Did you know our brains actually change their behaviour during winter? Research shows that shorter daylight hours can affect our circadian rhythm and the hormones that regulate energy and mood. Basically, when the days are darker our bodies naturally slow down, conserve energy and become less active.
But while that response is natural, it also means that during winter we often let go of some of the habits that actually help us feel good. Walking outside, getting fresh air, moving our bodies regularly, cooking proper meals, seeing people, just overall being outside more! When it’s dark and cold it’s very easy to skip those things without even noticing.
Before you know it, a few months have passed and some of the routines that used to support your wellbeing have quietly disappeared. That’s why spring is actually the perfect moment to restart them. Not slowly waiting until summer when friends start inviting you out more and suddenly everyone is outside again. Instead, being proactive and rebuilding healthy habits earlier so you get yourself out of that winter rut a lot sooner.
How Winter Habits Can Quietly Take Over
Winter for me can definitely lead to unhelpful habits. They say it takes around six weeks to create a habit, so after long winter days it’s easy to find yourself in the rhythm of the old year, not quite having moved into creating new habits in time for spring and summer. I have always struggled to create new habits long term. I start something and a few weeks later I forget it ever existed. Always promising myself I’ll do xyz better, just to fail and then have moments where I feel guilt for not doing so.
I think many of us know that cycle. The new year arrives and we’re full of motivation. We plan new routines, healthier habits, better ways of looking after ourselves. Then work gets busy, the weather is miserable, and those good intentions slowly fade into the background.
When Life Forces You to Reassess
Recently though something changed for me. I moved to a new area where I didn’t have friends or family around and it very quickly showed up my bad habits. I had to adapt or just feel bad, because it was like rebuilding life from scratch. I had relied a lot on meeting friends and social plans to keep some balance in my life and when those disappeared I realised I had to look after myself better, especially as stress started to build.
Without those external routines around me, things became quite obvious. The walks I used to take, the time spent outside, the little habits that helped clear my head suddenly became things I actually had to organise myself instead of falling into naturally.
Finding a Deeper “Why”
The biggest shift for me came from understanding the deeper reason behind why I wanted to build those habits in the first place.
Today we’re constantly bombarded with messaging about how we “should” look or what size we should be. It’s everywhere. Sometimes even unhelpful comments from friends and family reinforce that message without them even realising it.
For example, I remember being told once that I looked really good because I had lost weight. What that person didn’t know was that the weight loss came from a relationship breakup with a toxic ex which had actually led to me barely eating at all.
So hearing that comment at the time felt quite strange. It showed how society sometimes places so much importance on appearance without understanding what might actually be going on behind the scenes.
That moment stuck with me because it made me realise how easy it is to chase the wrong goals.
Why Meaningful Motivation Works Better
For years I had viewed exercise, healthy eating and self-care as something connected to looking better or becoming thinner. But that mindset became exhausting. It felt like a never-ending game of self-criticism. If I didn’t stick to something perfectly, I felt like I had failed.
Eventually I realised that approach simply didn’t work for me. Instead I now try to focus only on what is genuinely healthy rather than what might make me look a certain way.
Interestingly there is research supporting this idea. Studies in behavioural psychology show that habits driven by intrinsic motivation, meaning doing something because it genuinely matters to you, are far more likely to last than habits driven by external pressure like appearance or social expectations. Researchers have found that people who focus on internal reasons for healthy behaviours, such as wanting more energy or wanting to care for their body long term, maintain those habits much more consistently than people motivated purely by weight loss or aesthetics. Try and relate that to whatever you want to achieve or whatever habits you want to break this spring!
In simple terms, when motivation comes from self-care rather than self-criticism, the brain responds very differently.
Small Habits That Make a Big Difference
I noticed this shift recently when I started walking more and seeing a physio to sort out my back. In the past I would have been the worst patient. I would leave the appointment with the exercises, do them once or twice and then completely forget about them.
But this time something was different. Because I had started thinking about looking after my body rather than seeing it as a chore, I suddenly found myself actually doing the exercises regularly. I joke that I became the “A-star student” at physio, which is quite funny considering how terrible I used to be at following through with those things.
Spring Is the Perfect Reset
Spring is actually the perfect time to restart those habits because it naturally mirrors the idea of renewal. The days become longer, the light slowly returns and people naturally begin spending more time outside again. Our bodies respond to those seasonal changes more than we realise.
So if winter has knocked you slightly off track with habits that usually help you feel good, you’re definitely not alone. But now is the moment to restart them. Not when summer arrives and everyone else is suddenly outside again anyway. Now.
Because the sooner we rebuild the small routines that support our wellbeing, the sooner we climb out of those winter ruts and start feeling like ourselves again.
And often the biggest changes don’t come from doing something dramatic. They come from simply remembering why we wanted to take care of ourselves in the first place.
Your Feminavit Team xx
