What’s your plan for keeping yourself and those you care for healthy in the winter?
Our new video has tips for keeping seniors and others safe and well during the cold weather.
Here are a few more ways to keep healthy when it’s cold and dark out:
- Bundle up and go outside during the day, even if briefly. When activity is limited to avoid walking on slippery ice, it can still be beneficial to get out in the fresh air and daylight for both mind and body in a safe way.
- Stay in touch with others, either virtually or in person. Social connections are key to overall wellbeing and the cooler temperatures and shorter days can make time together tricky. Prioritize socializing to keep feelings of loneliness away.
- Create a joy or gratitude list that you keep adding to and re-reading. Scientific studies have shown that expressing gratitude—even in a journal—can have benefits.
- Focus your diet on hot foods like stews and soups that can warm you from the inside out.
- Find a way to stay fit and keep to the routine. Maybe you can just stretch indoors each morning? Meet friends for Tai Chi? Sign up for a virtual yoga series?
- Get plenty of sleep.
- Use lights indoors—and that doesn’t mean screens—to improve mood as seasonal affective disorder can be mitigated with more light, experts have found.
- Usually we think of hydrating when it’s hot out, but it’s just as important in the cold to keep drinking hot liquids like tea (alcohol and caffeine only in moderation).
- Wash your hands to keep from spreading any illnesses as increased time indoors can allow germs to thrive.
If you’re a caregiver, it’s important to follow tips like these so you can continue to be there for the person in your care. If you are receiving home care services, join in the fun of creating a gratitude journal, getting some exercise, and cooking up some seasonal foods.
Watch our video about winter wellbeing.
