Beating the Winter Blues

Has being stuck inside for the winter left you feeling a little cooped up or anxious?  Dreading leaving the warm covers in the morning, or running errands and leaving your heated home?  While you may not have full-blown Seasonal Affective Disorder (link), many of us can start to feel a bit sluggish and lethargic in the colder months.  Compound that with the Durham area rarely managing to get snow for typical winter-time activities and it’s no wonder we prefer to stay indoors.  So how can we remain active and energetic when it’s freezing outside?  Here are 5 ideas that you can enjoy even when it’s cold:

1) Hiking

It may seem pretty contrary to what you would think I’d suggest for a good cold-weather activity, but after 10 minutes of walking uphill you’ll be thankful for the cold!  Just getting outside can improve your mood drastically.  Uncertain of where to go?  Check out our facebook on Fridays for posts about popular hiking, running and biking trails!  Bundle up, but be prepared to shed those layers pretty quickly.

2) Geocaching

Geocaching is a fun treasure-hunting game you play with a gps device such as a smart phone.  Start HERE to read all about it, but in a nutshell in geocaching people hide little items all around the country for you to find using your GPS device.  They can be anywhere from a state park to a street corner!  Geocaching is well suited for our area since we don’t experience extreme weather too often.

3) Hot Yoga

Make sure to try out Empower’s yoga classes, but if you’re still yearning for warmer weather take a look at Hot Yoga – yoga done in up to 95 – 105 degrees and sometimes added humidity.  The RTP area has many locations to choose from, read up on a few if you’ve forgotten what hot feels like.

4) Shopping

Still have some of those gift cards from Christmas to spend?  Make sure to take your time and walk around, you can burn an appreciable amount of calories power-shopping through the mall, as long as you don’t stop at Auntie Annie’s along the way.

5) Cooking

Winter is a time we tend to get into a feasting frenzy and all we want is to do is eat then hibernate.  Well, if you want to spend your day indoors, why not take the time to cook some healthy food for the week while you’re at it?  Take an afternoon or an evening to cook up a pot full of vegetables and rice to save in the fridge, make a full pan of meat and vegetable lasagna or grill up 8 burgers and freeze them for later on in the week.  You’ll have healthy food available anytime a craving hits.

Spring comes early in North Carolina, but until then give some of these ideas a try and shake off that cold-weather lethargy!

 

Kat Whitfield

BS, NASM-CPT

 

 

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