ENDURE: Winter Prep...Keep the Risks As Low As The Temps Outside

I woke up this AM wondering if summer had made its final stand.  The previous two days were absolutely (and unseasonably) gorgeous.  The sun was bright and warm, almost defiant against the early sunset that comes with November.  But that wasn't really the case today; a little wet and a bit grey, although not cold really, and I noticed many more leaves on the ground.  Yep, like it or not, winter is on its way.....and with it, a new set of challenges that will keep us on our toes....hopefully....and not flat on our back.

First, along with cold temps and icy conditions comes risk of slippery surfaces making it more challenging for those who walk as well as those who drive.  Then, there's the change in daylight, which has an impact on our mood and sometimes our ability to maintain the balance between workload and recovery.  And, as if that wasn't enough, there's the cold itself, which starts a cascade of reactions our body has to effectively deal with, a curve ball (sorry Mets fans) that can leave us achy before we acclimatize to the colder temps.

How does cold impact us? Well, for starters, the cold causes us to conserve heat (by creating more resistance in the blood vessels to push warm blood to/through the organs). Although this "trapping" of blood inward helps us to stay warm, it can cause the working tissues, which now don't have as much blood supply as they typically might, to become stiff and possibly predisposed to strain.  In addition, the colder we become, the more our resting muscle tension increases, as we "brace" ourselves or even shiver.  Although over time, this is can be a good thing since it causes us to increase our proportion of "brown fat" ( read about it here), in the early weeks of cold-acclimatization this can cause us to fatigue faster than we normally would and lose a significant amount of water to the environment in the process....even if we're not actively sweating. Last, as the environment itself dries out, we become dehydrated at a faster rate not only because of the dryness, but because we tend to miss the signs since our thirst mechanism isn't triggered as well in the cold -- although we would likely be thirsty in the heat, we're not in the cold.

So, in an effort to put the odds in your favor during cold acclimatization, here are a few tips the team came up with:

1. Be mindful of your hydration.  Get fluids in when you can, warm and clear fluids are best.

2. Remember, it takes longer to acclimate to the cold than to the heat so keep plenty of layers available during the early winter.

3. Warm-up before work. Anything that can bring your body temp up enough to let the blood flow to the extremities is a good thing, however a specific dynamic warm-up is likely best.

4. Respect the energy demand and need for rest. Just as we said in the spring to summer transition, an extra hour of sleep here or there for the next few weeks can go a long way.

5. Ramp up the immune system.  Remember even short bouts of  moderately strenuous activity (6-8 minutes) and certain foods ( like nutritional yeast) have been shown to improve the immune response. 

Have a great weekend,

Mike E.