How To Stay Active in the Winter - 3 Pillars for Success
A more succinct version of this article was originally published in Cove Magazine’s July/August Issue- which was a true honour of mine - to actually be published as a Fitness Writer.
It still feels very odd to me, being English, and talking about Winter in Australia over the months of June, July and August.
Right now the Northern Hemisphere is on fire because of incredibly hot temperatures - and I’m looking at buying a dressing gown to match my slippers as I’m really rather cold in Australia at the moment.
Just one of those other things that get turned literally upside down when you move hemispheres.
And it’s one of those things that you don’t realise will affect you as much as it does - moving your entire seasons around is weirder than you would believe.
However, I digress…
Cove Magazine asked me to write about staying active in Winter for them in their July 2022 edition, and I thought it a great time to publish this article on my website as well as before the Northern Hemisphere knows it - the heat will have calmed down and the nights will be drawing in, and you will be back to seeing your breath more often than not.
Summer only lasts a matter of weeks in England.
So I figured this would be apt.
This article focuses on a series of “Pillars of Success” that you should work on in order to help you remain active throughout Winter. The role of this article is to increase the chances of you being able to be active in Winter - as opposed to giving you a “by write” plan of what to do - because let’s face it - “by write” plans seldom work when you have to deal with that thing called life as well.
My job is to make things possible for you.
Not to tell you what to do.
Because I have never lived a day in your shoes - your experience of life will be individual to you.
But these pillars are designed for you to work on building that pillar up in your life to make the likelihood of activity increasing during the winter months a lot more likely.
Many people experience lower activity levels in Winter. As this study [1] in the Journal of Sports and Health Science found that 43.9% of people are likely to delay exercise in Winter compared to Summer which was 51.8%. Individuals who listed “Rain” as the adverse weather condition were 3.49 times more likely to delay exercising compared to “Heat” as the adverse weather condition and those who listed Ice and Snow were more likely to delay exercise compared to those who were just concerned with the cold.
And then again in this study [2] you can see the varied activity levels per season in 5085 participants:
So let's get to work on fleshing out the three pillars designed to help you succeed in Winter. On their surface they seem quite obvious and straightforward - but understanding the nuance of what is behind that surface will really help you strengthen your resolve and resilience in this field.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR:
How To Stay Active in the Winter - 3 Pillars For Success
PILLAR 1: Get your Sleep on Track
- The correlation between Sleep and your Activity Levels
- How to Improve Your Sleep Hygiene
PILLAR 2: Understanding your Exercise
PILLAR 3: Managing your Diet
PILLAR 1: Get your Sleep on track
When it’s dark outside we tend to hibernate a little bit more – and this can cause very different behaviour relating to your sleep. For example, you might stay up later watching Netflix because you don’t feel as tired from the day due to a drop in activity levels as it is in Winter. Or you end up eating later into the evening causing your sleep to be interrupted at night making you less likely to have the energy to work out the next day.
The second your sleep is negatively impacted, your desire to remain active will diminish greatly regardless of the season.
In anything to do with fitness - whether you want to run a marathon, lose 20lbs or get strong enough to fight a bear in the woods, you need to prioritise your sleep. Ask any Athlete - the only way they can maintain their high-performance levels is through having very well-regulated and well-structured sleep.
Now I know you aren’t an Athlete. But it’s all relative right?
The Correlation Between Sleep and Activity Levels
There is a strong correlation between physical activity and quality of sleep.
As this study [3] shows:
“Twelve weeks of exercise training increased sleep duration and variables of sleep quality in adolescents. These investigators found exercise training to decrease NREM stage N1 (very light sleep) while increasing REM sleep, sleep continuity, and sleep efficiency when using polysomnography:”
This study [4] also found that:
“Regardless of the time of day, engaging in resistance exercise did improve sleep quality”
Makes sense right?
The more you move, the more tired your body will be and the better quality of sleep you will have.
So when that reduces, even slightly, during the Winter, it will have an impact on how restful your sleep truly is by stopping you from getting into that deep REM or Slow Wave Sleep.
This knowledge puts you in a catch-22 situation though.
Activity helps me sleep….Sleep helps me stay active…Winter stops me from being more active…
The key here is to just start somewhere. Try and get the ball rolling in some way.
Remember your goal is to be as active as possible throughout Winter, and we can improve your sleep in many different ways…
Want to find out Why Your Sleep Affects Your Body Weight?
Read my Blog Post that has helped hundreds of people get better sleep…and improve their fitness journey
How To Improve Your Sleep Hygiene during Winter
The rules here are the same as every other month of the year.
In my Blog Post “Why Your Sleep Affects Your Body Weight?“ I identify these 8 ways to improve your sleep:
Plan to get 8 hours of sleep a night
Sleep with the Sun
Exercise regularly
Listen to a Sleep Story
Listen to a Sleep Meditation
Put your phone down 60mins before sleep
Reduce Caffeine intake
Reduce Alcohol consumption
All of these stand true no matter what time of the year it is. However, Winter can cause issues with your achievement of some of these more than others and there are some that exist because of Winter that isn’t on that list.
So let me address that.
In Winter;
You will be more likely to eat more Comfort Food
On a cold winter day give me a nice hot mug of cocoa, any time of the day. Give me refined carbohydrates, and foods full of fat so that I feel like I am getting a nice warm hug from my food.
Added to that - a nice bit of Scotch or a Rum Toddy.
And plenty of Tea. I am English after all.
Or my Mum’s Roast Potatoes. Every night of the week.
During Winter we eat heavier meals - that’s just what happens. It’s not right or wrong, it is what we need. We want that warming hearty broth by the fire or the big bowl of Shepherds Pie to warm us through.
And we naturally consume more calories as we believe we are more hungry in the Wintertime too.
As this study [5] found;
“Daily caloric intake was higher by 86 kcal/day during the fall compared to the spring. Percentage of calories from carbohydrate, fat and saturated fat showed slight seasonal variation, with a peak in the spring for carbohydrate and in the fall for total fat and saturated fat intake. The lowest physical activity level was observed in the winter and the highest in the spring. Body weight varied by about 1/2 kg throughout the year, with a peak in the winter”
The extra calories aren’t so much of a problem, in relation to your ability to sleep, however, they might interrupt your sleep and you will wake up more during your sleep.
Added to this we also perceive ourselves to be more hungry in the Wintertime as this study [6] concludes:
“The subjects rated themselves hungrier at the end of the meal in the fall even though the larger meals resulted in a greater estimated amount of food in the stomach. In the winter and spring there was a strong negative relationship between the amount eaten in the meal and self-rated hunger at the end of the meal.”
This all means you are more likely to eat closer to bedtimes - as you feel like you are still hungry - and that will in turn affect how restful your sleep is once again.
Knowledge is power - and being able to understand this will hopefully help you make more informed choices throughout the colder months.
So when it's close to bedtime - and you are lurching for that hot chocolate before bedtime just asks yourself a series of questions:
Am I actually hungry?
If I’m not actually hungry what am i?
Am I bored?
Am I in need of a hug?
Am I stressed?
Am I anxious?
Am I feeling lonely?
What emotion is driving my hunger?
Will I be able to sleep without having this hot chocolate…if so do I then truly need it?
As you work through those you will be surprised how much you will realise you actually don’t want the Hot Chocolate, it was indeed something else - and then you will have a much more restful sleep.
Alcohol and Caffeine both affect your sleep negatively. They both stop you from being able to experience deep REM restful sleep which will in turn mean that getting your exercise in the next day will be just that little bit harder.
Try to drink water in the afternoons and evenings, or herbal teas. That will help greatly - although I do understand the need for a warm cuppa in the middle of winter.
In Winter;
You will get less daylight
Daylight is crucial to our body’s ability to release melatonin - the hormone that makes us sleepy and drowsy.
Your body needs a clear distinction between night and day. This distinction is critical in your ability to release melatonin appropriately to allow you to sleep well. This is known as a circadian rhythm - and it is mightily important we try to stick to it as best we can.
The key here is to make sure you still get daylight. Not necessarily sunlight.
I know the sun shines all of about 2 weeks in the UK - but unlike parts of Scandanavia you do still get Daylight - and that is critical.
Melatonin time and time again proves that it does indeed improve a person’s sleep, as this Meta-Analysis study [6] concludes:
“Our meta-analysis demonstrates that melatonin significantly improves sleep in subjects with primary sleep disorders compared to placebo. Melatonin reduces sleep-onset latency, increases total sleep time and improves overall sleep quality compared to placebo to a statistically significant degree.”
Therefore you want to do everything you can to make sure your melatonin is firing well for you - and this can be achieved without supplementation. To help with this make sure you are getting out and about in the Wintertime as best you can - exposing yourself to daylight at every opportunity. Get out for lunch, go for small walks, or even sit by a window despite how grey it might be just to get that extra dose of daylight to help improve your sleep.
The other aspect of this is regulating your sleep times. Avoiding daytime naps and making sure that your bed is a place for only sleep and sex will really help here. Even though it can suck to wake up at 5:30 am on a cold winters day (and trust me - I know it does I’m a Personal Trainer with clients all over the world managing many different time zones) making sure you went to bed at the same time each day - and you woke up at the same time will help your hormones, not just your melatonin, but all of your hormones regulate and function in a much better way - which is going to do one thing - help you have enough energy to exercise the next day.
In Winter;
You may be more stressed
The evidence here is quite inconclusive. I have seen a couple of studies that back up the notion of “Seasonal Depression Disorder” admitting there can be a slight increase in low mood through Winter, and there are other studies that say the difference is negligible to other seasons.
There is also one study [7] from Iran that concluded:
“Common depression was more prevalent in the parts of the country where cold and rainy weather was more abundant”
I also think colloquially we all seem a little more dreary in the Wintertime.
If nothing else it explains the English disposition.
And it makes a lot of sense to me - increasing energy prices in Winter, less socialising, anxiety around affording Christmas, and of course the lack of sunshine and the ability to enjoy the outdoors as much with shorter days will all play into the narrative of feeling lower during this time.
That within itself is just natural human behaviour; being denied these things will have an effect.
And the more stressed you are…the less you sleep.
For a whole multitude of reasons but this is physiological as well. In our brains, we have an emotional control centre called the “Amygdala” - and the more stressed you are the more active your amygdala is and when your amygdala is active your sleep is negatively affected.
I can’t very well tell you to just stop worrying about things that drive the low mood in the Wintertime. But I can very well tell you that a key to helping those feelings feel so prevalent in your day-to-day is to make sure you improve your sleep.
And to do that we need to process this stress properly.
And again here we end up in the catch-22 - as exercise is a great way to process stress - but as its winter - we know the likelihood of that happening is reduced.
So how else do you process your stress? There are many things you can do here - but that could be a whole Blog within itself…in fact, it is:
But here are some helpful bullet point tips from that Blog Post:
Understand you are not alone in feeling this way
Remove expectations from your life
Start with small things and build up from there
Acknowledge your wins
Get a plan
Another great tool here to process your stress and therefore allow you to stay more active in winter is to give yourself moments of stillness. Meditation can be a great tool in your toolbox when you need it and I know that when I am ever so stressed taking moments to breathe and just focus on that can really help me calm myself down and get ready to tackle the next task.
I have a series of Meditations called The Daily Stillness which you can get. by signing up right here
If you improve your sleep, even just a little bit, it will help kickstart the wheel to looking after your fitness during these darker months, and your motivation will return.
Pillar 2: Understanding Your Exercise
Within your fitness regime, it’s always very important to change your expectations based on the changing circumstances you’re facing.
To expect the same output from yourself in terms of energy for working out might be doing more harm than good for you over winter.
If you’re the type of person who gets energy from the bright sunshine it might be a good idea to have some self-empathy over the winter months and reduce the frequency with which you are working out, or the intensity, or both.
During the winter your ability to keep working out to the same intensity will likely be very reduced, for a number of reasons but mainly, you are cold, wet and miserable. That’s not good energy to be working out with and it will likely have an effect on how heavy you are able to lift.
Personally, when it comes to Winter, I would reduce the frequency with which you workout.
As this study [8] found:
“It appears that Reduced Strength Training frequency does not affect the maintenance of muscle mass and strength”
Reduced training is the key statement here. The study took 33 beginners to exercise and tested three groups. The three groups were divided into one session a week, two sessions a week and no sessions at all. Across the strength tests performed for the two groups that remained to train over a 16-week period, they lost no significant strength. In fact, even those who stopped entirely they lost 5% of muscle mass and 22% of strength.
Studies like this one [9] that showed when someone is completely immobilized they can lose 5-10% of muscle mass in just 10 - 21 days.
To combat this you don’t need to work out, you just need to keep moving. You still build muscle without working out. Moving builds muscle. That can be walking, it can be playing a sport, it can be working in the garden.
So if you can’t keep up the frequency of your normal regime throughout Winter then all you have to do is reduce the frequency, and try to keep mobile elsewhere in your life.
That will keep you ticking over nicely.
The issue with keeping active in the winter comes down to people taking a small break, and that break lasting for the best part of the year, as opposed to a few weeks with reduced frequency.
It is similar to going on holiday. No one is expecting you to work out on holiday, you should enjoy yourself when on holiday. But the reason many people think that holidays ruin their progress is because of their inability to get back into the gym when they get back.
They don’t realise 9 months have passed since their holiday - they just remember their holiday being the reason they stopped going.
Winter is three months long.
If you can keep going to the gym once a week for three months - you will lose no progress.
Then when the three months are over just back on track.
PILLAR 3: Managing Your Diet
It wouldn’t be a fitness article without the proverbial ‘eat a balanced diet’ would it?
But there is a reason a cliché is a cliche, because there’s always an element of truth to it.
Fundamentally calories give you energy to do things.
When trying to lose weight you restrict your calorie intake which causes a reaction in the body to move less. This is known as Metabolic Adaptation.
Simply put, the more weight you lose, the more your body will fight against you in your goals to lose weight. This happens through a number of processes but one that impacts us the most is that it makes you move less.
As this study [9] done in pre-meonpausal women found:
“Metabolic adaptation after a 16% weight loss increases the length of time necessary to achieve weight loss goals”
Your body loves being where it is at. This is known as homeostasis, and is one reason that weight loss requires a lot of effort, and combined with metabolic adaptation shows why it so many people don’t succeed at losing weight.
If you’re struggling with your energy levels in winter, and you’re trying to lose weight by reducing calories, then you’re compounding two problems.
I know we have spoken about trying to protect your energy through improving your sleep, but most people in the world don’t have as much energy in the Winter as they do in the Summer. That is simply human.
Therefore in Winter if you are chasing physique goals as well - as in trying to lose weight - you might be trying to bite off more than you can chew.
Lower Calories to lose weight results in less energy. Winter results in less energy, Then there will be less likelihood of you feeling like moving.
To combat this I strongly suggest, nay, I recommend exclusively that you increase your calories to maintenance. Give yourself a scheduled “diet break” enjoy eating a few more calories and all of the benefits that will bring you.
Read my article that has helped 100s of people understand maintenance calories a lot better:
The quickest and simplest way to find your maintenance level would be to take your Goal Bodyweight in LBS and multiply it by 14.
The other method is to keep adding 200kcals into your diet until the scale represents between 1-5lbs above where you started. This method requires much more adherence to tracking your scale weight, and trusting the rollercoaster that is tracking your weight regularly.
And yes. By increasing your weight to maintenance, the scale will go up for the period of time you do that.
But…if the aim is to do this as you try and continue to keep your workouts up, as you will have more energy with which you can workout with, then you will likely not notice an increase in body fat, as much as you think you will.
Scale Weight might well increase.
Body Fat likely will not.
Especially if you only do this over the period of Winter.
As you are increasing your intake, sadly I wouldn’t advise this all comes from alcohol and take outs. Rememebr the goal here is to help you maintain positive energy. Therefore please try and fill these extra calories up with lots of fruits and vegetables and other nutrient dense foods.
How To Stay Active in the Winter - 3 Pillars For Success
And that’s it…
Remember the goal throughout Winter is to keep your energy levels up by managing your sleep, exercise and diet a lot better. Which will in turn make your winter feel more of a success to you.
Increase your sleep and your diet as best you can, and allow that extra energy to keep driving you to being active.
Winter will make you want to move a little less, and being aware of that is one of the key aspects in helping you understand how to manage other aspects of your health through Winter.
Knowledge is power.
You know that Winter will decrease the likelihood of you being able to remain active, therefore you need to keep putting yourself in the best position possible each day to stay on track in the best way possible.
And above all, prioritise your sleep, that will make everything else more likely to happen .
And as always if you have any questions you only have to ask me.
To be able to do that don’t forget to send me a Friend Request by filling out the form below
I hope you found this article useful and that you enjoy the Winter.
I cannot wait to see you again soon…
Coach Adam
References:
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Pivarnik, James M., Mathew J. Reeves, and Ann P. Rafferty. "Seasonal variation in adult leisure-time physical activity." Medicine and science in sports and exercise 35.6 (2003): 1004-1008.
Mendelson M, Borowik A, Michallet AS, Perrin C, Monneret D, Faure P, Levy P, Pépin JL, Wuyam B, Flore P. Sleep quality, sleep duration and physical activity in obese adolescents: effects of exercise training. Pediatr Obes. 2016 Feb;11(1):26-32. doi: 10.1111/ijpo.12015. Epub 2015 Mar 2. PMID: 25727885.
Alley J. R., Mazzochi J. W., Smith C. J., Morris D. M., Collier S. R. Effects of resistance exercise timing on sleep architecture and nocturnal blood pressure. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 2015;29(5):1378–1385. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000000750.
Ma, Y., Olendzki, B., Li, W. et al. Seasonal variation in food intake, physical activity, and body weight in a predominantly overweight population. Eur J Clin Nutr 60, 519–528 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1602346
Ferracioli-Oda E, Qawasmi A, Bloch MH. Meta-analysis: melatonin for the treatment of primary sleep disorders. PLoS One. 2013 May 17;8(5):e63773. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0063773. PMID: 23691095; PMCID: PMC3656905.
Mirzakhani L, Poursafa P. The Association between Depression and Climatic Conditions in the Iran Way to Preventive of Depression. Int J Prev Med. 2014 Aug;5(8):947-51. PMID: 25489441; PMCID: PMC4258674.
Brad Jon Schoenfeld, Jozo Grgic, James Krieger. (2019) How many times per week should a muscle be trained to maximize muscle hypertrophy? A systematic review and meta-analysis of studies examining the effects of resistance training frequency. Journal of Sports Sciences 37:11, pages 1286-1295.