Winter Exercise Woes?

Winter is tough for many reasons and shorter days and decreased temperatures make it much more challenging for those looking to get outside and get active. During the winter season, exercise is often pushed to the side. In turn, a decrease in exercise compounds the health issues from not moving enough, along with the depression and anxiety that often increases during the winter.

To help you stay healthy this winter, commit to maintaining an exercise routine. It might take a little more motivation than usual, so why not give a new exercise a try? For those that want to get outdoors but aren’t thrilled by the slopes, give cross-country skiing a try.

Cross-Country Skiing

Cross-country skiing may not have huge slopes and fast speeds (and for some, that’s a good thing!), but there is plenty about the sport to enjoy including:

• Boost Cardiovascular Health: Your heart benefits from some physical stress in the form of activity to promote and increase optimal function. Cross-country skiing requires movement from both the upper and lower body making it an efficient exercise
• Reduce Stress: Exercise is a great way to help manage the effects of stress, but being outside in nature adds a whole other element. So much of our time is spent going non-stop at work and taking care of the family and not enough time is spent outside to just let it all go. Intentionally setting up time to spend outdoors to exercise improves both your physical and mental health.
• Increase Endurance: Endurance is about a willingness to tolerate a difficult or unpleasant situation with giving up, either physical or mental. When you put stress on the body through exercise, you build both physical and mental endurance. Cross-country skiing can help this in many ways: it’s cold, you’re outside, it’s mostly quiet plus you are physically pushing your body to move making it an excellent endurance builder beyond simply lifting weights at the gym.
• Better Range of Motion: Unless you want to awkwardly perform small strides and get nowhere fast, cross-country skiing requires you to make long, full strides thus improving your joint range of motion. It’s easy to go through your day-to-day activities and not think about how to improve your range of motion, but once you are in the habit of it with the help of activities like cross-country skiing, you will help your body promote full circulation and increased lymphatic flow to ride waste from the body.
• Low Impact Exercise: For those suffering from back pain, exercising might be the last thing you want to do. Running, CrossFit, and weightlifting are all great methods of exercise, but they involve a higher impact on the body. After years of performance, that impact can take a toll. Cross-country skiing is a low impact exercise that still requires the body to perform, so you can maintain your health without hurting.

Exercise is an important aspect of maintaining your health in the winter, along with regular chiropractic care. To learn more about how Willliamsburg Chiropractic can help you stay healthy through the holidays (and beyond!), click here to schedule an adjustment.