Fall and winter can be difficult seasons to manage. Temperatures drop, life can get very hectic, and long, dark nights can feel depressing. It’s therefore vital that you take control of your own health and wellness and commit to taking care of yourself. Here are some tips to help.

Collect 10 recipes for easy-cook, store cupboard/freezer meals

It’s great if you can meal-prep and batch-cook in advance. Realistically, however, there are times when that’s just not going to happen. Instead of beating yourself up about this, accept it, and be prepared for it. Keep your store cupboard and freezer filled with basic ingredients and have at least 10 go-to, health, and tasty recipes you can rustle up quickly and easily.

Making sure you eat healthily (at least most of the time), will help your body to hold its own against the cold weather. That means it’ll be better equipped to fight off viruses and infections. It’ll also be able to keep your skin, hair, and nails in the best possible condition. Speaking of skincare, this is also something that you should prioritize this fall/winter, as your skin can easily dry out during the colder months. If this happens, using a well-rounded moisturizer may be your best bet to keep your skin hydrated and healthy. If moisturizer doesn’t work, consider consulting with a professional like VitalSkin Dermatology for some expert advice.

Commit to exercising outdoors

When it’s cold (and wet and windy) outdoors, it can be very tempting to hide indoors as much as possible. That’s understandable, but it means that you miss out on all the many benefits of outdoor exercise in fall and winter. Fresh air and sunlight really are good for us. In particular, they can strengthen the immune system and help alleviate seasonal affective disorder.

So invest in some thermals and good, seasonal footwear and get outdoors as much as you can. Aim for at least an hour a day. If you have mobility issues, then try investing in custom orthotics. These may be enough to let you get outdoors for light exercise such as walking.

If you’re planning on taking more vigorous exercise, such as running, then remember to think about the safety implications. In particular, think about how you’ll deal with changes in your body temperature. Also, remember that cold weather drains cell phone batteries very quickly, so make sure that your phone is well charged and consider taking a portable battery pack.

Take your bedroom’s temperature

If you spend the cold months dragging yourself out of bed feeling like you’ve hardly slept, then you should take your bedroom’s temperature. Remember that your body temperature drops while you sleep and it’s quite common for the temperature in a room to drop during the night. This means that a temperature that was fine in the day may be too cold while you’re asleep.

Alternatively, you may be over-compensating for the cold and making yourself too hot. This may be particularly likely if you sleep with a partner as their body heat will warm you. Also, if they prefer warmer temperatures and you go along with this, then they’ll be fine but you’ll be too hot.

In either case, an electric blanket may be the best solution to your problem. Just make sure that you get one you can use while you’re in the bed. If you’re too cold, then an electric blanket is an economical way of providing localized heat. If your partner’s too cold, then heat just their side of the bed so that you can be cool.

Keep an Eye on the Roads

While driving doesn’t usually directly affect your health, you should take special care while driving in fall and winter. Road conditions are almost always worse, which means that the risk of car accidents increases. A car accident doesn’t just wreck your vehicle, but it can also wreck your physical and mental health.Make sure that your car is checked out and always drive carefully, bearing the weather conditions in mind. If the worst does happen and you are involved in an accident, then make sure that you can quickly contact a car accident lawyer to help you to get the compensation that you need. This will allow you to move on from the incident as quickly as possible and get back to your life.