“Why you should get away from the cold and enjoy the sun”

Paisley in winter can be beautiful, but it can also be pretty miserable. Temperatures can get as low as 1.6°C in January and all of the commuters have to waddle their way to work across slippery pavements and frost covered grass. Winter is a pretty miserable time of year and these are only a few reasons why:

Lack of Sun affects your mental health

You wouldn’t believe some of the strange ways that winter can affect our brains. The low temperature and the lack of sunlight work together and sap all of our energy and make us feel pretty miserable. It’s not a coincidence that winter makes us sleepy and sad. Natural light acts as a sort of clock for our bodies. When it’s light and sunny outside our bodies know that it’s time to be up and about and doing important things. But, when it’s dark, our bodies think it’s night time and that we should be sleeping. It’s almost as though we’re supposed to be hibernating during winter. So, trying to go about our daily routine when it’s cold and dark outside can be incredibly exhausting.

Winter makes us ill

A lack of sunlight doesn’t only make us sleepy. It can also make us ill. Vitamin D – the sunshine vitamin – is essential for our immune system and our cell regrowth. So, when the sun isn’t out and shining our body isn’t as skilled at fighting off viruses as it normally is. There are also a few other factors that contribute to the common winter illness.  Bacteria and viruses can travel from one person to another through condensation. Indoors and in dry environments (such as the cold winter air) infected water droplets hang in the air for other people to breathe in and pick up.

Winter makes us gain weight

Gaining weight during winter is common and our gluttony isn’t completely to blame. Our bodies don’t just warm themselves by magic. It takes energy to keep our bodies warm and when we’re exposed to especially cold temperatures for long periods of time our body uses up more calories to stop us from getting too cold. These calories come from special fat storages on our body called ‘brown adipose tissue’. When it gets cold our metabolisms don’t work in the same way they usually do because our bodies do their best to keep hold of everything we eat and turn it into this special type of fat so that we can stay warm. This wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t way too cold to exercise. It’s impossible to keep up your usual morning jog if you’re having to wear 3 or 4 woolly jumpers on top of your normal exercise clothes.

We can’t dress the way we want

While this might not be a horrific consequence to some people, to others winter is a fashion disaster. All of our favourite clothes get tucked into the back of the wardrobe and out come the vintage woollen jumpers, ridiculously fluffy hats and the winter boots that no one would wear if they had the choice. Looking good in winter is only for the lucky few that can tolerate the cold while the rest of us are just glad that we can still feel our fingers.

There’s no shame in giving winter a miss. Everyone is better off in the sunshine. You’ll be happier, you’ll have more energy, you’ll be healthier and you’ll be able to wear all of the fashionable clothes you want. All of the Thomas Royall designer clothing you’ve been saving for a special occasion can be finally freed from its wardrobe prison and shared with the world. So, instead of suffering through the next few freezing cold months, make the most of winter by getting away to somewhere warm and sunny.