Fall and Winter Health and Warmth

by Dr. Jill Green

The season between my two least favorite days of the year (Daylight Savings Time and the Winter Solstice) can be rough. The days get shorter and darker until what feels like eternal darkness takes over, and we can only squeeze out 9 hours of daylight.

Last year at this time, I did a blog about 10 Affordable Tips for a Healthier Winter. I still highly recommend all of those things, and you can find that post here.

For survival of the "Eternal Midwest Winter," here are a few more recommendations that will keep you feeling warm, healthy, and mentally at your best.

Warmth

Feeling warm: I must admit that this is an area of personal struggle for me. Those of you who have been to the office in winter may (or may not!) have appreciated the thermostat set to 72 degrees. That is because my much-more-thermally-regulated husband at home has the thermostat set to 64 degrees - so when I come to work, I like to be toasty!

But despite what I'd prefer, one of the best ways to stay warm all winter is to work on cold tolerance and lowering your body temperature base point by partaking in a regular cold plunge. Yes, I said cold plunge. I know, I’m sad about it too, but the science is sound.

There are various ways to do this ranging from free to pricey:

1. Free would be to plunge yourself into a locally-available cold body of water like a lake.

   
   

2. Almost free would be to fill up the bathtub with cold water and submerge yourself up to you neck in that. You can also add ice to the bathtub as you are able to tolerate it for a longer time and colder temps.

   
   

3. If you don’t have a bathtub, taking an icy cold shower will do as well, though you need a longer time because you can’t be fully submerged.

   
   

4. If you really want to devote resources to this, you can either purchase a cold plunge (they have both single use tubs as well as units in which the water is only changed every 30-60 days).

   
   

5. Finally, if water isn’t your thing and cash is plentiful, you can do cryotherapy at a local cyro place (Restore Wellness has this with several locations in IL).

How to adjust to the cold tolerance techniques? Ideally you would start at a temperature that is cold, but tolerable. This is highly subjective, as my "tolerable" shower temp is 101 degrees, but I "prefer" 108 degrees. You can start at around 60 degrees and work your way down to between 40-50 degrees for 2-10 minutes. Note that cyro facilities like Restore Wellness have temps that reach -200 degrees to -256 degrees and the exposure time is shorter: from 30 seconds to 3 minutes.

The health benefits of a cold plunge are:

• increased metabolism

• lower temperature base point

• feeling warmer when it’s cold

• improved muscle and joint soreness

• improved sleep

• increased blood flow

• reduced inflammation

• improved mood

There are numerous studies confirming the health beneifts, and I won’t go into more detail here, but if it’s good enough to allow this worm to survive for 46,000 years, you know it’s also good for anti-aging.

A word of caution for those with angina, heart arrythmias, or mobility issues: please reach out to me if you are concerned about whether you can safely participate in cold plunges. It's important to get clearance from a doctor if you have medical concerns.

If you hate the suggestion to do a cold plunge, the cheat way to feel warm is to load up on heated clothing like heated socks, vests, gloves, and jackets. You really won’t get any health benefits, but it sure does feel nice!

Health

Feeling healthy: I firmly believe that health comes from what you put in your body. Hippocrates and Thomas Edison had a good thing going when they were dishing out advice:

Hippocrates: “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food” Circa 400 B.C.

Thomas Edison: “The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will interest his patient in the care of the human frame, in diet and in the cause and prevention of disease.” Circa 1903

The best way to take care of yourself throughout winter is to eat real whole food and avoid processed foods, GMO foods, food additives, and artificial flavoring and colors. I know that was a lot of things to avoid but, honestly, inflation has crushed the average American’s grocery bil,l and one of the best ways to fight back is to just eat real food. All the packaged food is 10-100x more expensive. Here's an example:

A single apple costs on average $1.00-$1.50 and is high in fiber and loaded with vitamins. Apple cereal bars costs $4 a box and you’d have to eat 2-4 complete boxes (depending on brand), to get the equivalent of one real apple. Feeling full yet? Plus, with the cereal bars, you are also consuming all the high fructose corn syrup, binders, coloring, flavoring additives, and food preservatives that are not good for and can acutally hinder the nutrients from getting through your gut to nourish your body. Also consider that you are eating a “food” that was literally "manufactured" months ago and has been sitting in its plastic wrapper on a shelf leaching up the chemicals in the wrapper. I’m not saying that all apple cereal bars are bad and that no one should buy them, but I am saying that eating a real apple is more nutritious and cheaper.

Here are some other examples of what I mean by real food:

• whole eggs (not egg substitute) - preferably pasture-raised on a local farm,because you will get significantly more nutrition from them). Even though pasture raised might cost more than the cheapest product you can find, the value you are getting is worth it. You eat what your food eats. Chickens eating feed made from other unusable chickens and cardboard produce less nutrient-rich eggs.

• real butter (not margarine) - preferably grass-fed butter

• real beef (not deli meat) - preferably grass fed and local

• real veggies (not canned or frozen) - preferably organic and local

Every time you choose to spend a little more money on a higher quality product, you are investing in yourself. How you choose to spend your money directly reflects what you value for health and nutrition, so consider higher quality, unprocessed foods. You will save money over packaged food, which can make up for the increased cost of higher quality eggs, meats, poultry, and dairy.

Also, be sure to look at packaging labels. If it has to say “made with real fruit” on a fruit cereal bar, that’s a red flag. That means that it likely has high fructose corn syrup, soybean oil, cellulose, potassium bicarbonate, guar gum, fruit puree concentrate, sodium citrate, malic acid, methylcellulose, vegetable glycerin, whey, and carrageenan. Those aren't real foods. Get the apple!

Preventing Injury

Preventing Winter Falls: The best fall prevention for any season is increasing your grip strength and working on balance and mobility. This can easily be done at home with exercises. You can find recommendations for your age and current activity level and mobility level. Grip strength helps prevent injury from falls. I use these and squeeze and hold while doing random mom chores, but there are several options out there. You will also impress everyone by opening their jars for them.

You can also invest in grips for your shoes/boots for icy paths, and this may also help you to feel safer to continue to walk outside and get some exercise throughout winter.

Mental Health

Another great place to invest in yourself is by taking care of your mental health - because you’re worth it! Like eating healthy, mental health care works best if it is a total immersion.

Winter can be tough on mental health: it is dark and cold, it’s harder to get outside for movement, and the holidays are often not times of joy for some as family (or lack thereof) can stress people out.

If you really want to invest in yourself for mental health this winter, you will see the most benefit if you do something for yourself every day. This means incorporating positive mental health acts into your daily life. Here are some dieas:

• listen to a podcast

• listen to music that you find enjoyable or relaxing

• consciously choose to not engage in behaviors or relationships that result in increased stress or anxiety/depression

• work on becoming aware of buffering activities like food, alcohol, substances, social media, netflix binges

• get a bright light box (full spectrum light), which can help with seasonal affective blues. This one was recommended to me by a psychiatry colleague.

• have a plan: don’t wait until it’s dark, cold,and gray to decide what you’re going to do for physical activity, social activity, and stress from holiday time. This season comes yearly without fail - decide now how you want to handle it. It’s much harder to make good decisions in the middle of a struggle or stressor. Deciding ahead of time helps you not be surprised by winter when it inevitably starts. Write your plan down so you can refer to it when you need it.

Don’t worry if none of this appeals to you or you choose not to incorporate any of it for yourself this winter. Just having an awareness of your options can help you feel inspired and empowered.

Have a Safe and Happ(ier) Fall & Winter!

Dr. Green