Are you someone who looks forward to the holiday season, but dreads the cold temps that come with it?
This year, we challenge you to shift your mindset!
As we continue to think about going against the comfort grain, one thing on our minds is our goal to get outside more in the upcoming cold months.
We’ve both been focusing on getting morning sunlight in our eyes upon waking (or as soon as the sun starts rising). This is easy to do when the morning temps are 60+ degrees, but what about when they’re close to zero?!
Because there are so many benefits to sunlight exposure, we want to stay committed to it even when it’s freezing cold.
This will likely mean having a heavy winter coat, boots and gloves by the door, making it easier to just DO it and go outside, and carrying along an insulated thermos filled with hot coffee!
The same goes for walks and other forms of movement.
We do take walks in the winter months (just like humans, our dogs’ needs don’t change with the drop in temps!). But it becomes easier to decide to skip a day, or take a shortened walk when it’s just a *little* too cold or blustery out. It can also be easy to choose to exercise in the comfort of our heated home over taking on the elements.
Besides supporting natural Vitamin D production, getting outside in the cold provides another cool benefit (pun intended): cold thermogenesis.
Without going deep into the details and science, cold thermogenesis is the process of your body producing heat to warm you up. When your body has to work to maintain its core temperature, it burns more energy and boosts brown fat (a GOOD kind of fat!), which increases metabolism. Repeated exposure to the cold repeats this process, which can lead to fat loss (loss of the BAD kind) over time.
Along with spurring thermogenesis, exposure to cold weather also reduces inflammation in the body and boosts your immune system – two very important things! And lastly, it also makes you more adapted to cold temps, helping you feel less cold overall throughout your day, regardless of the temperature of your surroundings!
Cultures around the world have gleaned the powers of nature in the winter months for centuries.
In Scandinavian and Baltic countries (including our beloved Lithuania), ice swimming is a traditional winter activity, where people swim in freezing cold lakes for short amounts of time before warming their bodies back up. They’ve attributed it to feeling happier during the longer (and much darker) winter months, in addition to physical benefits like improved circulation, adaptation to the cold, lowered blood pressure and stress, and more.
Also, there’s a special kind of beauty in the wintertime.
It’s quieter, more still and incredibly peaceful. When it snows, the blanket of snow on the ground literally absorbs sound, making it even quieter than normal. If you stop, listen and take in your surroundings, you can notice how unbelievably serene and tranquil it is to be alive in that very moment and part of our world.
So, instead of dreading the onset of winter and cold days and nights, we invite you to shift your mindset and see it as an opportunity for your health and happiness!
Will you join us in getting out of your comfort zone and going into the great, COLD outdoors? Our bodies and minds will thank us for it!
What kinds of outdoor wintertime activities are you interested in doing this year? We’d love to know!
Active-ists for your health,
Irene & Brianna