Did you know seasonal changes change your body? Learn how to boost your metabolism by living seasonally with these five tips.
Seasons affect us just as much as the landscape around us.
Nearly every function in your body changes with the changing of the seasons. Your gut bacteria turn over {1}, your immune system changes {2}, and your hormones and mood changes {3}. Regardless of if you live in a climate-controlled 68 degrees all year long and eat the same foods 365 days a year, your body is still changing.
The problem isn’t the changes that occur but failing to change with the changing of seasons. But if you learn to work with the seasons, it will change your metabolism, helping you see the results you want to see.
The key is always working with your body instead of against it.
5 ways to boost your metabolism by living seasonally
1. Circadian Fasting
Circadian fasting is similar to intermittent fasting. Allowing a period each day for eating and a period for fasting. Both phases are critical to the body’s health, with that fasting phase often getting overlooked.
That’s why intermittent fasting has become such a sexy term in the health space. It can drastically boost your energy levels leading to amazing results.
But there is a missing element to intermittent fasting that can’t be missed. That is how your body changes with the seasons. Meaning your fasting window should change with the seasons.
The best advice I can give you is to eat with the sun. During the shorter days of winter, this means starting breakfast a bit later and finish your last meal a tad earlier.
The same applies for the spring and summer when the sun is at its peak. Here you can find value in extending your eating window and decreasing your fasting window when your body is naturally more insulin sensitive.
2. Consume Seasonal Ingredients
I didn’t initially add the seasonal ingredients to the list and quickly realized that this is the most critical component. Eat what is in season. As you know, foods have different nutrient profiles, that when eaten seasonally, provide what your body needs in that season.
They go hand in hand and help you live a more nourished life.
3. Change the Temperature
Aside from seasonal foods, the temperature of the foods you eat matters. When your immune system is running on overdrive in the winter, it’s best to help break down the food taking energy and stress off of the digestive season, making cooked, moist foods ideal.
In the spring and summer, when your bodies are again switching over to a new system, you are capable of handling fresh, even raw foods.
In terms of seasonality, think the opposite of the season. Winter is cold, so make warm or hot foods. In the summer, when the temperatures rise, you can benefit from cool or cold foods.
4. Focus on Your Sleep Cycles
The rhythm of the sun is one of the most defining factors of seasonality around the globe. As the sun position shifts, the seasons change, as does your body.
One of the most defining factors of your central nervous system {your command center} is your circadian clock. Your sleep and wake cycle are so important that every cell in the body has a circadian rhythm.
Your circadian rhythms is directly influenced by light {the sun}. Given this, you can imagine that as the days are longer, the sun stays up later, you can probably get by on a little less sleep. Whereas in the winter, when the days are short, we need a bit more sleep.
Take notice of the sun cycles and incorporate changes to your sleep patterns based on these.
5. Change Your Activity Level
As you can see, nearly everything in and around your body changes with the changing of seasons. Including what you eat, how you prepare it, how much you sleep, and of course, how you move.
While you may not experience much of a dip in energy levels throughout the seasons, it is happening. In the spring and summer, we tend to experience a burst in energy levels as the sun stays out later, and your body has more energy to work with {and less fear of conserving}. Of course, the opposite happens in the winter when you need more sleep and you’re working off energy depletion.
Take Action
The big idea is that you live aware of what your body is craving. What does it need? Can you provide more of that?
Start with one simple change – that is, paying attention to your sleep patterns. Then continuously strive to work on all of the seasonal changes to help bring balance to your body.
