As the temperatures drop and the days get shorter, it is easy to spend more time indoors on the sofa and less time exercising outdoors, with the promise of getting fit come the spring and summer.
However, regular exercise year-round offers significant health benefits and can be especially important in winter.
Why exercise throughout the year?
Regular exercise is proven to help maintain a healthy weight, lower blood pressure and reduce the risk of long-term illnesses, such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer. But it also boosts your immune system, making it less likely that you’ll catch a cold or the flu, which are especially common in the colder, drier months of winter.
What’s more, regular exercise releases hormones called endorphins and reduces levels of stress hormones, which together help lift your mood. This can be especially important in winter when shorter daylight hours can lead to lower mood, and for around 3 in every 100 people in the UK, seasonal affective disorder (SAD).
Regular exercise also helps strengthen your muscles and, consequently, your joints. This can help ease joint pain, which often increases in winter due to colder weather making joints stiffer.
7 tips to stay fit through the winter
1. Exercise at home
If exercising outdoors is a challenge in winter, try online classes that you can take part in from the comfort of your own home or create your own routine. This could include squats, lunges, running on the spot, and walking up and down the stairs.
Any physical activity that increases your heart rate will help keep you fit through winter, and this includes housework.
2. Exercise at a gym, swimming pool or community centre
Sometimes, a change of scenery without the distractions of home can help motivate you to exercise. A gym can provide a warm place to exercise by yourself or as part of a class.
You can also visit your local swimming pool to take part in a water aerobics class, try water walking or simply go for a swim. Alternatively, you can explore free classes at your local community centre or library, such as yoga, Pilates and tai chi classes.
3. Find an exercise buddy
Winter weather can make it especially hard to stay motivated to exercise. Making plans to exercise with a friend can help. You can keep each other accountable and provide support and encouragement whenever someone’s motivation wavers.
4. Take in nature
Although the cold can be off-putting, winter also provides the opportunity to take in the beauty of nature. Taking a brisk walk or jog in a park or tree-lined area can boost your physical and mental health at the same time.
5. Choose the right time
Part of the reason people often experience a slightly lower mood in winter is due to reduced daylight hours. To get the most out of any outdoor winter exercise, it is, therefore, helpful to do this before the sun goes down.
As sunlight helps your body make vitamin D, exercising when the sun is at its highest in winter — around noon — will also help boost your vitamin D levels. Vitamin D is essential to maintain healthy bones, teeth and muscles.
6. Wear layers
If you’re exercising outdoors in winter, it is important to stay warm. Cold muscles, ligaments and tendons are more likely to be injured.
A proper warm-up is, therefore, essential, but you will also need to wear appropriate clothing. As your body will heat up as you exercise, layers will allow you to remove items of clothing so you do not overheat or sweat too much.
7. Plan ahead
Check the weather forecast and plan your exercise around it. This will increase the likelihood of you sticking to your exercise routine as you can adjust what type of exercise you will do and where.
How to warm up for your winter exercise
A proper warm-up is especially important in winter when your muscles, ligaments and tendons will be cooler. This makes them stiffer and more likely to be injured when exercising eg through overstretching or tears.
Spend around 15–20 minutes warming up as part of your exercise routine. Running or marching on the spot for 5–10 minutes is a good way to start by getting your whole body warmed up. You can follow this up with dynamic stretches.
Unlike static stretches, where you hold a stationary pose, dynamic stretches involve simple movements that get your muscles and joints ready for exercise. They include:
- Arm circles — swinging your arms out so that the tips of your fingers make a circular motion, with the circles getting larger
- Leg swings — swinging your legs back and forth with the swing gradually increasing in length
- Squats — bending down with your knees while keeping your back straight and then back up to standing
- Thoracic twists — turning your upper body from the waist to the left and right, with your arms crossed over the front of your body
Once you have completed your warm-up, you are ready to dive into your winter exercise. Remember, it is equally as important to cool down after your exercise by gradually reducing the speed and/or intensity of your exercises and ending with static stretches.
