There’s a particular kind of comfort in winter — the heater ticking over, a blanket within reach, something warm cupped in both hands.
We rug up, slow down, and let the season fold us in. And mostly that’s exactly right: your body is asking you to be a little gentler with it, and it’s worth listening.
But a few quiet things happen to us over a cold season, and once you know them, there are some lovely small ways to look after yourself through them.
When the temperature drops, your body draws inward to keep warm. Muscles tighten around joints, tendons lose a little of their stretch, and everything moves just a touch more stiffly first thing on a frosty morning — which is why getting out of bed in July can feel like a different sport to getting out of bed in January. None of this is anything to worry about. It’s simply your body doing sensible things in the cold.
The other thing that happens — softly, without us really noticing — is that we move less. Researchers at the University of South Australia tracked adults over a full year and found that in winter, we fit in about 15 fewer minutes of the gentle, incidental movement that keeps our joints happy, and we sit for about 7 minutes longer each day. It doesn’t sound like much. But stretched across a whole season, all that extra stillness adds up.
And here’s the thing about your spine: it was never built to sit still. It loves to move — often, and in lots of different directions. When it doesn’t get that, the muscles that support it slowly forget their job, and that’s often when the aches arrive. Back trouble is already the third-largest cause of ill health in the country, and winter just makes it that bit easier to slide into. The good news is that the things that help are small — and most of them are rather nice.
So, if you’ll let me, here are a few gentle suggestions for the months ahead.
Give your body a moment to wake up before you ask much of it. Before you head out into the cold — to walk the dog, carry the firewood in, lift the washing basket — a couple of minutes of easy movement makes all the difference. Some shoulder rolls, a few hip circles, a slow wander to the letterbox. Cold muscles are less stretchy and more easily grumpy, and warming them first is a tiny kindness that saves you a lot.
Step outside in the morning, even when it’s grey. This one’s partly about moving, but it’s also about light. Your skin makes vitamin D from sunshine, and in winter we run short — roughly one in seven Australians is low on it in summer, and more than one in three by the time winter sets in. Vitamin D quietly supports your bones and muscles, and in my own clinic I notice how often it’s running low in people whose bodies are aching. Ten minutes outside before the day gets busy is a beautiful place to start.
Keep your home as warm as you reasonably can. The World Health Organisation suggests eighteen degrees as the gentlest minimum for our health, and I know plenty of homes across the Central West sit below that all winter, one eye on the power bill. But a cold room asks your body to brace and hold tension, and the spine and shoulders are usually the first to feel it. A warm corner to settle into is worth more than it looks.
And let your movement stay varied. Winter tends to shrink us down to fewer movements done fewer ways, when what your body really wants is variety. Walk. Stretch. Squat down to pick things up instead of bending. Lie on the floor for a minute and let your back lengthen out. Take the stairs. None of it has to take long — little and often beats one big effort every fortnight.
One last thing. If something’s already nagging — that shoulder, that low back that keeps speaking up — please don’t file it away until spring. This is actually a lovely month to do something about it: all through June, the Australian Chiropractors Association is running National Spinal Health Month, and this year’s message is a simple, true one — a healthy spine supports a healthy mind. The link between how our bodies feel and how we carry everything else is real and well understood. Tending to it isn’t fussing over yourself. It’s just looking after the person who has to live in there.
Winter doesn’t have to be the season your body dreads. A little warmth, a little movement, a little kindness — and you might find you actually enjoy it.
