Healthy Upgrades for the Changing Seasons

As temperatures start dropping finally, change becomes evident in nature. But you don’t have to wait for colorful autumn leaves before renewing your health. Transitioning into cooler weather with sundown arriving earlier may be challenging, so taking steps to ensure your well-being should be a prime seasonal goal. Experts from various disciplines offer their top suggestions for living better this fall. Embracing autumn’s health-enhancing opportunities will carry you through winter and beyond.

Favor Fruits and Vegetables

Fall’s climatic changes can have dehydrating effects on your lungs, colon, and skin, causing dry coughing, constipation and dry skin. But upping your intake of juicy fruits during this traditional harvest season will reduce those concerns, advises oriental medicine specialist . So enjoy plentiful moistening fruits like apples, pears, pomegranates, and persimmons.

People turn to comfort foods when fall weather arrives. Various beans are great choices for providing protein, iron, fiber, potassium, and folic acid. Pinto, black, lima, garbanzo, and other beans add flavors and textures to your favorite dishes. Every week, use enough nutritious beans in salads, soups, casseroles, and chili to equal 3 cups.

Nutrient-saturated seasonal vegetables including sweet potatoes, yams, carrots, and squash will boost your immune system during the cold and allergy season. If you get sick, add pungent-tasting foods like green or sweet onions and fresh ginger to your diet.

Know Your Heart-Health Numbers

The seasonal impulse to pursue renewal can encourage you to scrutinize your this fall. Prioritizing prevention involves visiting your doctor for hypertension and cholesterol checks. Knowing your current numbers is the key to determining your heart-disease risk. If necessary, your physician may prescribe Crestor (Rosuvastatin) to help control cholesterol and decrease your heart attack and stroke chances.

Make Fitness Fun

Avoid rough aerobic workouts outdoors during cooler fall months or decreased energy may weaken your constitution. Choose gentle mind/body routines like yoga or tai chi instead. Cool autumn evenings are ideal for brisk walks. Light exercise gives your immune system a boost. It enhances white-blood-cell activity to ward off infections. If you’re in a , trying something different will increase your staying power. Variety avoids the boredom that many treadmill-bound fitness buffs feel. So consider energizing ballroom dance, Zoomba, or Pilates classes indoors.

Focus on Your Vision

You may be due for a vision checkup to assess your general eye health. Your comprehensive exam also should involve your eye doctor evaluating how clearly you can see and how well your eyes function together.

Treat Your Teeth Gently

Ditch bad habits like chewing ice and popcorn kernels that are tough on your teeth. Both tooth enamel and ice are crystals. So when they touch, one must give. You don’t want that to be a tooth. Avoid popcorn kernels to prevent broken fillings or teeth. A hull lodged in your gum tissue may cause irritation and bacteria buildup.

Release Stress With Friends

After scattering for summer vacations and family reunions, autumn is a great time to reconnect and relax with good friends. Contacting people you miss by phone or in person can help you soothe any lingering stress from a hectic summer. Catching up, laughing, sharing concerns, and exchanging mutual support inspire comforting feelings to override stress.

Numerous studies show that socializing with others affects mental health positively ― from boosting mood to raising mental sharpness and energy. Consider diverse adult education classes to develop new talents like fencing and foreign languages. Besides acquiring more skills, you might forge special new friendships.

Layer Apparel and Bedding

According to Chinese folk wisdom, you should muffle your body in spring but freeze it in fall. That means don’t start bundling up in heavy-duty winter overcoats and bed covers in early autumn. Especially when the season begins, your body needs a cooling off phase to recover from summer’s intense heat. Piling on too many garments and blankets might prevent your body from acclimating to cooler temperatures spontaneously.

But adding clothes and bedding in layers gradually as temperatures decline encourages your body to transition with the seasons naturally. Layering in autumn allows easy variations to accommodate cool early morning and evening hours with warm afternoons in between. Have a sweater or lightweight jacket and scarf handy to put on whenever you’re outdoors in windy conditions or shady areas.

Synchronize Your Sleep/Wake Cycles

Ancient Chinese wisdom recommends adjusting your sleeping habits according to how daylight durations change with the four seasons. So as days shorten in autumn, going to bed earlier will help you avoid chilly nights while awakening sooner will allow you to enjoy the season’s crisp and refreshing morning air.

Follow a routine to synchronize your body’s inner sleep/wake clock with the external environment. Go outdoors within 5 minutes of rising each morning for 30 minutes of bright-light exposure. Then at night, dim interior lights two or three hours before your bedtime to encourage falling sleep faster. You’ll feel better when you’re alert as each day begins and you become sleepy as bedtime approaches.