Simple Ways to Protect Your Mental Health This Winter

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Winter’s shorter days and colder weather can challenge your mental well-being. Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) and the general gloom of the season make self-care essential. By focusing on specific strategies, you can maintain a positive outlook and prioritize your mental health during winter. Here’s how.

1. Let In the Light

Increasing your natural light exposure is one surefire way to improve your mood. Natural sunlight stimulates vitamin D production and boosts serotonin levels, which help you feel better and enjoy improved health. Vitamin D is integral to many body processes, including your mental health. 

Take a brisk walk for 30 minutes daily, letting your body enjoy the change in temperature between indoor and outdoor spaces. Movement helps banish sad feelings and restores your sense of well-being.

2. Move Your Body

In addition to a brisk walk, you should get enough movement and cardio workouts to help stimulate your circulation and improve your blood pressure. Even 30 minutes a day can help you reach the target of 150 minutes of moderate exercise per week. Consider dance, yoga, pilates, home workouts and strength-building activities. 

3. Prioritize Your Sleep

Without quality sleep, your body doesn’t rest and anxiety quickly increases. Natural sleep patterns require a balance between sunlight and going to bed at the same time each night, which helps maintain normal circadian rhythms. Avoid screen time and caffeine before sleep to help your brain switch off as needed. 

A sleep hygiene routine helps you develop mental clarity and maximize your shut-eye. Consider a calming 20-minute meditation before bed, reading a soothing book or engaging in gratitude journaling. 

4. Eat Healthily 

While you may crave processed foods and carb-rich comfort meals, healthy eating benefits your hormone balance and ensures you feel your best. Plenty of fruit and leafy green vegetables help your body and mind get nutrients. Winter is also a good time to eat more omega-3-rich foods like nuts and seeds. 

Avoid sugary food and drinks, which give you instant gratification but lead to a sugar crash as your blood sugar becomes unstable. Use food to fight off winter blues, and heat your heart with spicy food and herby soups that warm you from the inside while fighting inflammation. 

5. Seek Connections

Winter colds often cause people to self-isolate, which may help avoid catching a bug, but it will also lead to loneliness. Humans are social beings and must interact with others to meet their companionship needs. Use quiet indoor days to reach out to loved ones and friends via video calls and set regular connection dates when you and people you care about get together. 

When your social needs are met, your mental health improves. Women thrive when they have other women to chat and share their concerns with. 

6. Discover Mindfulness

If your social calendar opens, you have more time for reflection and introspection. Use this time to invest in yourself with healthy mindfulness practices. Start journaling or download a meditation app to help you achieve calm and inner peace. 

7. Eliminate Caffeine and Alcohol

A cup of coffee may seem wonderful in cold weather, but too much caffeine can cause sleep disruptions and affect your mood by blocking adenosine, a sleep-stimulating hormone. While you can enjoy a few cups daily, you should use moderation as your guide. Instead, try herbal tea and warm water with lemon and honey to give your body a natural energy boost. 

Drink alcoholic beverages sparingly, as these can easily disrupt your blood sugar levels and may worsen depression. 

8. Beautify Your Space

Satisfy your natural hibernation instincts with a beautiful space. Create a comfortable home where you can put your feet up and feel warm and protected. Relaxation can help settle seasonal nerves and make you feel right with the world.

If you struggle to relax, try afternoon naps with a weighted blanket to help banish restless leg syndrome and ensure you feel safe. Add a few plants to elevate your mood while you enjoy nature with options like ferns and lush leafy pothos plants. 

9. Seek CBT

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a mindful way to see what you’re thinking and find ways to change negative thought patterns for good ones. If you struggle with negative thoughts and constantly find cyclical patterns that invade your mental clarity, you may benefit from these methods of improving your mental health. 

• Keeping a journal: Writing in a journal allows you to see your thoughts. It’s an opportunity to change what you think without negatively judging yourself. Selectively replace negative words with positive alternatives, such as changing “I am a lazy person” with “I find things that I care about, and I work hard at those.”
• Visualization: Using the power of images lets you plan your future creatively. It’s an ideal way to shape how you look at the world. You can create a vision board that enables you to plan how to manage trying situations and prepare for the future you seek. 
• Activation flowcharts: If you anticipate disaster, you can use this CBT method to help you develop a sense of trust by being prepared. Making a list of things you expect, you can list possible actions next to each and instantly follow these steps to help you manage disaster if the bad thing happens. If you believe you will be ill this winter, you can use this method to plan who to call, what you will do to get better and how you will ensure you don’t get sick. 

10. Sniff Your Way to Serenity

Use the power of aromatherapy to awaken your mind and boost your mental clarity. Scents like lavender, eucalyptus and sage can help your mind stay alert and calm, even if you feel stressed. Create a serene atmosphere by lighting incense burners or essential oil candles that gently fill your space with hope and positivity. 

11. Plan Adventures

In summer, you likely have many plans of where you want to go and who you’d love to see. However, plans are often left behind during the darker, cold months. Decide on a weekend goal or plan you’d love to see through, no matter the weather. Break the monotony of winter with a cooking class, movie night or a creative project. 

Try something new to beat the fear of change. You don’t have to cling to the familiar — getting takeout from a new place can elevate your sense of accomplishment. 

Protect Your Mind Today

The human mind loves to think, learn, evaluate, and socialize. Use winter as a time of renewal as you take up new hobbies, meet people, sleep better, and eat well to improve your health and ensure you get great sleep. Mental health is about practicing self-kindness and giving your mind what it needs to feel joy.