Amazing Benefits of Exercising in Winter You May not Know

The cold weather undoubtedly makes it hard for us to stay motivated and committed to our fitness. But let’s face it! There are various benefits of exercising in winter. 

However, many potential risks may happen if you don’t take it correctly. Therefore, explore some tips you should keep in mind before exercising!

Benefits of exercising in cold weather

Benefits of Exercising in Winter

Give Cold Comfort

Winter can bring advantages that you don't get in summer. For example, cold weather helps you exercise more efficiently, as you sweat less and expend less energy. 

Recent studies showed that winter workouts can transform white fat in belly and thigh fat into calorie-burning brown fat. Besides, you will be more exposed to sunlight when exercising in cold weather, which helps you defend against seasonal affective disorder. 

Avoid Winter Weight Gain

Benefits of exercising in winter months

It's easy to get tempted by food during colder months. No wonder you tend to eat more and less exercise, which may lead to weight gain. 

Hence, if you want to stay fit in cold weather, it’s best to combine exercise with healthy eating habits. This is one of the best benefits of working out in the winter.

Give a Deep Breath

Being cooped up with nothing but heaters to keep the air moving in winter makes fresh air much harder to come by!

Generally, the air outside is healthier than that inside, so going for a walk or running outside gives your lungs a chance to detox and breathe deeply without concern for breathing in other people’s bugs.

Benefits of winter walks

Boost Your Mood

The lack of humidity and the stimulating aspect of the chill makes your body work harder to stay warm. 

After exercise, the brain releases feel-good chemicals and dopamine, which helps reduce anxiety and depression as well as beat the winter blues. 

Plus, combining exercise with the great outdoors can give you a stronger sense of happiness and lightness.

Maintain Your Health

A growing body of studies has shown that regular exercise boosts your immune system, helping you fight off some diseases better. This becomes particularly important in winter when viruses thrive. 

\When it comes to the benefits of exercise during winter, we can’t ignore its role in maintaining our health. Specifically, immune cells circulate through your body more quickly when you exercise. 

Thus this helps seek and destroy infections. But if you want this to work in the long run, you should stick to exercises.

What are the benefits of exercising in winter?

Burn More Calories

In winter, as the body has to work harder to regulate its core temperature among the organs, you'll burn more calories. However, this also depends on each person’s body mass and the ability to burn different energy.

Strengthen Your Heart

One of the most undeniable advantages of winter workouts is strengthening your heart. In winter, your heart needs to work harder to distribute blood throughout the body. 

However, for an unhealthy heart, this process can make illness and injury worse. But you can strengthen your heart by regularly exercising in the cold weather.

Health benefits of winter exercising

Warm You Up 

Sure, the icy air will shock your system at first, but the best way to warm yourself back up is to exercise. When you get moving, your body will get warmer. Of course, you can just stay at home with a yoga mat or a set of dumbbells.

Provide a Dose of Vitamin D

Does the sun exposure in the cold not provide you with the same critical nutrients as it does throughout the warmer months? You’re wrong! One of the most fantastic exercise in cold weather benefits is providing vitamin D. 

Many studies show that taking vitamin D by being active outdoors in cold weather strengthens our defense against other infections, including the common cold and flu, and accelerates our immune response. 

There are many benefits of exercising in the cold

Boost Your Immune System

Studies have shown that moderate and regular exercise boosts the immune system and wards off the dreaded winter coughs and colds. 

► Related: Camping in cold weather tips

Risks of Exercising in Winter

Apart from the benefits mentioned above, it also entails the negative effects of exercising in cold weather. 

If someone takes a large number of exercises in frosty unprotected weather, they can develop pneumonia, scarring of lung tissue, and asthma. 

Thus, it is recommended that if you decide to go out and exercise when the temperature drops, you should take measures to protect the lungs, such as covering your mouth with a wool cap or wrapping a quick-dry towel around the neck.

In addition, it’s worth noting that you should not suddenly enter your house from the cold outside but wait until your breathing has slowed to normal.

Potential risks of exercising in cold weather

Finally, exercising in cold weather can also put people with heart disease at risk.

When exposed to low temperatures, the body tries to stop heat loss by shrinking blood vessels. This can raise blood pressure, which could be bad news for someone with high blood pressure or heart disease, he said.

Things to Know When Exercising in Cold Weather

Benefits of working out in cold weather are various, but those we’ve mentioned above are the main ones. However, you need to know that improper exercise in the winter may cause injury and diseases related to respiratory, cardiovascular, and joint diseases. 

Therefore, everyone should keep the following things in mind when exercising in cold weather:

Eat before training

When the temperature drops, muscles lose more calories to generate heat. It's not good to exercise while you're hungry. 

So, you should snack before training and have enough protein and calories. Eat foods that are slow to absorb carbs for maintenance calories, such as oats, sweet potatoes, and legumes.

Choose the right outfit

Things to remember before exercising in cold weather

To avoid hypothermia and prevent illnesses such as flu, you should not wear 100% cotton clothing because sweat cannot evaporate, causing a cold infection, and joints need to be shielded. 

After you finish exercising, you should dry yourself and change clothes. If you exercise outdoors, you can bring a dry towel or a jacket to keep out the heat. 

Training shoes should be selected with non-slip soles and sturdy legs. Do not wear tight, tight shoes because it will interfere with blood circulation in the legs. 

Take the benefits of exercising in winter in mind and consider them as an incentive to do regular exercise.

Warm-up carefully

Warming up before exercising is a must. In winter, you need more warm-ups, maybe twice as many as usual, as your circulatory system pumps more oxygen-rich blood to the muscles. 

In addition, they help increase blood circulation throughout the body, relax the muscle groups, and minimize injuries during exercise.

Warm up before exercising

Breathe properly

Despite the benefits of winter sports or exercises, exercising in the cold can make you very susceptible to respiratory illnesses. 

Learn to breathe through your abdomen, take a deep breath to fill the air with your stomach through your nose, and then exhale. 

During exercise, you should avoid opening your mouth so the air can not enter the abdomen through the trachea. This helps you avoid the risk of sore throat and other respiratory diseases.

Drink enough water

Whether it's hot or cold, drinking enough water is essential. When dehydrated, the body cools down. You should also use warm water during exercise.

Head over to our guide to the best tips for exercising in cold weather for more details!

Conclusion

It’s hard to pull yourself away from that cozy seat in front of the fireplace but think about the excellent benefits of exercising in winter. For the sake of your health and well-being, brave the cold!