Ways to wipe out Winter Tiredness
Many people feel tired and sluggish during winter. If you find yourself longing for your warm, cozy bed more than usual during winter, blame the lack of sunlight. As the days become shorter, your sleep and waking cycles become disrupted, leading to fatigue.
Less sunlight means that your brain produces more of a hormone called melatonin, which makes you sleepy. Because the release of this sleep hormone is linked to light and dark, when the sun sets earlier your body also wants to go to bed earlier, hence you may feel sleepy in the early evening.
While it’s normal for all of us to slow down generally over winter, sometimes lethargy can be a sign of more serious winter depression. If your tiredness is severe and year-round, you could have chronic fatigue syndrome.
5 Tips to fight Winter Tiredness
Sunlight is good for winter tirednessOpen your blinds or curtains as soon as you get up to let more sunlight into your home. And get outdoors in natural daylight as much as possible, even a brief lunchtime walk can be beneficial. Make your work and home environment as light and airy as possible.
Good night's sleep
When winter hits it’s tempting to go into hibernation mode, but that sleepy feeling you get in winter doesn’t mean you should snooze for longer. In fact if you do, chances are you’ll feel even more sluggish during the day.
We don’t technically need any more sleep in winter than in summer. Aim for about eight hours of shuteye a night and try to stick to a reliable sleep schedule. Go to bed and get up at the same time every day. And make sure your bedroom is conducive to sleep – clear the clutter, have comfortable and warm bedlinen and turn off the TV.
Regular exercise
Exercise may be the last thing you feel like doing on dark winter evenings, but you’ll feel more energetic if you get involved in some kind of physical activity every day, ideally so you reach the recommended goal of 150 minutes of exercise a week. Exercise in the late afternoon may help to reduce early evening fatigue, and also improve your sleep.
Winter is a great time to experiment with new and different kinds of activity. Skating is a good all-round exercise for beginners and aficionados alike. If you’re more active, go for a game of badminton, football or tennis under the floodlights. If you find it hard to get motivated to exercise in the chillier, darker months, focus on the positives you’ll not only feel more energetic but stave off winter weight gain.
Learn to relax
Feeling time-squeezed to get everything done in the shorter daylight hours? It may be contributing to your tiredness. Stress has been shown to make you feel fatigued. There’s no quick-fire cure for stress but there are some simple things you can do to alleviate it. So, if you feel under pressure for any reason, calm down with meditation, yoga, exercise and breathing exercises.
Eat the right foods
Once the summer ends, there’s a temptation to ditch the salads and fill up on starchy foods such as pasta, potatoes and bread. You’ll have more energy, though, if you include plenty of fruit and vegetables in your comfort meals.
Winter vegetables such as carrots, parsnips, swede and turnips can be roasted, mashed or made into soup for a warming winter meal for the whole family. And classic stews and casseroles are great options if they’re made with lean meat and plenty of veg. Try to avoid foods containing lots of sugar – it gives you a rush of energy but one that wears off quickly.
