As I write this, January is starting, it is back to work for adults and to school for children and snow and freezing temperatures have been around for a few days.  For many people, it means being back to a crazy rhythm of many hours of hard work and commitments, fighting against the cold and short days without much light.  

What about you?  How are you feeling as the year is starting?  In winter, most people do not have the same energy as in summer, even for those who prefer cold to heat.  It is important to adjust your rhythm and be mindful of how you are truly feeling. 

Here are a few tips that can help you keep your energy up in the short winter days:

• Take care of your sleep: studies show that we need more sleep in winter so be careful to clock in enough sleep.  This is not the time to wake up earlier to try and do more or to finish working on a project at midnight.  And if sleep has been disrupted for some time, sophrology can be a great help to improve it.

• During the day, take a break before you are tired. You will restore your energy much more quickly and be effective and alert much longer.  Sit down, close your eyes, unclench your jaw, relax your shoulders, concentrate on the contact of your feet with the floor and breathe out deeply.  Then rub your hands, open your eyes again and off you go.  You think you have no time for this?  Even 30 seconds will be enough but try to do it several times during the day.

• Be mindful of how you are feeling: give yourself a break when not feeling 100%, take things slow, take a break, rest.  Have proper lazy weekends. Recharge.

• If you find you cannot focus as well as you would like, instead of reaching for an extra cup of coffee to keep you awake, try this instead: breathe in, wait, breathe out, wait, all four equal times, counting them in your head, for about one minute or two.

• Try doing things slower to see how it feels.  Counterintuitively, it does not necessarily mean taking more time but being truly present to what you are doing and doing it better and with less fatigue.

• Try “Hygge”, the Danish way of creating a warm and cozy atmosphere and enjoying the good things in life with good people.

• Start and finish the day with a few deep breaths.

Keep warm and take good care of yourself!