6 Simple Ways to Keep Away Body Pains during Winters

These winters have been different from most others. If you live in Delhi or other parts of North India, you know well that these winters weren’t the coldest ones that you’ve seen. But, just after Lohri now, there’s a chill in the air, and the mercury finally seems to be dipping.

Winters are typically associated with several types of body pains. Particularly, we’ve seen higher incidences of nerve – related pain, joint pains and vascular pains during the season.

Here, we bring you 6 Simple Ways to Keep Away these winter pains:

1 Keep yourself warm – Needless to say, it’s extremely important to keep yourself warm during winters. Clinical research has shown higher incidence of nerve – related, vascular pain and joint pains if your body is exposed to low temperatures for long periods. This is especially true if you are 60+ in age. So, dress appropriately with body warmers, sweaters and jackets

2 Keep yourself physically active – Shorter days and cold weather outside reduces average activity levels. An average person walks upto 1,000 lesser steps in winters. To avoid pain in knees and other joints, it’s especially important to keep up activity levels. Try and take out time for walking in the afternoons or evenings, even if it is inside your house or office.

3 Take care of your diet – In winters, it is especially important to ensure that your intake of Vitamin D, Calcium and Vitamin B complex is adequate. Make sure that your diet remains rich in dal, green leafy vegetables (Vitamin B complex), milk (Calcium) and cheese and egg yolk (Vitamin D).

4 Get enough exposure to sunlight – Lesser exposure to the sun causes Vitamin D deficiency during winters, which can result in fatigue, lethargy and general body pains. Make sure to get atleast 15-20 minutes of sunlight exposure, ideally in the mornings around 9am to 10am.

5 Actively manage your diseases like diabetes and hypertension to have a pain free winter– If you suffer from diabetes, make sure that you do not overeat foods with high glycemic index (chikki, gajjak etc). If you suffer from hypertension, it is important to keep away from spicy and oily foods.

6 Visit your pain specialist if your pains continue for more than 2 weeks in winters – Be regular with your prescribed pain medications, but strictly avoid self-medication or over use of pain killers.