this Winter, coupled with a few supplement suggestions if you’re looking for an extra boost. Let’s dive in…
Sleep
It’s no secret that the hours of sunlight differ from season-to-season, and this can have a huge impact on our energy levels. Longer nights are also a sign to lean into the darkness and embrace what it has to offer when it comes to improving your health. Throughout Summer months, we’re able to produce more vitamin D thanks to increased UV intensity from the sun and longer hours of sunlight. As you’ll no doubt know, vitamin D is essential for immunity, bone health and metabolic health. So what do we do in Winter when it’s harder to get vitamin D from sunlight? As well as nutritional support, encouraging your body to produce optimal levels of melatonin is vital, as melatonin and vitamin D share important similarities, such as anti-inflammatory effects, antioxidant properties and important benefits for brain health. Melatonin is thought of as the ‘sleep hormone’, helping us achieve deep and restful sleep, so whilst the nights are longer, focus on supporting melatonin production and good quality sleep.
3 ways to support your sleep this Winter:
1.) No screens after sunset: Aim to shut off screens and turn down bright lights after sunset. The blue light from screens prevents melatonin production and therefore good quality sleep, and scrolling on social media can keep cortisol levels high, reducing relaxation. Instead, use lamps of candles, read, chat to loved ones and get to bed earlier.
2.) Eat dinner earlier: Try to finish your evening meal 2-3 hours before bed, as digesting a large amount of food can interfere with restful sleep. If you wake frequently through the night, you may need a small snack to help support your liver health, so try a spoon of raw honey with salt or a mug of warm milk.
3.) Cut caffeine after midday: Whilst we all metabolise caffeine differently, it’s beneficial to stop drinking coffee or tea after around midday, as excess caffeine can prevent you from winding down and getting optimal sleep. For a sleep-supporting drink, try mixing ¼-½ tsp of our Organic Reishi into a warm milk of your choice.
Sleep-supporting supplements: magnesium, Organic Reishi, Dusk
Mood
In the UK, around 1 in 20 people experiences clinical Seasonal Affective Disorder, with many others feeling low at this time of year. Lower levels of sunlight play a big role in this issue, impacting our levels of serotonin - a hormone that helps us feel happy and relaxed. If you feel low throughout Winter, here are 3 ways to support yourself. If you experience severe mood swings or depression, consider speaking with a healthcare professional.
3 Ways To Support Your Mood This Winter
1.) Get outside: Aim to get outside into natural sunlight ASAP after waking. Sunlight is a lot brighter than indoor lighting, and the lightwaves from the sun help boost levels of dopamine, serotonin, endorphins, and keep cortisol levels balanced. Take breaks outdoors throughout the day too if you can.
2.) Move your body: Exercise helps release endorphins - ‘happy hormones’, so find what makes you feel good and aim for at least 30 minutes of exercise per day to support your mood levels.
3.) Connect with nature: Research shows that being surrounded by nature can improve mood levels, especially when it comes to Winter. Studies have found that being around the colours of Autumn and Winter leaves can help improve mood levels and induce relaxation - another reason to get outside more often.
Mood-supporting Supplements: Lions Mane, Dawn, Beef Brain, L-theanine
Adrenal Health & Kidney Qi
From the perspective of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Winter is the season to focus on our Kidney Qi - referring to the body’s deep reservoirs of vital energy. From a Western perspective, this translates to looking after our adrenal health. The adrenals are two glands that sit atop the kidneys, and one of their functions is to produce cortisol. Long term and excessive stress can significantly deplete our adrenal health, leading to hormonal imbalances, fatigue, sodium depletion, sleep problems and many other issues, so use this time to nourish and support yourself.
3 Ways To Support Your Kidney Qi & Adrenals:
1.) Make time for rest: If you’re feeling depleted, rest is essential for replenishing your energy levels. Focus on real, proper rest; sleep, meditation, Epsom salt baths, meditation, relaxing time in nature and saying ‘no’ when too much is asked of you. Enough rest now, means you’re likely to feel more energised come Springtime.
2.) Add salt: Chronic and long term stress can deplete the body’s sodium levels, and if you crave salt, this could be a sign your body needs extra support. Salt can be deeply calming, so add good quality sea salt to taste to your meals.
3.) Nourish your nervous system: Reduce excessive stressors, as well as limiting the amount of caffeine you consume, and keeping blood sugar levels balanced.
Supportive supplements: Organic Reishi, Dusk, Beef Organs, Ashwagandha, Electrolytes
Social Connection
When it comes to seasonal living, how we interact with others and maintain relationships plays a bigger role than you may realise. Throughout Spring and Summer, longer days and warmer weather would have meant our ancestors travelled further, explored other lands and met different tribes. In Winter however, we would have stayed closer to our own tribe and spent more time with close family. Winter is the season then, to nourish existing relationships and to pull your close ones closer. Social connection is also a key way to support mood and even immunity throughout Winter.
3 ways to support your social connection this Winter:
1.) Limit screentime: So often, our virtual worlds receive more attention than the real world in front of us. Set boundaries with screentime so you’re able to spend more quality time with loved ones.
2.) Less messaging, more making plans: Instead of texting a friend, plan to meet up with them for a real face-to-face chat or a walk in nature
3.) Reach out to those in need: Especially around the holiday season, there may be people in your neighbourhood who are lonely or isolated. Try reaching out to them to offer practical or emotional support; do they need help with shopping? Gardening? Do they just need a chat?
We hope this guide can provide you with useful, health-supporting tips to take you through Winter. Pair it with our Winter Nutrient Guide and you’ll have the essentials to live well this season.