Goodbye Summer

Goodbye summer, hello cooler temps…

Summer has, once again, come to an end. Fall is in the air. All my life I have been a summer person. Even growing up in Arizona, I enjoyed the summer. No matter how hot it gets, summer is my favorite time of year. My favorite activities have always been ones that are done outdoors and usually in the warmth of summer.

It seems to me that winter is a time when physical activity slows down. There is a lot more sitting indoors. One Winter I was talking to a friend in Minnesota and I stated, “It must be really cold up there right now”. He said, “It’s about 72 degrees”. I said, “72 degrees?! How is that possible?!” He said, “Oh, you mean OUTSIDE? Nobody goes out there in the winter!” He was being funny but it seems to be true that a lot less time is spent outdoors this time of year.

Added to this time of less activity is Halloween, where we eat a lot of candy. Thanksgiving, which has become more about eating and less about giving thanks, and Christmas which also consists of a lot of eating, and we have a recipe for weight gain and poor health. It is important to enjoy life and enjoy this time of year but over eating and lack of physical exercise will lead to regret. 

Let’s all remember, this winter, the importance of physical activity. I have been pretty fortunate to have a house with a basement the last couple of years and have set up a home gym. Before that I had a membership to a local gym here in town. Nothing beats getting out and enjoying the outdoors when we can but it is good to have backup plan for cold weather.

Another drawback of winter is lack of vitamin D from the sun. There are less daylight hours in the winter and when we do go outside we usually cover every inch of skin with clothing. I think a 1000 mg Vitamin D supplement in winter is important as well as trying to get sun when we can.

To put a positive in there, it seems that people are a lot more social this time of year. We get together for holidays. We are out mingling with the crowds shopping for school items, holiday food items, Christmas presents, etc.

So eat right, exercise and enjoy interacting with the people in your life this winter. Life is still good no matter the temperature outside. I am looking forward to what this season has in store.