14 Winter Habits That Will Keep You Happy and Healthy

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Feeling a bit bummed out this winter? Check out these 14 winter habits designed to help keep the winter blahs at bay.

Listen to the audio version of this piece below or on The Optimized Mom Podcast.

We were sitting outside at one of our homeschool group’s park playdates recently, when a friend remarked, “I hate January.”

Everyone agreed, chiming in about how depressing and cold it was and that in January we had nothing to look forward to.

And this is in Las Vegas, which gets pretty much no snow and has sunny skies about 300 days out of the year.

The sentiment is the same—even a bit bleaker—from my relatives and friends in the midwest and on the East Coast. My mom always used to tell me that more people than average died in January. I thought she must be making that up, but it turns out that this is partially true. 

In many countries, death rates do skyrocket in the winter. You know where they don’t, though? In Scandinavian countries, which have some of the coldest winters around, and where they’ve made an art of celebrating the season.

So let’s make that our goal for this winter—making an art of celebrating winter’s unique gifts rather than complaining about them.

The best way to change your life is to change the things you do daily, so today I’m sharing 14 winter habits that will help keep you healthy and happy.

Of course, you won’t want to implement all of these habits at once. Pick one that really speaks to you, and once it feels like it is solid, move on to another.

Healthy Winter Habits 1: Get more sleep

1 in 3 Americans don’t get enough sleep, so chances are pretty good that you are one of them. Winter is a great time to turn in early (it was dark at my house at 4:30 last night). Although it’s tempting to stay up late watching tv, experiment with going to bed earlier than usual. 

Most of us need 7-9 hours of sleep per night. Know that your “sleep efficiency” (the time in bed where you’re actually asleep) isn’t going to be 100%. Therefore, your time in bed should ideally be between eight and ten hours!

If this seems far off for you, start small. Go to bed 15 minutes earlier tonight. Try it again tomorrow. Make your bedtime even earlier next week, and see how you feel.

And, of course, here is where I have to add the disclaimer that if you’ve currently got littles in the house, sleep might be a shit show. Do the best you can in this crazy season of life.

2: Eat Your Winter Fruits and Veggies

90% of Americans don’t eat enough veggies. So, like the sleeping, there’s a good chance that you have room for improvement here.

We tend to think of spring and summer as the best times for fresh veggies, but there are tons of fruits and veggies that are in season this time of year. Load up on citrus, avocado, cabbage, butternut squash, carrots, sweet potatoes, leeks, and Brussels sprouts.

Experiment with new soups and stews, roast your veggies in the oven to warm up the house, and enjoy your dinners by candlelight. Given the right attitude, any food can be a “comfort food”.

RELATED: 25 Awesome Tricks You Need to Try if Your Kids Hate Vegetables

3: Stay Active

In the winter, it’s tempting to just plop on the couch. I laughed recently when I heard the phrase, ‘sitting is the new smoking’. But it turns out staying too sedentary is really bad for your health—especially your mental health. That’s right: it’s time you started thinking about exercise as a well-being tool rather than a weight loss one.

Although more intense exercise such as lifting weights and HIIT is great for your body, if you’re not there yet, start with some simple walking.

In her great book, The Joy of Movement, Kelly McGonigal shares the following:

“…experiments in the U.S. and the UK have forced moderately active adults to become sedentary for a period of time, only to watch their well-being wither. Regular exercisers who replaced physical activity with a sedentary activity for two weeks became more anxious, tired, and hostile. When adults are randomly assigned to reduce their daily step count, 88 percent become depressed.

Within one week of becoming more sedentary, they report a 31 percent decline in life satisfaction. The average daily step count required to induce feelings of anxiety and depression and decrease satisfaction with life is 5,649. The typical American takes 4,774 steps per day. Across the globe, the average is 4,961.”

What’s your average?

Healthy Winter Habits 4: Get Outside

To supercharge the benefits of that walk, take it outside. 120 minutes each week of time outdoors is associated with better health. That’s less than 20 minutes a day, my friend. Bundle up the kiddos and take a short walk around the block or play in the snow together—especially on sunny days.