10 Best Self-Care Tips For Winter

The fall harvest has been collected, awaiting to be made into soups and stews. The leaves have all fallen to the ground, covering any signs of summer still remaining. The falling temperatures are forcing us to bundle up and preserve our body heat. Winter is coming, and we must adapt.

However, for some of us with the right mindset, we can not only adapt, but wholeheartedly embrace it!

What is the best way to happily embrace the long cold winter months and ensure optimal health? By aligning our lifestyle with winter; by surrendering and going with the flow of nature; by implementing self-care tips for winter so we are ensured the best chance of making it out just as healthy as we went in.

This time of year when the sun goes into relative hiding, well-being and spiritual health are perfect things to focus on. It is healthy to surrender to the inward energy of this season and retreat from social activities.

Self-care is all about paying extra attention to ourselves. For those who are single and child-free, that is easy. But for those who have families, it can be a challenge. It is especially important for busy people to make time for self-care though. I’m sure you’ve heard of the phrase “You can’t pour from an empty cup.” I mention this a lot because it is true and so overlooked.

In this article, I will share all my self-care tips for winter and ways you can align your lifestyle with the winter season so you can live at ease. The more at ease you are, the better your health will be.

Podcast/audio version of this article:

1. Start Journaling

Fall and winter are the ideal times to start journaling if you don’t already do this. If you are a regular reader of my blog, you know how much importance I put on journaling. I have a blog post specifically about that, here: The Mental Benefits of Journals and Planners

Journaling is a therapeutic form of expression, introspection, and contemplation. It is a way to process your thoughts and feelings for the day so you can clear your mind before bed, reduce stress, solve your problems, and so much more.

Winter is a perfect time to use journaling in your quest to go within, search for answers, get to know yourself, and focus on you. The words “journey” and “journal” both trace back to the same origins, variations of the word “day” in French.

A journey is an activity that takes a day (give or take), and a journal is where you write about your day. What a perfect combination of words when referring to the activity of journaling about the activity of your day (or week, month, year, or life).

I have many types of journals available in my Etsy shop here: Etsy Shop

2. Take Warm Baths Before Bed

Ending your day with a warm bath is the perfect way to set the tone for bed. This has been proven to be effective for better sleep, because your body temperature rises in the hot water, and after you get out, your body cools down. This body temperature change triggers sleepiness.

Not only are baths good for sleep, they are even better for your mental health. Having a peaceful, quiet soak in solitude can be enough to erase all the day’s stresses. Using calming essential oils and candles can amplify this experience.

3. Pamper Your Body

Pampering your body can be inexpensive and just as luxurious as a spa. There are plenty of books and videos out there on how to make your own natural lotions, exfoliators, scrubs, creams and masks. You should never use products that have unknown chemicals in them; you can always find the equivalent in natural form. The skin absorbs everything.

Some common homemade ingredients you can use for a DIY home spa experience include honey, yogurt, eggs, sugar, and oils such as coconut, sesame or olive oil.

In Ayurveda, they recommend everyone massage their body with oil every night before bed, usually sesame oil. This is known as abhyanga. Especially in the winter, it is important to apply lotion or oil to the skin every day.

Making your own health and beauty products is fun and better for you than anything sold in mainstream stores. I get all my ingredients for making DIY products from Mountain Rose Herbs because they have only the best quality ingredients, so I don’t have to worry about any added chemicals.

If you want to make your own products, you can click the image below to check out what they have: (affiliate link- if you use this link to purchase, I get a small commission, so thank you!)

If you aren’t up for making your own products, you can buy things such as bentonite clay which works great on its own as a purifying detoxifying skin treatment. Cocoa butter, shea butter, and Vitamin E are also great for the skin.

Pampering your body also includes wearing soft, warm clothing. I practically live in fleece tops and bottoms from October until April. This is especially worth noting for any of you who are a predominantly Vata constitution, the Ayurveda body type that is thin and prone to cold.

I also do dry brushing which helps move your lymph (toxins) out of your body. The part you will probably notice first, though, is how soft it makes your skin feel! I like the garshana gloves for this because they’re less abrasive than the brushes. (affiliate link below)

4. Meditate Daily

This suggestion is probably the most common one in all areas holistic health. This is because it greatly improves all aspects of your health, physical, mental, and spiritual. Doing this in the morning or before bed helps to start and end your day on the right foot. You can, however, squeeze it in anytime you have a moment. Even five minutes helps!

I like to suggest meditation being used in conjunction with journaling because they work so well together. If you meditate first, your mind will be calmer and clearer which will allow for your intuition and messages to flow through you. If you journal first, this could also be just the brain dump you need to clear your mind, so meditation is easier. I suggest doing it in that order if you have trouble with calming your mind for meditation.

If you have trouble meditating or haven’t quite mastered it, I have a Meditation Workbook that could be helpful.

5. Eat In-Season Foods

This is one of the most important items on this list. There is a reason why certain foods grow at certain times of the year. Our digestive systems (and our entire bodies, actually) thrive when they are able to receive the proper nourishment at the proper times of the year.

In the fall and winter, our bodies need more fat to stay warmer. It is ok to put on a few pounds over the winter. There is a stigma that this is bad but remember; our ancestors used to gather lots of fattening foods at this time of year and they would feast often.

This doesn’t mean we should eat the fattiest meats and cover everything with butter. What the body needs most right now is protein and grounding foods. These are also more filling. This is why winter is such a popular time to eat chili, chicken soup, and beef stew.

It is a time to eat less summer fruits and salads, and more hearty warm filling foods like root vegetables, squashes, and beans. Think comfort food. Fall and winter are also the best seasons to eat buddha bowls. (I have an article on that here: Introduction to Buddha Bowls)

In the winter, our bodies crave more calories, so give yourself a break but just don’t go overboard. For holiday celebrations, stick to one helping (going back for seconds is what pushes us over the edge).

When you overeat, you will feel exhausted. The body is putting all its energy into digestion. To avoid this problem, eat smaller meals more frequently in the winter.

In the spring and summer, I can easily get by with 3 meals a day. However, in the fall and winter, I notice 4 meals a day works better, and I keep the last one lighter. It is always important to eat the bulk of your food in the morning and mid-day when the sun is strongest, and your digestive fire is more efficient.

Drinking warm fluids is also important in the winter, so stick to tea, hot apple cider, and hot chocolate rather than cold water or soda.

To really dive in deep with eating seasonally, Dr. John Douillard has an amazing book called The Three Season Diet that lays it all out for you in simple terms and easy to follow instructions. You can check it out by clicking the image below (affiliate link):

6. Use a Sun Lamp

With less daylight in the fall and winter, it is easy to slip into depression. This is what Seasonal Affective Disorder is, SAD for short. And that synonym is pretty accurate. Our bodies create serotonin by sunlight, so less sunlight means lower happiness levels.

Getting good sleep is dependent on the amount of light that reaches the eyes, especially in the morning. If you work nighttime hours, sleep late, or live where there is very little sunlight, it will improve your sleep immensely by using a sun lamp as soon as you get up each day. A sun lamp can help alleviate SAD and keep your circadian rhythm in check.

This is the sun lamp that I bought and it really helped me get my circadian rhythm back to normal during the wintertime! (affiliate link/image below-thank you if you purchase through this link!)

All that being said, it is actually ok to sleep more in the wintertime. With earlier sunsets, it is much easier to get sleepy and be ready for bed around 8 or 9 pm. Sleep an extra hour or two and don’t feel guilty, as long as you don’t sleep half your day away. It is still best for our health to get up between 5 and 7 am, so get the extra sleep at night when the dark hours come sooner.

7. Maintain Your Exercise Regimen

Although it is ok to eat and sleep more in the winter, the same leeway doesn’t apply to exercise. Exercising helps us keep our muscle which we still definitely need. This is why eating lots of protein in the winter is a good idea.

So, keep up your usual exercise routine if you can. If you live where it gets down to unsafe temperatures outside, invest in indoor equipment such as a treadmill so you can at least get your walking done.

I have a free download that might help you stick to a daily exercise routine, it’s a Daily Diet and Exercise Cheatsheet that you can print out and hang on your fridge or any place you will see it every day.

8. Give Special Care to Your Immune System

I wrote an article all about this here: How to Improve Your Immune System

To sum it up for the sake of this article, I’ll include my infographic from the article:

9. Develop Your Indoor Hobbies

When we are forced to stay inside, why not make better use of the time? Instead of finding another tv show to commit to, how about finishing your unread books? If you have a family, playing board games is a great way to stay connected and have fun.

What are some things you have been wanting to do or explore further that you couldn’t get to over the summer simply because you were too busy or always outside? Winter is a great time to do more baking, crafting, or creating of any kind.

Maybe you want to keep your brain sharp by doing crossword puzzles and word searches. I have a few of these available in my Etsy shop here: Printable Activity Sheets on Etsy

10. Plan for Next Year

Winter can be hard to get through when you don’t have as many plans as you did in spring and summer. You can use this downtime to your advantage by getting a planner for the following year. This is an especially popular thing to do around the New Year, and there is no shortage of planners to choose from! I have many different printable and digital planners in my Etsy shop here: Etsy Shop

I hope you’ve enjoyed these self-care tips for winter (and fall, too!). Share the love on Pinterest!

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