Winter is fast approaching. Evenings are darker, days feel shorter and the window of opportunity to get active feels smaller.
Here are some easy ideas to stay active and healthy.

Rug up

Invest in some decent jackets/jerseys, beanies, socks, merinos and thermals for outdoor exercise such as walking, cycling or sports training. The excuse “it’s too cold” could technically last you all winter. Combat that by having the right gear to keep you warm and toasty. It will hopefully also ward off any nasty winter bugs while out in the elements. Exercising is a great way to warm yourself up, too!

Dose up on the vitamin C

There’s no harm in using extra supplements to boost your immune system over the winter months. Vitamin C is a great element to focus on – even more so throughout winter. Your local health store can guide you toward relevant and important supplements to include in your health regime year-round.

Get the slow cooker out

There’s nothing worse than coming home from a long day of work to a cold house and the thought of cooking dinner. Taking the time in the morning (or even the day before) to chop up some vegetables and meat and prepare a basic casserole to chuck into the slow cooker can be an absolute godsend for your future self. Meal prepping can be an absolute life-saver in winter and help you avoid popping out for a steak and cheese pie from the bakery. (That’s my go-to, anyways.)

Choose exercise you like

If you don’t want to exercise outside in the cold, don’t. But have alternatives. I dislike running or cycling in the cold because I feel like it makes me freezing and feel chesty. I opt instead for a gym workout indoors or even a home workout with minimal gear. There are thousands of online workout videos you can follow at home. If you have a home gym set-up, whether modest or state of the art, you can enter into YouTube what gear you have and follow along with an appropriate workout. For example, you could find a kettlebell or dumbbell-based workout if that’s what you have in your garage.

Buddy-up

If you’re anything like me, motivation goes to an all-time low during winter. Something to help combat that is having a workout buddy or an accountability buddy. This can be anyone who will physically do the workout with you or who you can rely on to encourage you and keep you accountable. For example, a friend of mine lived too far away from me for us to train together, but we would send a picture of our workout each day to keep each other accountable. This can also be done for your meals or any other aspects you’re working on for your health and fitness journey.

Go to bed earlier

This is a very simple one, but getting enough rest over the winter months is crucial. It also helps with recovery and fighting off those winter bugs. If you make an effort to go to bed even half an hour earlier each night – over the week, you’ve accumulated 3.5 hours more sleep, which your body will thank you for. This will allow you to hopefully feel fresher in the mornings and maybe even get up half an hour earlier to fit in some active time before you have to start your working day. I find that I can mindlessly scroll on my phone in bed instead of going to sleep. I’d recommend that you make a goal of putting your phone on ‘do not disturb’ mode as soon as you hit the sheets. This means that you will actually rest and go to sleep rather than stimulating your mind and wasting precious sleeping hours doom-scrolling on a device.