It's Getting Cold & Dark, Avoid Letting Your Mental Health Follow Suit

November-March can be a very brutal time of year for us Michiganders.  Our mood can shift from upbeat and motivated to gloomy and apathetic.

There's a lot of physiology that goes into this, but we will skip all that noise today and focus on what you can do to help combat the Winter Blues.

Most of you reading this will continue to come into the gym which by all means keep on doing so!  In fact, adding an extra day would be an awesome idea to implement.  As you COVAL members know, as a part of your membership you can drop-in on your own, take the group class on Saturday at 10AM, or add an extra day of coaching to your membership. 

But what can be done beyond that?

1)  Dive into a new hobby that you've always wanted to try

2)  Commit to one social event per week (this is for you introverts)

3)  Keep a consistent bedtime and wake schedule

4)  Develop & execute a plan to improve your nutrition.  What you put into your mouth matters and influences the hormones and neurotransmitters in your body that are responsible for your mood.

5)  Add a new form of physical activity to the mix.  Yoga, Pilates, salsa lessons, and tennis are just a few ideas that come to mind.

6)  Perform an audit of the people that you spend the most time around.  Make it a point to spend less time with those that tend to be negative and more time with those who are uplifting and motivating.

7)  Figure out how you can be more physically active at work.   Maybe it's parking further away from the building, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, taking planned walks throughout the day, or walking to the furthest water fountain in the building when you need to refill your water bottle.

8)  Dedicate time to learning mediation or just simply taking time each day to do some deep breathing.

You know yourself best.  These are just some ideas to get your wheel spinning which hopefully lands you with a list of 2-3 ways to help yourself live a mentally strong Michigan winter!

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COVAL Fitness
Personal Training Studio in Ann Arbor, MI