Challenges of Winter Health

Looking after your health during winter, I mean this could include, you have touched on some of the points here, colder weather, fewer daylight hours, changes in activity or habits. Yeah, I mean I think I sound like a bit of a broken record, sorry, but I think the dark mornings really, really impact my day. I'm not really a morning person anyway and I think that's why I really struggle. I think some people really find the beauty of like getting up really early, I just have never been that kind of person. I'm very much a night owl, so waking up and it's pitch black outside I really, really struggle with and I actually just bought one of those Lumi sunrise lights, so as you alarm it kind of fills your room with daylight and I'm really kind of clutching at straws there to try and feel a bit better in the mornings but yeah the dark mornings I really struggle with and I think for me I can't think of a better way to say it but I kind of like romanticizing it and I kind of think it's conning my brain that it's actually a really fun thing so waking up and it's a little bit dark you know I've got my sunrise lamp I'll make a coffee and drink my coffee in bed and kind of just think okay this is really cozy this is really nice and romanticising those things rather than being upset about it because you can't change it, you sort of have to lean into it. So I think that's the sort of thing that I really find helpful during those kind of winter mornings. And then just forcing yourself outside, I think it's really tricky and I've had years of this with social prescribing clients, you know, when motivation is so low and you just really don't want to. Or, you know, a lot of people have health conditions where it's really your bones really sore in the morning especially made even worse by the fact that it's cold but I think if you can just really say to yourself 10 minutes is better than nothing and I think you get outside you do even if you go for a walk for 10 minutes you're going to get back and you're going to feel so much better and I think it's just really trying to cling on to the fact that you will feel better afterwards you've just got got to force yourself. I think it's that kind of thing.