Winter is wonderful! We all love to wrap up, drink festive drinks and of course enjoy the Christmas season. It’s a beautiful and magical time of year, but sometimes we can get hit with the winter blues and find ourselves struggling more than we might in the other months of the year. Well, there are some things you can do to beat these blues and stay positive over the cold and dark winter months!
Keeping active
This is an obvious one, and it is really something that we should pay attention to all year round, but maybe more so during winter. When it’s cold outside, we all love to curl up on the couch and binge on our favourite TV shows with our favourite comfort foods. This can be a great way to relax and destress, but it’s important that we still power through the cold and spend some time outdoors in the fresh air while the sun is still high in the sky. One of the reasons some people notice a drop in their moods in the winter is because of the lack of sunlight and therefore Vitamin D. It’s important that we try to soak up as much of it as we can, and that we get a bit of fresh air, even in the bitterly freezing Irish weather.
Everything in moderation
Binging on episode upon episode of our favourite TV shows is something that most of us millennials love to do with our time off (which is often a rare occasion). But it goes without saying that spending too much time in bed staring at a screen is probably not the best thing you can do for your health, both mental and physical. Maybe when Netflix asks you are you still watching, you should take a break from the binge watching and do something that requires your brain or your body to be active.
Vitamins
During the winter season I take Vitamin D tablets every day, as it is something that we don’t get as much of in winter as we would in summer because of the lack of daily sunlight hours. I’ve found that it really helps, and I haven’t really been struggling with high levels of stress and anxiety as much as I have in the past few years. They aren’t too expensive and can be bought in most chemists and supermarkets! I would definitely recommend giving them a try if you find yourself battling through winter time.
Go easy on the drink
We should always drink in moderation, but when you are trying to look after your mentality and stay positive over the dark winter season, the last thing you need is to be dealing with a hefty hangover and eat and drink crap to make yourself feel better, and the VERY last thing you need is the dreaded ‘fear’ that so often creeps up on you after a heavy night on the drink. Christmas is a great time for nights out with things like ‘12 pubs of Christmas’ becoming a popular tradition, but it ain’t a great time for nasty hangovers and embarrassing drunken incidents.
Enjoy the jolly season, but make sure to look after yourself so you can get the most out of this magical time of the year!
Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash