How to Stay Healthy in Winter: Realistic Tips for the Colder Months
I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with winter. I love cosy evenings, slow cooker meals, fluffy socks and having a perfectly reasonable excuse not to leave the house when it’s pouring with rain. What I’m less enthusiastic about are the dark mornings, dark afternoons, seemingly endless colds and that general feeling that everything takes a little more effort when it’s cold outside.
Looking after yourself in winter can feel harder than it does in summer. There are fewer daylight hours, the weather isn’t exactly encouraging you to go for a walk, and when you’re tired and cold, a salad rarely sounds as appealing as something involving potatoes and gravy.
I don’t think staying healthy through winter needs to involve buying piles of supplements, drinking green smoothies or trying to somehow “boost” your immune system, though. For most of us, it’s much more about the boring but genuinely useful things: eating reasonably well, getting outside when we can, staying active, getting enough sleep, keeping warm and paying attention to our mental health as well as our physical health.
Here are some of the things I try to think about as autumn turns into winter.
Don’t forget about vitamin D
Vitamin D is one nutrient that genuinely is worth thinking about during a British winter.
Our bodies can make vitamin D when our skin is exposed to sunlight, but between October and early March the sunlight in the UK isn’t strong enough for us to make enough this way. The NHS therefore advises adults and children over four to consider taking a daily supplement containing 10 micrograms of vitamin D during autumn and winter.
Some people are advised to consider taking vitamin D throughout the year because they’re at greater risk of not getting enough. If you’re unsure whether that applies to you, a pharmacist or GP can advise you.
You can get small amounts of vitamin D from foods including oily fish, egg yolks and some fortified foods, but getting enough from food alone can be difficult.
I have a separate guide to vitamin D if you want to understand more about what it does, food sources and supplements. What I wouldn’t do is start buying an enormous collection of “winter wellness” supplements because the packaging promises they’ll stop you from becoming ill. A supplement isn’t automatically beneficial simply because it’s natural or contains a vitamin.
Eat well without feeling as though winter requires a completely different diet
One of the things I dislike about healthy-eating advice is how often it seems designed for somebody living somewhere considerably warmer than Nottinghamshire.
When it’s freezing outside, I don’t particularly want an enormous cold salad for dinner. Thankfully, eating well doesn’t require one.
Winter is actually brilliant for healthy comfort food. Soups, curries, chilli, casseroles, stews, jacket potatoes and slow cooker meals can all include plenty of vegetables, protein and fibre while still being exactly the sort of food you want when you’ve spent the day wondering whether it’s acceptable to turn the heating up another degree.
Frozen and tinned vegetables are useful too. There’s no nutritional medal for chopping fresh vegetables every evening, and having frozen peas, spinach, mixed vegetables or whatever else you enjoy means you’re much more likely to add them to meals when you’re tired.
Fruit doesn’t need to disappear just because berries aren’t at their best either. Apples, pears, satsumas and other seasonal fruits are easy options, while frozen fruit is useful for porridge, overnight oats and desserts.
Rather than worrying about particular foods that supposedly “boost immunity”, I’d concentrate on eating a reasonably varied diet over the course of the week. Your immune system needs numerous nutrients to work normally, and there’s no single fruit, vegetable, powder or supplement that can make you immune to every bug doing the rounds.
Keep moving, even when going outside is deeply unappealing
I’m much more likely to go for a walk when it’s warm and sunny than when it’s dark, raining sideways and I’ve just got comfortable on the sofa. I suspect I’m not alone there.
That doesn’t mean exercise has to disappear until spring.
If the weather is reasonable, getting outside during daylight can be good for both activity and breaking up those long winter days. It doesn’t need to be a huge hike. Even going for a short walk at lunchtime can feel surprisingly good when you’ve spent most of the day indoors.
On days when going outside genuinely isn’t appealing or safe, there’s plenty you can do at home. You could use an exercise bike or treadmill if you have one, follow a home workout, do some chair exercises, put some music on while you’re doing housework or simply make a point of getting up and moving regularly.
I’ve learned over the years that exercise doesn’t have to be all or nothing. A ten-minute walk still happened even if it wasn’t the hour-long workout you’d originally imagined.
If you’re starting from a low level of fitness, particularly if you’re overweight or haven’t exercised for a while, I have lots of gentle exercise ideas on Just Average Jen. Winter doesn’t need to be the season when you suddenly transform into somebody who enjoys 6am runs in freezing rain.
Look after your mental health during the darker months
Winter can affect much more than how physically active we are. For some people, shorter days and reduced daylight can have a noticeable effect on mood, motivation and energy.
There is a difference between occasionally feeling fed up with winter and seasonal affective disorder (SAD), which is a type of depression that usually follows a seasonal pattern. If your mood changes significantly during winter, you’re losing interest in things you normally enjoy, you’re struggling to function or you’re concerned about how you’re feeling, speak to your GP rather than assuming it’s simply something you have to put up with until spring.
I think even without SAD, winter can make it very easy to withdraw from things. When it’s dark by late afternoon, staying at home feels much more tempting, and before you know it you can go days without seeing much daylight or speaking to anybody outside your household.
I try to make use of daylight when I can, even if that means going out earlier than I’d naturally choose. Keeping in contact with people helps too. You don’t have to fill your diary with social events, but a coffee with somebody, a book club, a hobby or even a phone call can break up a week that otherwise seems to consist entirely of work, darkness and wondering what to cook for tea.
Light therapy can be an option for some people with SAD, but I wouldn’t simply tell everyone to buy a lightbox and promise it will make them feel better. If you’re considering one, particularly if you have an eye condition or take medicines that increase sensitivity to light, it’s worth reading the NHS guidance and discussing it with an appropriate healthcare professional if necessary.
Get the winter vaccinations you’re eligible for
This isn’t the most exciting winter-wellbeing tip, but it is considerably more evidence-based than buying an “immune boosting” supplement.
The NHS offers seasonal vaccinations to people who are more likely to become seriously ill from infections such as flu and COVID-19. Eligibility can change, so rather than me creating a list here that inevitably becomes outdated, I’d recommend checking the current NHS winter vaccination information each year.
If you’re offered a vaccination because of your age, pregnancy, a health condition or another eligibility reason, don’t assume that getting flu is always just a few unpleasant days in bed. Flu can make people seriously ill.
I also find it useful to sort prescriptions and medications before Christmas and bank holidays rather than realising at the least convenient possible moment that something is about to run out.
Give sleep a little more attention
Winter can do strange things to sleep. Dark mornings can make getting out of bed feel impossible, while evenings spent indoors can sometimes mean we’re less active and spend more time staring at screens.
You don’t need a perfect bedtime routine, but if you’re constantly exhausted it’s worth looking at whether you’re actually giving yourself enough opportunity to sleep.
For me, this is another area where perfection isn’t particularly helpful. Going to bed at exactly the same time every night might work wonderfully for some people, but real life isn’t always that organised. I find it more useful to notice when I’ve fallen into the habit of staying up much later than I intended simply because I’m scrolling on my phone or watching one more episode of something.
Making the bedroom comfortable can help too. A room that is too hot, too cold, noisy or full of light isn’t particularly conducive to a good night’s sleep, whatever season it is.
Keep warm without feeling guilty about it
Keeping warm isn’t simply about comfort. Cold weather can make some existing health problems worse, particularly for older people and those with certain long-term conditions.
If you can, keep the rooms you use regularly comfortably warm and wear several layers rather than waiting until you’re absolutely freezing. If you’re sitting still for long periods, getting up and moving around periodically can help too.
Obviously, telling people to “just put the heating on” isn’t very helpful when energy costs are a concern. If you’re struggling to afford to heat your home, it’s worth checking what financial or local support you’re entitled to rather than simply trying to tolerate being cold.
And if you’re checking on older or vulnerable relatives, friends or neighbours during particularly cold weather, asking whether they’re actually managing to keep their home warm can be just as important as asking whether they’re okay.
Be prepared for the inevitable winter bugs
Even if you eat beautifully, exercise regularly and take your vitamin D, you’re still capable of catching a cold. Healthy habits aren’t an invisible force field.
It can be useful to have a few basics at home before you need them, particularly over Christmas and New Year when opening hours can change. A thermometer, tissues, any usual over-the-counter medicines that are suitable for you and enough of your regular prescriptions can save a miserable trip to the shops when you’re already feeling awful.
A pharmacist can advise about many minor illnesses and tell you if you need further medical help. If you have a long-term condition such as asthma or another respiratory condition, make sure you know what you’re supposed to do if your symptoms worsen and that you have the medication you’ve been prescribed.
Don’t dismiss every winter symptom as “just a bug” either. If you’re very unwell, your symptoms are getting worse rather than better, you’re struggling to breathe or something simply doesn’t feel right, seek appropriate medical advice.
Winter doesn’t have to become a health project
I think there’s a temptation every autumn to decide we’re going to have our healthiest winter ever. We’ll take every vitamin, exercise every day, cook everything from scratch, sleep for eight perfect hours and somehow emerge into spring as an entirely different person.
I’m much more interested in making winter feel manageable.
For me, that means eating warming meals that happen to contain plenty of nutritious ingredients, getting outside during daylight when I can, moving my body without pretending I love exercising in freezing weather, taking the vitamin D we’re actually advised to consider in the UK and noticing when the darker days are affecting my mood.
Some weeks I’ll do all of that brilliantly. Other weeks I’ll spend far too much time under a blanket wondering whether 4pm is too early to put my pyjamas on.
Healthy living has to accommodate both.
Winter is already cold, dark and occasionally miserable enough without turning looking after yourself into another thing you’re failing at. A few sensible habits, repeated reasonably often, are much more useful than chasing the latest supplement that’s supposed to stop you ever catching a cold again.
