Marion Freijsen A blog about Sports, Fitness & Health

It’s getting cold and dark…

If you are living in the Northern hemisphere…you will know what I mean with the title above..

It’s getting to that time of the year that when you get up in the mornings, it is dark and when you get home in the evening it is dark again. Not to mention that temperatures are dropping and you start getting your wintercoats out of the mothballs.

So when I turn to my friends and ask them to come out riding or running with me, they kinda give me that look that says “Are you NUTS?!”… I will be getting that look until April when the weather starts warming up, I can tell you that now… But nevertheless, being the eternal optimist, I persevere and try and get them out anyway. And you know why? Not just because I love having company on my rides/runs – because they will grumble about the absurdity of being out for the first half and complain about aches for the second half -  but because it actually does give you a better immune system. And I wouldn’t be a good friend if I didn’t give them a chance at that!!

Your immune system does get lower in times when the weather cools down, and even it being dark may have an impact. This is not scientifically proven (as far as I know) but generally speaking people are less happy in winter (darkness) then in summer (light) and when you are less happy, your immune system does actually also react to that mood. Exercise on the other hand, can boost your immune system – and besides that, being outside means you get a dose of healthy fresh oxygen and whatever light there may be – all of which also help. Ofcourse, it’s never any good overdoing it… if you are suffering from a flu, you shouldn’t exercise until your body tells you it is OK to (generally speaking you will feel like it by that time..if you don’t, just don’t). If you have a mild cold however, it is perfectly OK to exercise, just not at 75% or higher of your max. heartrate but at a moderate 65-70% or lower.

You will definitely feel better, and have more energy to get through the darker days… and in the process you will stave off those bugs that others spread around.

More on supplements and other things you can do to help support a healthy immune system/body in my next blog!