How chiropractic can help you beat the winter blues!

Dr Kristian

Interests: Men's Health, Running

Does winter equal comfort food and Netflix binges on the couch because going outside seems like it is too much effort? Well you are not alone! It is only natural to want to hibernate when the weather starts to cool down, but there is plenty you can do to stay fit, healthy and happy during Ballarat’s short 9 month winter.

Four Ways To Keep Active

1. Indoor activities – gym/swimming/yoga/etc.
2. Running
3. Warm-up before activity
4. Snow trip!

It’s great to have a wide variety of exercises to keep your body moving in the cold months, once you’ve scraped the ice off your windshield. Mix up your routine with some indoor activities that won’t be affected by the weather, hot yoga is especially appealing on a frosty morning! Planning your exercise is very important as motivation can be lacking, so take your running gear to work so you can squeeze in a run at lunch. Or if you can’t, get changed before you leave work and run as soon as you get home, before it gets dark at stupidly early o’clock! Make sure once you have prised yourself out of the butt imprint on the couch that you do a proper warm up; we see a lot of ‘cold start’ injuries that are easily prevented. Sometimes when it comes to the couch and a steaming mug of hot chocolate, you just have to ‘let it go!’ Release your inner Elsa and get to the snow. Skiing, snowboarding and tobogganing are amazing for serotonin (your happy hormone), fantastic for balance, endurance and coordination (yes, I’m sick of those Milo Kids Skiers who zoom past me as well!!!)

Four More Ways To Keep Healthy

1. Look after your gut!
2. Get some Vitamin D
3. More winter veggies please!
4. Reduce Chemical load

Whilst Uber Eats is very tempting during the winter months, it is important to maintain a healthy relationship with your gut. Winter is the perfect time to have a go at making your own gut healing bone broths (or try our bone broth concentrates), ideal to add to soups, stews and casseroles. Remember that 90% of your body’s serotonin (happy hormone) is produced in your gut, so happy gut, happy mind. Bulk up your meals with lots of yummy seasonal veggies, broccoli, carrots, cauliflower and peas are a great place to start! And don’t forget your good quality fats for brain health- coconut oil, avocado and fish. Even though the sun has migrated north like a coconut carrying African swallow, we still need our Vitamin D dosage. This time of year the best way to get it is through a good quality supplement like our Bioceuticals Vitamin D drops. Being indoors highlights our body’s reaction to many fairly common chemicals; think how the oven smells after you’ve used ammonia, or how your throat feels after sitting next to the girl on the bus that smells like Brittany Spears (Toxic). Please go easy on the lotions and potions, or lean towards something more natural (have you seen Leandra’s Body Scrub Facebook Live yet?)

Another Four Ways To Keep Happy

1. Make time for your mates
2. Practice mindfulness
3. Try some home Yoga - Sun Salutes.
4. Make sure you’re still getting adjusted.

Keeping our brains active is just as important as keeping our body going; try ramping your brain up with a board game (Blockus rematch Leandra?), remembering that the social interactions are just as valuable as winning - maybe. Just as important is the calming after the storm; try some guided meditation (to somewhere warmer, preferably) or something that will ground you, like a progressive muscle relaxation exercise (squeeze your toes, relax. Squeeze your calves, relax. Etc). A simple home based routine of doing some Sun Salutes (Denise gave a really good example in May’s Facebook Live) is awesome at calming the mind and warming up the body at once.

And of course, don’t forget to get your spine checked! Especially if you’re feeling ‘under the weather,’ the adjustment helps calm the nervous system, increasing your white blood cell count (the guys that fight off nasty bugs). Don’t worry about getting the chiro sick, ALL of them get adjusted… and have little ones that go to school/daycare/snot sharing parties. Getting adjusted also helps rewire the connections between your brain and body that regulate mood hormones, helping to relieve some of the stress from being stuck inside.1 The adjustment is also amazing at firing up proprioceptive feedback to get a better brain:body blueprint going which can lead to a reduction in cold start injuries (plus making you stronger and have more endurance). Another common presentation in winter is the hunched over posture which can fire up the part of the brainstem that says ‘we’re under attack’ causing a prolonged exposure to higher levels of stress hormones. We love chatting about the things you can do to maintain your posture in winter. And we’re super happy to tell your kids off for slouching all the time too!!!!

Thanks for checking out our guide on how to survive (and thrive) this winter! Please give us your feedback on what you want to see on these blogs or share some tips of your own.


References:
https://spinalresearch.com.au/stress-brain-body-connection/