Impacts of cold weather on the body

It's definitely starting to get a little cold out there and one of the first places we feel it is in our muscles and joints. In the cold weather our muscles and connective tissue (ligaments and tendons) are less supple and don't benefit from being warmed up from the heat. This can leave us feeling stiff and achy.

We can spend a lot of time hunched to try and stay warm which ends up holding muscles in a tight and tense position....adding further to the aches and pains you already have.

So what can we do to combat this....

• Keep warm! Layer up and make sure you have a good base layer so you don't feel the need to hunch.

• You can use things like electric blankets, especially helpful if you use this on a morning five minutes before getting up as it will warm up those back muscles so you don't feel so stiff and achy.

• You can also apply heat in different forms such as a hot water bottle, a warm towel, anything that gets heat to those areas that are particularly tight or painful. Heat is wonderful at warming and loosening things up.

• You can also apply things like the natural pain balm we have for sale here at the studio as it helps to warm up the muscles. Or purchase wheat bags and heat packs from the pharmacy and apply to the area.

• When getting up on a morning, try to start with a five minute stretching programme, simply to waken up the body and warm up the muscles ready for what you require of them throughout the day. People are a lot like a car, we don't expect that to start too well on a cold day and nor should we expect ourselves!

• There's many simple stretching programmes you can start with to waken you up on the morning. I'm attaching a nice basic one here to get you started. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7o4waoBbIZA

• However stretching is not enough and during these cold periods, once our muscles are feeling warm, another good way to get the body going and keep that tension at bay is to do some movement. Something cardio based that gets us all warmed up and the whole system going. You can think skipping, running on the spot, doing big arm circles, dancing. Anything with lots of movement! I actually enjoy hula hooping and have found it so beneficial for my back.

So hopefully some good pointers to keep you going through these winter months! As many of you know, I am not good with the cold and in seasons like this I wonder if the sunshine will ever return....but before we know it summer will be here.😁

P,s. Not forgetting we have hot stone massage available at the studio, another option for a wonderful warming blast of heat.