When the colder months set in, we tend to want to stay inside lounging around and enjoying the warmth of our blankets and homes. The colder weather, late sunrises, and early sundowns make us feel naturally more tired and lethargic.
Keeping our energy up in the winter can be more complicated than in summer, and this isn’t always good as the world keeps going, and you can easily fall behind when you’re typically quite diligent.
Here are some tips that may help you keep your energy boosted and your motivation going in the cold winter months when you may want to curl up under a warm blanket with a warm drink and watch some comfort shows or play some video games.
Maintain A Balanced Diet
Our diets tend to shift to heartier foods that are often fatty and high in calories in the colder months. These foods are more readily available, as are sweeter, more sugary treats. This shift in our diets can cause our bodies to change how they handle the energy we provide them, affecting our bodily health and our energy levels.
Take, for example, all the sugary treats you might enjoy around Christmas time. Sugar, in general, is pretty terrible for energy production, as it will cause a sharp spike in your blood sugar, giving you that sense of high energy. However, you’ll soon fall off hard and experience a crash in energy, which can make you feel incredibly sluggish and tired. A more balanced and healthy diet will help stabilize your blood sugar and energy levels.
But what exactly is a balanced and healthy diet? Ideally, a healthy meal will have a good balance of wholegrain carbohydrates, healthy fats, and protein, as this combination of foods will affect how your body absorbs and releases carbohydrates into your bloodstream, slowing it down to provide a more sustained energy level.
The Importance of Breakfast
We all know breakfast is important but often skip it in favor of a quick coffee. However, keep in mind that you’ve just gone more than eight hours without eating, so your body is pretty depleted of its energy levels. A healthy breakfast gets you back on your feet and gives you that energy you need to start the day.
Cutting back on caffeine may be just what you’re looking for. Caffeine often comes in the form of coffee and tea, and it is helpful as a natural stimulant to give you that added assistance when needed. However, we tend to depend on it a lot more when the colder weather hits to keep us warmer, and too much caffeine can increase your stress and aggravate your anxiety. This can, in turn, negatively affect your energy levels, giving you that “wired but tired” feeling when you’re still tired, but your mind and heart are racing. Different warm drinks like herbal tea lacking in caffeine can easily take the place of a morning coffee.
Properly Hydrate Yourself
Your tiredness and fatigue may be linked to improper hydration. This is also linked to the often over-dependence on coffee and tea, as even the slightest dehydration can leave you feeling slow and tired. There is no replacement for clean water when you’re looking to hydrate yourself, and we often forgo water for warm beverages that warm us up in the chill.
Speaking of drinks, some of you may turn to alcohol as an option to warm your bones on a cold evening. While it may do the trick and even make you feel drowsy, drinking alcohol comes with numerous other health detriments that it’s almost certainly not worth it. For instance, alcohol may be a sedative, helping put you to sleep, but many of its side effects can impact the quality of your sleep to the point of giving you a restless night.
This is primarily attributed to the fact that alcohol dehydrates you and depletes you of additional energy, leaving you feeling drowsier and more tired for longer than intended. Your sugar levels will also plummet with excessive alcohol consumption, so you can end up feeling even more tired the next day. Finally, alcohol also has diuretic properties, so your sleep will often be disturbed by the need to urinate.
Limit the amount of alcohol you consume as much as you can, ideally cutting it out entirely. Sticking to the recommended daily limit is a good idea, as is not drinking alcohol in the late evening when you’ll be heading to bed soon, as your sleep will be disturbed. Replace it with enough water to stay hydrated throughout the day, remembering to not drink as much towards the evening.
Get Up And Move
The cold outside may be an effective deterrent and make you want to bundle up indoors where it’s warm, but getting up and moving can be a great way to stimulate yourself and get your energy going. Exercise is a great way to maintain bodily health and improve your energy levels.
While it may seem counterproductive at first, as the last thing you want to do when you’re tired is to go for a run, being active will burn your excess calories and increase the blood flow around your body, transporting oxygen – and energy – around to where it’s needed faster, giving you a boost for the day. You needn’t do anything excessive, just enough to get moving.
Going for a run or walk can get you some fresh air and give you that boost you need. Some additional light exercises and stretches throughout the day can get you moving away from your work as a small break. These small breaks where you are moving may make you feel more tired initially, especially when you aren’t used to exercising much. But, soon, you’ll begin to notice an overall improvement in your energy levels and general mood.
Conclusion
Winter is generally associated with a time of festivities and rest, but we often fall too far into a restful state and too quickly feel exhausted and lethargic. You can, of course, cut yourself some slack around this time of year, but don’t fall into the trap of boarding yourself up and hibernating for the winter. Put some of these pretty simple lifestyle changes into practice, and soon you may find the energy boost you need.