Tools for Winter Wellness
Transitioning into winter on the Solstice each December 21 always feels like crossing a threshold. This is the time of year when what has been bountiful curls up into itself and when that which has been active goes dormant. We start to move more slowly, sensing intuitively that we should conserve our energy and eat warming foods. By January, holiday celebrations have faded into the rear view, we feel inexplicably more tired and the thermometer sings “when I dip, you dip, we dip.”
Winter blues, anyone?
Herbalism offers a wealth of strategies to fortify the body in the cold season—tools that can be implemented even before we begin to talk about herbs. Here are some of my favorites:
Do a little lymph brushing. Comprised of the spleen, bone marrow, lymph nodes and thymus, the lymphatic system plays an integral role in immunity. Together, lymphatic organs and lymphatic tissues absorb fat from the digestive tract, maintain the body’s fluid levels and monitor and destroy macrophages that may enter the body, while transporting and removing waste products. In addition to swollen tissues, sluggishness in this system can lead to weakened immune function and feelings of fatigue.
Unlike the cardiovascular system, the lymphatic system has no central pump. The best strategy to support proper flow of lymph is through movement, massage, baths and lymph brushing, a technique that supports lymph drainage.
Here’s how to do it: Using a natural bristle brush, work in circular motions upward from the feet to the torso and from the fingers to chest. Using gentle yet firm strokes, brush towards the heart to move lymph and help prevent lymphatic stagnation.
Tap the thymus. Thymus comes from the Greek word θυμός (thumos), meaning “life energy.” Located beneath the sternum, the thymus—about the length of a small apple and width of a Brazil nut in infants, decreasing in size after puberty—is where T cells, special white blood cells that help protect the body against infectious disease, mature. Stimulating white blood cell production aids immunity and may help increase energy levels.
Here’s how to do it: use the flat side of your fist to lightly thump the area below the center of your chest, where your clavicles meet, for 30 to 45 seconds. Repeat 2-3 times a day.
Get more sleep. Sleep is the body’s time to detoxify, rebuild and restore. The average American gets just 6.5 hours of sleep per night, down from 8 a generation ago and 10 in the early 20th century. While we sleep, our tissues repair themselves, our muscles grow, protein synthesis occurs and we release growth hormone. Our liver engages in its major detoxification processes and the immune system engages in some of its most important functions. Additionally, this period of rest is when a good deal of digestion takes place and our brains process and consolidate new information.
Winter’s shorter days are a great opportunity to get more sleep. Aim for at least 8 per night. Begin to wind down 2 to 3 hours before bed time by turning off your electronic devices, avoiding stimulating herbs like ginger and engaging in restorative, calming activities like reading.
Get sunshine on your face in the morning and eat vitamin D-rich foods. Exposure to ultraviolet B (UVB) rays from the sun enables our bodies to synthesize vitamin D. And boy is vitamin D important! It supports the body in meeting its calcium needs efficiently, regulates phosphorous absorption, is involved in the pancreas’ secretion of insulin, plays a role in blood pressure regulation, helps reduce inflammation and bolsters our innate immunity.
Given the sun’s position in the sky in winter and the fact that we spend more time bundled up, the UVB rays we are exposed to between December and March may be insufficient to synthesize the amount of vitamin D our bodies need—especially for those of us blessed with melanin! At the same time, sunlight is a key energizer, signaling to our bodies to be alert by regulating levels of the hormones that govern the circadian rhythm.
Get some sunshine on your skin in the morning by going for a walk, or just basking in the sunshine outdoors. Doing so will support alertness and cue your body to release the hormones that keep us alert. Vitamin D is stored in the liver and many people get adequate UVB rays in spring, summer and fall to support them through winter. If you want to buttress your vitamin D in winter, focus on vitamin D-rich foods like ferments, egg yolks, fish, liver and mushrooms that have been dried in the sun.
Pamper your gut. Peyer’s patches, the small masses of lymphatic tissue found throughout the small intestine, monitor the gut for pathogens. Meanwhile our gut microbiome, the community of more than 100 trillion microorganisms that live in the digestive track, is crucial to everything from mood regulation, sleep quality and nutrient absorption. Use the winter to eat healing broth, consume fermented foods and support digestion with home-cooked, nutrient-dense foods.
Take a cold shower. Wild as doing so when the temperatures outside are frigid may sound, immersing the body in cold water has numerous health benefits: helping increase circulation, decrease cortisol levels, increase serotonin levels, boost the body’s ability to tolerate stress and acting as an anesthetic. Those New Year’s Day polar bear swimmers know what’s up!
Here’s how to do it: Gradually lower the temperature of your shower, aiming for temperatures of about 57°F for several minutes. Not for those who are pregnant or have a historic of cardiovascular issues.
I plan to share herbal remedies for winter in a later blog post. Thank you for reading!