MOVEMENT, NUTRITION, SUN, SLEEP, LAUGH & DE-STRESS
When the chill in the air becomes bitingly cold, you know winter has arrived! While South Africa is famous for its sunshine, with an average of 2,500 hours of sun every year1, during winter, sunny days are shorter and less frequent.
For many, seasonal shifts impact our mood, energy, and happy vibes. Fortunately, you can avoid the ‘winter blues’ and enjoy the season of brrr!
Exercise
Exercise is good for more than just weight loss and physical health. It’s also great for releasing tension. Twenty minutes of vigorous activity four times a week is shown to improve mood.2
Not sure how to increase your fitness? Start with baby steps. Tracking your steps with a fitness tracker, smartwatch, smartphone, or pedometer is an easy way to check that your are getting enough daily activity. Track your steps for a day, then find ways to increase the amount every day.
Change Your Eating Habits For The Better
We all know the health benefits of a balanced diet. A nutritious diet focuses on fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and healthy fats. Additionally, it contains a range of protein-rich meals, is low in added sugars, sodium, saturated fats, trans fats, and cholesterol, and meets daily calorie requirements.3
Get Some Sun
Humans, as diurnal species, are programmed to spend days outdoors and nights in bed. This is why melatonin, often referred to as the sleep hormone, is created during the night and disappears when we rise to a bright day.4
As winter days are darker than other months, our internal clock may be tricked into thinking day is night, producing more melatonin, which can reset our bodies’ natural sleep-wake cycle, resulting in daytime fatigue.5
It may be cold outdoors, but you can still catch some rays. 5 to 15 minutes of sun a day is all you need.6
Make Time to Relax
When it’s cold and dark outside, it’s natural to stay indoors where it’s warm and cosy but being cooped up can make you feel isolated, stressed, and anxious. Stress has a negative impact on your immune, digestive, cardiovascular, and reproductive systems. If this stress is not controlled properly, it can also cause headaches and physical problems. If not treated properly, all these negative impacts caused by stress on your body could lead to excessive worry, unease, and tension.7 Learn to recognise signs of stress as they arise, before they a negative domino effect on health. When you feel stress creeping up, take time out to pamper yourself, be more active, or try a relaxation technique.
Grab Some Zzzs
On average, we need seven to eight hours sleep a night. However, in winter, the air can become dry. As the National Sleep Foundation notes, lack of humidity may irritate your throat and induce coughing or gagging, which makes sleeping difficult.8
Use a humidifier at night during winter to minimise sleep-disrupting seasonal impacts.8
Look On The Bright Side
Everyone loves a good belly laugh, and a good sense of humour eases stress and boosts your immune system.9
Bring humour into your life, cuddle with your pets, dance around the lounge with your family, watch funny movies or read humorous books.
How CBD Can Help Beat The Winter Blues
In addition to the above, CBD may help you beat the winter blues by reducing stress symptoms. ADCO CBD Stress10 relieves symptoms associated with stress. CBD can also help reduce restlessness, sleep disturbances and fatigue.11 It does all this without causing that ‘high’ feeling!11
Trusted, reliable, reputable ADCO CBD products are available from the ADCO CBD online store – https://www.adcocbd.co.za/shop and independent pharmacies, selected Clicks and Dis-Chem stores. For more information visit: www.adcocbd.co.za and join the conversations on Facebook on Instagram.
ends
2022033110193841
References:
- South Africa Gateway. South Africa’s weather and climate [Internet]. 2018 [Cited 2022 March 18]; Available from : https://southafrica-info.com/land/south-africa-weather-climate/
- Madeline R. Vann, MPH. Everyday Health – “Your best weapons against the winter blues” [Internet]. 2018 [Cited 2022 March 18]; Available from : https://www.everydayhealth.com/depression/your-best-weapons-against-the-winter-blues.aspx
- World Health Organization. Healthy diet [Internet]. 2020 [Cited 2022 March 18]; Available from : https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/healthy-diet
- Mead MN. Benefits of Sunlight: A Bright Spot for Human Health. Environ Health Perspect. 2008 Apr; 116(4): A160–A167. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.116-a160
- Henry Ford Livewell. Why do you feel more tired in the winter? [Internet]. 2021 [Cited 2022 March 18]; Available from : https://www.henryford.com/blog/2021/01/more-tired-in-winter
- WebMD. Sunlight and Your Health. Medically Reviewed by Poonam Sachdev on February 22, 2022 [Internet]. 2022 [Cited 2022 March 18]; Available from : https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/ss/slideshow-sunlight-health-effects
- National Institute of Mental Health. Stressed out fact sheet [Internet]. 2022 [Cited 2022 March 25]; Available from : https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/so-stressed-out-fact-sheet
- Best Life. 5 Ways Winter Affects Your Sleep, According to Experts [Internet]. 2019 [Cited 2022 March 18]; Available from : https://bestlifeonline.com/how-winter-affects-your-sleep/
- Bennett MP, Lengacher C. Humor and Laughter May Influence Health IV. Humor and Immune Function. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2009 June ;6(2):159-164. Available from : doi:10.1093/ecam/nem149 Available from : https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/labs/pmc/articles/PMC2686627/
- ADCO CBD Stress. Professional information leaflet. 25 November 2019
- Pisanti S, Malfitano AM, Ciaglia E, et al. Cannabidiol: State of the art and new challenges for therapeutic applications. Pharmacol Ther 2017July;175:133-150; Available from : https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0163725817300657?via%3Dihub