Winter Wellness Tips Inspired by Nordic Traditions

Unlock the secrets to a brighter and warmer winter as we navigate the challenges of combating the winter blues for older adults living alone. Drawing inspiration from Nordic countries, known for their resilience through long, dark winters, we'll explore how light therapy, cozy LED lighting, and bringing nature indoors can transform your home into a sanctuary of warmth. Discover alternatives to traditional Scandinavian saunas that include hot baths with Epsom salts and essential oils, each designed to nurture your well-being and create a comforting atmosphere.

Join me, Esther Kane, as we journey into the world of light therapy and community engagement, encouraging you to connect and grow during the colder months. We'll delve into the benefits of light therapy products and highlight the importance of participating in online clubs and classes. These activities offer not only a boost to your mood but also an opportunity to discover new passions and friendships. Subscribe now for more insights on enhancing your quality of life, and let's emerge in the spring feeling rejuvenated and refreshed together.

Thanks for listening!

You can see this podcast on our Youtube channel!

Sign up to our Homeowners Newsletter - it's a weekly newsletter filled with expert tips and advice on how to age safely and more comfortably in your own home.

If you provide services for modifying homes for disabled or seniors aging in place, sign up to our directory and expand your business.

Chapters

• 0:33 Combatting Winter Blues
• 15:39 Discovering Light Therapy and Community

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:33

Hey everyone, welcome back to the Aging in Place Directory podcast. I'm your host, esther Kane. Today we are going to talk about the weather Right now, those winter blues. Now that the days are a bit shorter, darkness comes around 4.30, 5 o'clock and it can get a little stir crazy sometimes with the colder weather, darker weather. So we're going to be talking about how to beat some of those issues, especially if you're an older adult at home or if you're living alone. What can you do? All right, before we get into that, don't forget to subscribe. Whether you're listening to this on YouTube I mean on podcast or you're watching this on YouTube, or you're watching this on YouTube, don't forget to subscribe so that you can get notified when a new episode comes up, which it does every single week.

Speaker 1: 1:43

All right, so I thought well, why not look at what countries that experience very long, dark winters? What do they do? What are their traditions and how do the people there combat these traditions? The weather. So I looked at Finland, norway, greenland, canada and Iceland and I looked to see what is it that the culture there supports? How do the people there Finland, I think, year after year ends up listed as the happiest country in the world. I think that that makes me want to move there, but they are long, cold, dark winters, so I'm not sure. But I'm going to talk about some of the things that they do that we can incorporate or you can incorporate into your life.

Speaker 1: 2:36

And the first one I'm going to start with I think is pretty common it's light. So the very basics of fighting dark, cold winters or even just long nights, you know, when it does start getting dark at 430 and doesn't get light again until almost 8 am, light is very important. So during the day you want to open your blinds, you want to move your seating furniture or anything you know dining furniture as close as you can to the windows and you want to invest in light therapy boxes. If your house naturally is very dark Maybe it's surrounded by a lot of trees and you want to create a sense of coziness, especially in your seating areas, be watching TV, reading, doing crafts and you want to do that by layering your space with warm light sources like LED candles and lanterns. You want to use battery-powered lights for safety versus candles. It's just too easy when you have that cozy kind of environment to fall asleep, and you never want to fall asleep and have a candle lit. So you want to avoid candles, so you want to, I avoid candles and just use LED candles and lanterns and then mix them with reflective surfaces like mirrors, in order to double that glow and that creates that sense of coziness in your area. Now, of course, if you're doing reading or crafting of any kind, you're going to need much more light than that cozy kind of light. But having that you know feeling of layering with blankets and layering with soft light and a cup of hot chocolate or coffee or tea is such a nice way to slow down and enjoy these types of days that keep you indoors. I'm going to talk about that concept later on at the end, which I think is a beautiful concept that all these countries embrace, and we don't do that much of that here, at least in the US.

Speaker 1: 4:53

All right, the second thing I want to talk about is nature. We all know there's no secret that nature plays a very huge role in overall well-being. That's why it's always encouraged to get out even if you just get out onto your front porch, backyard patio, anything to breathe in that fresh air, for as long as you can, of course, weather permitting. But it's more than just the fresh air, it's the greenery, it's just the overall well-being that nature tends to give all of us. But of course, you can't always get out every day, so you want to bring it in. So, bring in, have potted evergreens, or, you know, branches arranged in vases that can mimic the outdoors. You want to even create an indoor garden with herbs like mint or thyme or basil. You know the fresh scents do wonders for your mood. And, hey, they are functional and pragmatic for cooking, which is an excellent activity to do during the winter. You want to, you know, create those nice thick, hot stews. You know, maybe pull up recipes that your mom used to make during winter days, unless, of course, you grew up and lived in south florida, which there are no winter days down there, but, um, or maybe parts of arizona as well no, I think even the southern arizona has some winter because of the desert. But anyway, bringing nature indoors is an excellent way to boost your mood and your overall health and well-being.

Speaker 1: 6:47

The next thing I want to talk about is, of course, exercise. But people in Iceland and and finland and canada, and even, I think, switzerland and they in norway, they do, um, they add a layer of another activity to their exercises, um, and that is saunas. Now, not ever. It's not a common thing here in the us I'm not sure about canada actually but it's definitely quite common over there in the Norwegian area. So you can do all kinds of things like a virtual reality kind of workout, a dance party, kind of game online with your computer, be it Wii or any other type of game, gaming, toy, a tool.

Speaker 1: 7:44

But saunas are a little difficult to. Not everyone's going to be able to incorporate a sauna into their home. But you can mimic it by a hot bath. If you can safely get in and out of a bathtub, you can put in Epsom salts. Of a bathtub you can put in epsom salts, use essential oils like eucalyptus and combine all of this with, you know, some nice light, cozy therapy, like I spoke about earlier.

Speaker 1: 8:13

And then, when you're done with the bath, put on those PJs and step outside for five minutes and get that, you know, cold, invigorating air on you, if you can do it safely. It's something that a lot of people in northern areas, even in Siberia, do in order to, you know, boost up their health, that contrast of the hot sauna and the cold, cold weather. Of course you don't have to stay all five minutes if you can't take it. You know, one minute, two minutes is fine, but it's such a nice, invigorating, healthy thing to do. I think it seems to be, at least because the average age of the length of life in in the cultures in those Norwegian countries is longer than you know quite a few other countries, certainly the US for sure.

Speaker 1: 9:25

Okay, the next thing I want to talk about that a lot of the Nordic countries participate in during these long, dark winters is socializing. You know, isolation obviously can be very easy to be isolated during the winter, especially if, especially if the weather is so bad you can't get out because of the snow and all of that. But nowadays, with the Internet available and all kinds of video type of transmissions, we can cut that down with FaceTime and Zoom and all kinds of tools that we can share with others, you know. So, whether it's just having conversations with others or participating in actual activities with others, you know you can host a virtual crafting session. I know that there are cooking classes that are conducted over Zoom, poetry classes, you know, learning multiple languages, all kinds of things that you can do and continue with on a regular basis all year long, but it's especially helpful if you can't get out in the weather. Helpful if you can't get out in in the weather, but um.

Speaker 1: 10:46

So a lot of the nordic country, they have this constant, continuous tradition of community working together, being together, but not just sitting around being together. It's usually around a project, whether they're cooking meals or baking for a charity, or, you know, creating crafts or working on woodworking, anything at all, you know even fixing up each other's houses, anything at all. To get together. It's not just sitting around getting together, it's being together on a particular project, which I think creates much more than just getting together. It creates an actual sense of community and teamwork and being part of your little neighborhood community area.

Speaker 1: 11:31

The next thing I want to talk about is cozy, creativity and rest. One of the things that the Nordic countries embrace, especially in Finland, is they embrace slow, intentional activities during these months, during the winter months. It's, you know, things like knitting or woodworking, or, you know, putting together puzzles, anything that allows for focus without the stress. So this is a way to rest, to rest your body, to rest your mind. You know they in finland, they celebrate the darkness, um, as an excuse really to slow down and to recharge, which I think is something that a lot of cultures, or at least our cultures here, don't tend to take advantage of. You know we're always on the go, go, go, and it's a wonderful way to rest up and to to get ready for the months that you are busy going and moving and active. So take advantage of things like you know, maybe planning the following year, journaling, you know putting together a vision board, maybe you know planning some trips. You know, take advantage of the slow, natural rhythm that these months you know give you. I think it's one of the reasons that Finland is always rated as one of the happiest, if not the happiest country in the world, year after year after year, and it's probably why their life expectancy is much longer than at least here in the US.

Speaker 1: 13:17

All right, the last thing is, I I think, the most fun, at least for me. I'm a big foodie, but the last thing is food and rituals for the soul, for the mind, for the body. So nourishment, I mean food, is such an important part of every single culture and traditions. So take advantage of it. Take advantage of the wonderful warm foods that we all enjoy during the winter all the squashes and the pumpkins. And when I was in some of the Nordic countries on vacation, lots and lots and lots of fish. Almost every dish and every meal had some kind of fish.

Speaker 1: 14:01

And then take breaks. You know, take breaks with coffee or tea. It's just slowing down and enjoying that warm drink, that beautiful, hearty. You know stew or meal of. You know a light meal, um, I think fish is so much lighter than a lot of meats that we tend to eat so and then combine that with some calming. You know led candle lights and soft music. Um, you know watch a lot of humor. You know comedy, comedy channels you know Tom Papa and you know the comedian Sebastian Maniscalco and Fluffy and anyone else that you find that gives you that sense of laughter and joy in your life. You know, read wonderful books that fill your soul and make you want to just be the best person you can possibly be.

Speaker 1: 15:01

I really think that this time of year, what I love about it more than anything and it is my favorite time of year is really that it does force you to slow down. It does force you to be indoors and enjoy yourself and your activities and to make yourself the better person that we're all striving to do every single day At least. I think it's important to do that. So take these tips. I hope that these tips help you to beat those winter blues.

Speaker 1: 15:39

If you do need light therapy, look on Amazon or any other place online to see what light therapy type of products that they have. Incorporate them in your house. Get into some activities. Enjoy the online communities If you can't get outside, enjoy the online communities that you can get into clubs, classes, anything at all and, who knows, you may end up finding a new aspect of yourself. You may end up, you know, emerging in the spring as a brand new person who knows. All right, I want to thank you so much for listening. I hope you enjoyed the podcast and YouTube video and I guess I will see you next time. Don't forget to subscribe. Bye.