The groundhog said winter isn’t over yet, but that doesn’t mean we get to burrow into our own homes and wait out the cold indoors. It’s time to get outside!
Maybe you live in San Diego, Hawaii, or Arizona, where the weather stays warm all year long. However, for those of us who don’t, you might be the type of person who gets depressed when it starts getting cold and snowy outside or maybe you are the person who loves the snowy, cold winters. Either way, it’s important to go outside every day even when it’s cold and snowy. Making it a goal to go outside every day this winter will actually keep you healthier and happier this winter. Here are five reasons why.
Fresh Air
Being stuck inside all day can drive a person crazy! And worse, it can make you sick. If you’re cooped up with tons of other people in your house or office, it can expose you to all sorts of germs. Even just a breath of fresh air can decrease stress and lower blood pressure, which will allow your immune system to work more efficiently. You know the saying “Stop and smell the roses?” Well, winter may not provide lots of roses for sniffing, but it does provide crisp, fresh breathing opportunities.
Get Your Vitamin D Intake
I know that with the winter comes the cold and snow, and it can be hard to motivate yourself to get outside to exercise (or even just get outside). However, most people can become Vitamin D deficient during the winter months due to their lack of spending time outside. Vitamin D can prevent osteoporosis, heart disease, breast cancer, prostate cancer, colon cancer as well as other diseases. Sunlight also helps protect against depression and insomnia. Vitamin D also helps fight infections, colds, sicknesses, and the flu. Your Vitamin D intake shouldn’t all come from the summer time; you also really need it in the winter as well.
Improve Your Mood, and Relieve Your Stress
All of these reasons seem to tie together. Having the fresh air immediately starts to improve your mood and relieves your stress. When you exercise outside, it helps relieve stress because more oxygen goes to the brain, more blood to the rest of the body, you are able to shut off the outside world, and just be yourself. It is a sort of peace. Nature can do wonders to your mind, body, and soul! Plus, I’m sure you have always heard that exercise improves your mood and relieves your stress, why stop just because it is winter?
Fight the Winter Blues
I know we’ve touched on this just a moment ago when talking about the fact that getting outside elevates your mood, but it bears repeating. Depression can happen when you’re cooped up inside all the time. Just because it’s winter does not mean that you need to be stuck inside all the time. Getting outside will help fight the winter blues, which leads to happiness and more energy.
Take Advantage of the Snow and Winter Sports
When you get involved in a snow or winter sport, you will actually enjoy the snow and the cold weather. Start a new winter sport. Skiing, snowboarding, ice-skating, and cross-country skiing will get you outside and get you a workout in. When you do a winter sport that you enjoy, you are more likely to continue with it, and it helps to get that exercise in over the winter.
Get outside and live fully!
