Sunshine: our year-round fickle friend.

In the summer, the sun shines bright and hard, threatening our skin with burns and disease. In the winter, the sun evades us, leaving our minds unhappy and restless.

But, no matter your personal relationship with the sun, you need it. The sun is the best source we have to take in vitamin D, which is essential to living a happy, healthy life.

In the summer, you can fend off the sun using long sleeves and sunscreen, but getting more sun when temperatures are frigid and clouds pervade is much more difficult.

Regardless, it’s a challenge anyone who lives through regular winters must accept. Getting outside and soaking up some of that precious vitamin D is the biggest defense you have against the winter blues.

If you’ve been feeling a little down these last few months, you’re not alone. Roughly 10 million Americans suffer from winter depression, also known as Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). Another 10 to 20 percent of the population may have mild SAD.

The good news is the sun is always out there, even if it’s sometimes hard to reach. Use this advice to get your daily vitamin D and discover how the outdoors that you’re so hesitant to brave are the best cure for your winter blues.

What’s So Great About Going Outside, Anyways?

Have you ever thought about how much your daily activities change between summer and winter? In the summer, you inadvertently get sunshine all the time. You go for a morning jog and evening stroll, you eat lunch outside, you spend your weekends basking in the sunshine at barbecues.

During winter, that all changes. You work out inside a dimly lit gym, you eat lunch in shabby break rooms, you spend your weekends in dark movie theaters. Although your body only needs 15 to 20 minutes of direct sunshine a day to stay chipper, you can easily end up getting zero because of the late sunrises and early sunsets.

Sound familiar?

The problem with never getting outside in the winter is that your skin doesn’t get any UV rays. UV rays get a bad rap in the summer because they can be harmful if your skin is exposed for too long, however, you need them to produce vitamin D.

UV rays get absorbed by your skin and retinas, and your body and brain use them to promote vitamin D and serotonin production.

The key word here is actually serotonin. Serotonin is a happy chemical in our brains that makes us feel significant and important. When serotonin levels are low, loneliness and depression start to creep in. So that sad, lonely feeling you have in the dead of winter can be blamed on absent serotonin.

One of the best ways to increase serotonin production is to get some vitamin D, and that’s why going outside is so important, even when it’s cold.

Besides giving our brains a serotonin boost, having sufficient levels of vitamin D has also been shown to help prevent osteoporosis, heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, strokes, high blood pressure, diabetes, and it may slow the aging process.

All of that from just 20 minutes of sunshine a day!

How to Get Outside During Winter

Knowing how to keep from getting SAD is one thing, actually doing it is another. It’s hard to get outside during the winter months when all you want to do is curl up next to a warm fire, but it isn’t impossible.

Remember, you only need about 15 to 20 minutes of sunlight a day to get your daily dose of vitamin D, plus going outside can have numerous other positive effects on the mind and body that will make winter even better. Give these tricks a try and wave good-bye to those winter blues.

1. Simply, Do It!

Fifteen minutes isn’t that hard to swing if you really try. Park farther away from your office or grocery store so it takes an extra few minutes to get inside, sip your morning coffee on the porch, go for a walk (and bring your pup, animals need vitamin D too!), visit an outdoor mall on the weekend.

To help you keep track of the vitamin D you need, you can use a smartphone app like D Minder Pro. It will help you track how much vitamin D you need, and how much you’re getting, so you know if you need to take an extra walk around the block to hit your mark.

2. Exercise Outside

Getting a workout outside does double duty for your happiness levels. Not only can you boost serotonin from vitamin D intake, you can release endorphins, another happy chemical in your brain that is released during exercise.

Endorphins help alleviate anxiety and depression. They’re responsible for that euphoric “runner’s high” and can help reduce your perception of pain. Bundle up and move your running or cycling routine outside, or take a trip to the mountains and give snowshoeing a try.

Endorphins are also released when we laugh, so if you’re not up for a hardcore workout, you can still get a boost by listening to a comedy record and going out for a walk around the neighborhood.

3. Bundle Up

Numerous studies have shown that being cold makes us feel lonely and unhappy, which is the last thing we need during the winter months.

Motivate yourself to go outside by splurging on some great winter gear. Find practical items that have many uses, like cozy long johns and smart-touch gloves that let you use your smartphone while keeping your fingers toasty.

Go big on a spendier item that really excites you, like a nice winter coat or snow boots. You’ll be more motivated to go outside so you can show off your new threads.

4. Take Up a New Hobby

Like many of these tips, learning something new works two fold. Dopamine, another happy chemical in the brain, is linked to setting and achieving goals. When you accomplish something you set out to do, you get a flood of good feelings, which you can harness and use to accomplish something else.

Combine this drive to achieve with the outdoors during winter. It’s easy to sit inside and stick to your routine, but you end up depriving your body of both happy chemicals when you do that. Find an outdoor activity that you can stomach and make it a priority. Try snowshoeing, learning to ski, winter camping, or landscape painting.

Chances are you have a friend that needs a mid-winter boost as much as you do, so rope them into going with you and learn something together. You’ll get a crazy high from going outside, learning something new, and experiencing some camaraderie all at once!

5. Get Out of Town

If you can, take a vacation and head south. Research has shown that SAD is seven times more common in Washington state than Florida, so get below the 37th parallel (basically anywhere south of Los Angeles) and enjoy some vitamin D.

If you can’t swing a long-distance trip and live in a valley, try heading to the mountains. A valley traps air pollution and cloud cover can be extra depressing, so get to a higher altitude to enjoy some uninterrupted UV rays.

Conclusion

The hardest part about going outside in the winter is convincing yourself to do it in the first place. But once you step outside and feel the sunshine on your face, you’ll realize the outdoors aren’t that bad, even in 30-degree weather. And who knows, maybe you’ll lose some weight, live longer, and find a new hobby because of it!

It’s easy to rush out to your herb garden in the summer and pick fresh herbs to spice up your favorite dishes, but those herbs tend to be scarce in the winter.

It’s a shame because many winter dishes pair so well with fresh herbs, and the light, summery flavor can bring some warmth into drabby winter days.

Whether you’re considering bringing in your garden during fall, or are already in the thick of winter, you can follow these tips to keep an herb garden going inside during the chilly months.

Tips for Growing Herbs Inside

Pick Hardy Herbs – Not all plants can thrive indoors, some need more warmth and sunlight than a kitchen sill can provide. However, there is an array of fantastic herbs that will do just fine inside over winter. Perennial herbs, such as chives, oregano, and thyme do well in pots during the winter months.

Acclimate Herbs – If you are potting herbs from your garden, it’s important to acclimate them to their new home before bringing them inside full time. Before the first big freeze, pot herbs in 6-inch deep containers with drainage holes. Leave the pots outside in a semi-shaded area so that the plants can get used to their new home and less sunlight. After a few weeks, bring them inside

South-Facing Sunlight – Finding a place for your herbs inside that gets enough sunlight will be your biggest challenge. Ideally, you want to place by a south-facing window that gets at least five hours of sunlight a day. Make sure the plant leaves don’t actually touch the window, however, as that can damage the leaves and stunt your herb’s growth. You may need to use a fluorescent light to supplement your herbs if natural light is insufficient.

Humidity – Herbs like humidity. Group them together inside to increase their humidity and mist particularly picky plants like rosemary using a squirt bottle twice a week. If you bring your plants in from outside, make sure they didn’t bring any critters with them. Keep them separate from your other houseplants for the first few days to make sure no creepy crawlers followed them inside.

Harvesting – Because indoor conditions can restrict your herb’s growth, harvest with caution. Make sure you only harvest a little at a time, but do it regularly, so the plant can grow and stay healthy. You never want to harvest more than one-third of a plant at a time, especially with slow growing herbs like rosemary. Other herbs, like oregano, flourish from frequent trimmings. Make sure you always leave two to three inches of growth at the base of the plant, above the soil. Don’t trim your herbs any shorter.

Soil and Fertilizer – Whether you bring your plants in from the garden or home from the nursery, use potting mix and plant food to keep them vital indoors. Many herbs respond well to soil that is part potting mix and part sharp sand. Cactus potting mix also works well. Don’t over-feed plants with faux-food. Start with half-strength liquid plant food and monitor your plant before altering the dose. Fertilizer can also be used to give your herbs a boost. Feed them liquid seaweed or use compost in late winter as daylight increases.

Best Herbs to Pot During Winter

Chives: Chives do well indoors and pair great with just about any dish. Make sure you keep soil moist by watering chives at least twice a week.

Oregano: This herb is very stable inside and goes well with any Italian dish. Oregano is susceptible to root rot, so don’t overwater it. About once a week should be fine.

Rosemary: Rosemary can survive in a pot for many years, if cared for properly. It likes to be on the dry side, so let the top of the soil dry out before watering the herb, then water thoroughly.

Thyme: This powerful herb goes great with almost all meats and crockpots really bring out the flavor, making thyme a perfect winter herb. You can condition the plant to be drought resistant by allowing the top of the soil to dry out and then watering thoroughly.

Parsley: Parsley adds a splash of summer to your winter dishes, making it perfect with chicken, fish, and vegetables. Water twice a week and cut stems at the base so they can keep growing.

Conclusion

Enjoy your herb garden all year long by bringing in some hardy potted herbs. With light, water, and a little TLC, your herbs can become a staple in your kitchen, no matter what season it is.