September, October, November, December are the ’Ber months. Not my favourite, but I get that some people love them!
The season of chunky knits, cosy evenings, warming comfort food and, if we’re being honest, a time when curling up on the sofa all evening tempts us more than ever.
As the days get shorter, temperatures drop and mornings become darker, those healthy habits that felt relatively effortless during the summer can suddenly require a LOT more motivation.
Getting out for your morning walk? Not quite so appealing when it's cold and raining.
A refreshing salad for lunch? Suddenly a steaming bowl of something comforting sounds much more attractive.
And that evening workout? It feels like bedtime by 5pm!
But guess what?
You don't need to possess superhuman levels of willpower and motivation to maintain your health and body goals throughout autumn and winter.
You need to season-proof your habits.
By making a few smart adjustments to your environment, routines and rewards, you can make healthy choices more convenient, appealing and enjoyable.
Here are eight of my favourite ways to do just that.
1. Let There Be Light!
One of the biggest seasonal changes is the reduction in daylight, and this can have a significant impact on how we feel.
Light is one of the most powerful signals regulating our circadian rhythm, our internal body clock that influences sleep, alertness, hormones and numerous other physiological processes.
When mornings are dark and daylight hours are limited, it can become harder to feel alert and maintain a consistent sleep-wake cycle. As strange as it seems, getting good morning light can help with better sleep at night.
My season-proofing suggestions:
Get outside early. Try to be outside natural daylight as soon as practical after waking. Even on cloudy days, outdoor light is much brighter than typical indoor lighting.
Try a dawn-simulating alarm clock. Even your favourtie chilled out songs can still jolt you awake when set as an alarm. Dawn-stimulating alarm clocks gradually increase their brightness to imitate a sunrise. A much more appealing way to begin a dark winter morning!
Consider a SAD light therapy lamp. A purpose-designed SAD lamp delivers much brighter light, commonly 10,000 lux at a specified distance, and may help some people who experience seasonal mood difficulties. Check suitability with your GP, particularly if you have eye conditions or take medication that increases light sensitivity. Choose a UV-free, UKCA- or CE-marked device and follow its instructions.
Take a daylight break. If you work indoors, make the most of your lunch break. Even 10–20 minutes outside can provide some welcome daylight and movement.
Winter wellness finds: A dawn-simulating alarm clock or 10,000-lux SAD light therapy lamp could be worth exploring.
2. Make Getting Outside More Appealing
There's a Scandinavian saying that there's no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing.
This isn’t always convincing when it's blowing a gale and raining sideways, but there's certainly something to be said for dressing appropriately!
If you're determined to maintain your daily steps throughout winter, why make the experience unnecessarily miserable? Investing in a few fabulous winter accessories can make all the difference.
Thermal leggings, deliciously warm gloves, cosy hats, waterproof and furry lined boots can make you actually look forward to getting dressed for your walk.
For added motivation, don’t underestimate the power of a great podcast or audiobook. Save your favourite episodes exclusively for your walks and you have extra incentive for getting out the door!
My season-proofing tip: Prepare your outdoor clothing the evening before. The fewer decisions and obstacles standing between you and your walk, the more likely you are to do it.
Winter wellness finds: rechargeable hand warmers.
3. Use the Power of Reward
We often approach healthy habits as things we should do, rather than things we genuinely want to do. This is where reward can be a powerful tool.
Imagine heading out for a chilly morning run, knowing that when you return, there's a fabulous hot bath or shower waiting, followed by your favourite coffee and a cosy dressing gown; finishing your evening workout and settling down with a warming herbal tea, a good book and an early night.
The trick is to create something enjoyable to anticipate.
This is linked to the concept of temptation bundling, where you pair something you want to do with something you might otherwise struggle to motivate yourself to do.
For example:
Listening to your favourite audiobook only when walking.
Saving your favourite songs on a playlist for your gym sessions.
Planning a delicious, healthy and warming breakfast for after your morning workout.
Arranging a weekend walk that finishes at a cosy café.
Of course, exercise and healthy eating have their own rewards, but sometimes a little extra incentive helps us get started!
Winter wellness finds: A luxurious dressing gown, cosy slippers or bath pillow to make your post-exercise routine something to look forward to.
4. Give Your Lunches a Winter Makeover
If the thought of another cold salad in this season leaves you feeling distinctly uninspired, why not embrace some warming alternatives. Eating well doesn't have to mean eating cold food!
Soups, stews, curries, chillies and warming healthy bowls can be delicious, satisfying and packed with nutrients.
As a nutritional therapist, I'd encourage you to think beyond simply having a bowl of vegetable soup for lunch.
To make a more substantial, blood sugar-friendly meal, include:
Protein: Chicken, turkey, fish, beans, lentils, tofu or other protein-rich ingredients.
Plenty of vegetables: Aim for a variety of colours and types.
Healthy fats: Olive oil, avocado, seeds or nuts, where appropriate.
Smart carbohydrates: Beans, lentils, whole grains or root vegetables.
If you're working and lunching somewhere without access to a microwave, a good insulated food flask can be an absolute game changer. Fill it with piping-hot soup or stew before leaving home, and you've got a warming, healthy homemade lunch ready when you need it.
Winter wellness finds: A stainless steel insulated food flask
5. Make Your Freezer Your Best Friend
You step through the front door, exhausted after a long day, and the last thing you feel like doing is preparing dinner from scratch. Sound familiar?
This is where a well-stocked freezer can save the day.
Rather than relying on motivation when you're already tired, do some of the work in advance. Whenever you're cooking a soup, stew, chilli or casserole, make extra portions and freeze them for another day.
Some of my favourite freezer-friendly options include: bolognese, chili, shakshuka base, curry and soups.
Frozen vegetables are a fantastic option too. They're convenient, nutritious and can dramatically reduce preparation time.
My season-proofing tip: Freeze meals in individual portions, label them with the contents and date, and keep a few different options available. It's like having your own healthy ready-meal collection!
Winter wellness finds: Silicone freezer portion trays
6. Have a Winter-Proof Exercise Plan
Let's be realistic. There are going to be days when heading outside for a workout or travelling to the gym feels considerably less appealing than it did in July. Whether you feel weather-shy or struggle with the energy to have a full on workout, it’s always worth having a Plan B.
Consider what you can realistically do at home. A short resistance workout, some yoga, a few kettlebell exercises or even five minutes of movement can help you maintain the habit.
The idea isn't to make every workout shorter or easier throughout winter; but to have alternatives available so that one obstacle doesn't derail your routine.
Consistency doesn't require perfection. It requires flexibility.
If you haven't already explored my free five-minute YouTube workouts, this is the perfect time!
From yoga to upper-body, lower-body, core and total-body workouts, there are plenty of options to fit into even the busiest winter days.
Winter wellness finds: Resistance bands, my all time favourtie TRX suspension trainer (or a non-branded alternative!) for convenient home workouts.
7. Make Winter Evenings Work for Your Sleep
One things that I actually do love about the colder months is having an excuse to make evenings extra cosy. This can be a fantastic opportunity to improve your sleep routine.
Just as bright light in the morning helps signal that it's time to be awake, reducing bright light exposure in the evening can help support your natural sleep-wake rhythm. In fact doing both of these helps with sleep.
Try creating a wind-down routine that makes bedtime something to look forward to.
For example, warm, dim lighting, a relaxing bath, comfortable bedding and perhaps a good book instead of another hour of scrolling.
Keeping your bedroom cool, dark and quiet can also help support better sleep.
And while it's tempting to stay in bed much longer on dark winter mornings, maintaining relatively consistent sleep and wake times can help keep your body clock on track.
My season-proofing tip: Create an evening ritual that you genuinely enjoy, rather than another checklist of things you feel you should do.
Winter wellness finds: Warm bedside lighting
8. Give Yourself Something to Look Forward To
It's easy to slip into a winter routine of work, home, sofa, repeat, but maintaining your wellbeing isn't just about food, exercise and sleep. Enjoyment, social connection and having things to anticipate are important too.
Rather than waiting for the festive season to provide all the excitement, start scheduling little things that brighten your weeks.
This could be a Sunday morning walk with a friend, a coffee date, a new yoga class, a trip to the countryside or a delicious homemade meal shared with family.
If your social battery tends to run out earlier during the darker months, there's absolutely nothing wrong with embracing daytime plans instead of late nights.
One of the things I've come to appreciate enormously since giving up alcohol is that fabulous social experiences don't have to revolve around evenings in bars.
A beautiful autumn walk followed by a leisurely brunch? That's much more my idea of a good time that energises me for the rest of the day!
My season-proofing tip: Put one enjoyable activity in your diary each week. It doesn't need to be expensive, elaborate or particularly time-consuming.
Sometimes the simplest pleasures are the best.
A Little Extra Winter Nutritional Support
What about nutrition? Of course, there’s one nutrient that's particularly worth mentioning at this time of year: vitamin D.
In the UK, sunlight isn't strong enough for us to produce sufficient vitamin D through our skin between October and early March. Food sources include oily fish, egg yolks and some fortified foods, but getting enough through diet alone can be challenging.
Vitamin D plays an important role in maintaining healthy bones and muscles, and the NHS recommends that adults consider taking 10 micrograms (400 IU) daily during autumn and winter. However, inidividual needs may be a lot more depending on your current status.
If you're already taking supplements, check your total intake rather than automatically adding more. Higher doses aren't necessarily better, and individual requirements can vary. I highly recommend testing for vitamin D at this time.* You may need a higher dose, but as it’s a fat soluble vitamin, it can accumulate to toxic levels if taken in excess. Ideally take with vitamin K2 as these work together.
*Vitamin D testing can be arranged through your GP, but if not you can access and at-home testing kit from the Natural Dispensary via this link, using the code AJBM015 for a 15% discount.
Work With the Season, Not Against It
You don't need to become a different person every winter. You just need to adapt the way you support yourself.
This is something I emphasise through my Body Confidence Blueprint: sustainable changes become much easier when we create an environment and lifestyle that support our goals.
Rather than relying entirely on motivation (which won’t always be there) we can make healthy behaviours more accessible, appealing and rewarding. There's no need to overhaul everything at once.
Choose two or three ideas from this article and start there.
Perhaps it's a sunrise alarm clock to make mornings more pleasant, a fabulous pair of thermal leggings to encourage your daily walks, or a Sunday batch-cooking session to take the pressure off busy weekdays.
Small changes can make a surprisingly big difference to how consistently we look after ourselves.
So, instead of simply surviving the ’Ber months, why not make this the season you learn to thrive in them?
And I'd love to know: What's your favourite winter wellness hack?
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If you're experiencing persistent seasonal low mood or suspect seasonal affective disorder, speak with your GP.