Tips for Staying Warm Outdoors During the Winter Months

During the winter months, one of the most common things people want to do is to keep warm. Keeping warm while you are indoors is as simple as snuggling in bed under blankets, turning up the thermostat, or throwing another log in the fireplace. Staying warm while you are outdoors during the winter months, no matter what your reason for going outdoors, can be a bit of a challenge. Here are some tips that I have found helpful over the years to stay warm when I am outdoors during the cold heat of the winter months.

Before going outdoors, one of the best things you can do to keep warm is to drink a cold beverage. I found this to be true as a child when I had to hurry out the door, and wait for the bus to school. Drinking a cold beverage such as soda, Kool-Aid, or iced tea increases the heart rate, not enough to cause damage, but enough to speed up the flow of warm blood throughout your body before going out into the cold weather of the winter time. It is important to be sure that the beverage is not decaffeinated. Caffeine speeds up blood flow throughout the body, which in turn generates warmer blood through the body at a much faster rate.

Though many people keep their jackets, sweaters, and boots near the front door so that they can put them on just as they head out the door, this is actually a bad idea. Try putting on your jackets, coats, sweaters, and boots about five minutes before heading out the door. This gives your body a chance to warm up inside, and also a chance for you to make sure the buttons and zippers on your jackets are tightly fastened, so that the wind and chilly temperatures doesn't hit you all at once before heading out.

As tempting as it may be to hover in front of the fireplace or near the furnace vent before heading out into the cold temperatures and chilly winds of the winter weather, this is also a bad idea. When you step out into the chilly wind and chilly temperatures, you will be warm for only a few seconds, a minute at best. Bundle up instead of hovering, and allow your body temperature a few minutes to adjust.