23 Winter Self-Care Essentials to Keep You Healthy & Warm

With longer periods of darkness and cold surrounding us every day, winter self-care is more difficult, but at the same time more important than any other time of the year. Here are some useful winter self-care essentials that will help you stay warm, cozy, happy, and healthy this winter.

Here are a few things that will

• Help you stay warm while outside
• Keep you cozy at home
• Make your skin and body happy
• Being some fun and relaxation to your long winter evenings
• Beat the winter blues and help you stay mentally healthy

Outdoor Winter Self-Care Essentials:
Stay Warm While Outside

We all bundle up when we go outside in sub-zero temperatures. But let’s take it one step further! These few products will bring you a little extra heat when venturing out into the winter cold.

Insulated Travel Mug

Insulated travel mug is a must have item for your winter self-care. It is great to keep you coffee or hot chocolate hot for hours regardless if you are out in the bitter cold or simply commuting to work.

Not only will they keep your beverage hot, but they will also provide some warmth to your hands as you hold it. In addition, they are spill-proof to keep your beverage safe (and your clothes spill free).

Heated Car Seat Mat

If your car does not already have heated seats, a heated car seat mat is a wonderful way to stay worm in the car. This comes especially handy when you just get into a cold car, before it has a chance to warm up. Just plug it in, turn it on and enjoy the waves of warmth within seconds.

Hand and Feet Warming Pads

It is essential for our health to get some exercise and fresh air as often as possible. To keep you hands and feet warm during longer walks and hikes hand and feet warming pads are a must. They will keep your finders and toes toasty for hours.

Battery Heated Gloves

If you’re an outdoors enthusiast or if you shovel the snow from your driveway on regular basis, these Savior Rechargeable Electric Gloves are a blessing. They last several hours and protect your hands from frostbites even in extreme weather.

Indoor Winter Self-Care Essentials:
Keep Yourself Cozy at Home

Even though your heat my be on, just looking outside can make you shiver. Here are a few practical winter self-care products that will make you feel warm and cozy all day long.

Fingerless Arm Warmers

Do you ever find yourself sitting at your desk for a long time working away on your computer? If so, I bet your forearms touching the desk get cold. Fingerless arm warmers are an amazing solution to make you feel warm and cozy. They come in all kinds of lengths and styles, so you are sure to find one that you will like.

Slipper Socks

Warm socks are great, but slipper socks are fantastic. They are cozy and warm not only your feet, but they cover most of your calf as well. In addition they come in a ton of different patterns and designs and look great with leggins. They are both practical and fashionable. And who doesn’t want that!

Electric Blanket

Electric blankets are wonderful to warm you up fast. They come especially handy when you sit still for longer periods of time or when you come back from spending significant time outside. Just wrap yourself in its softness, plug it in, and enjoy the radiating heat that warms up your body instantly.

Flannel Sheets

Flannel sheets are the best option for cold winter nights. They are warm to the touch right from the moment you slip between them. Even if your room cools down during the night, the softness of the sheets will keep you warm all night long. Pair them up with a goose down comforter and you are set for the entire winter.

Cozy PJs

This one is definitely winter self-care must-have. You can never have too many plush or fleece pajamas. They are great not only for keeping you warm at night, but also for lounging in on lazy Sunday morning. And if they have a hood or pockets and the top covers your bum – that’s even better!

Shaggy Rug

Putting your feet on a fluffy, shaggy rug in the morning beats touching a cold hardwood floor with your warm toes any day. But especially in the winter. So why not give yourself a bit of that extra special winter self-care and get one? With all the choices out there, you will surely find one that fits well with your decor and feels amazing under your feet.

Personal Winter Self-Care Essentials:
Make Your Skin & Your Body Happy

Winters are harsh on our skin. But there are several things you can do to keep your circulation flowing and your skin soft and smooth. Here are a few winter self-care essentials that will help you achieve healthy and radiant glow during winter months.

Moisturizing Cream

You are well aware of the importance of moisturizers as part of your winter self-care. Winter moisturizers are usually a bit more heavy, so that they can not only moisturize, but also protect our skin against cold and and wind.

A few moisturizers that come highly recommended for winter are CeraVe Moisturizing Cream and O’Keeffe’s Working Hands and Healthy Feet moisturizers.

Moisturizing Socks and Gloves

Let’s face it, many of you put socks on your feet at night anyway. So why not make them do a double duty – warm AND moisturize your feet.

As mentioned above using a heavy moisturizer in the winter will help your skin stay moist and protected. Moisturizing gloves and socks will give it that extra love and care at night will go a long way to make it feel soft and smooth on the coldest of days.

Lip Balm

This little gem is great anytime, but especially in the winter. Lip balm, especially one with beeswax and coconut oil will keep your lips healthy and moisturized, and will protect them from the cold winter wind.

You May Also Like:

Self-Care: 20 Ways to ‘Fill Your Own Cup’

Winter Wellness Essentials:
Bring Fun and Relaxation to the Long Winter Evenings

As winter sets in and evenings seem to drag on forever, there are a lot of fun things that you can do to engage your mind and relax at the same time. Here are a few ideas you just might like to try.

Jigsaw Puzzle

Regardless if you are just starting with 250 peaces or if you’re a pro going for 1000 pieces, you’ll find joy in the simplicity of this relaxing activity. With thousands of pictures to choose from, jigsaw puzzles can be a great escape from reality on a cold winter evening.

Adult Coloring Book

Drawing, painting and coloring is a great way to relax and let your creativity flow. Winter evenings provide a great opportunity to unwind after a long day with your favorite coloring book and a set of colorful pencil crayons or fineliners in hand.

Make a Snow Globe

Whether it’s a Christmas or winter scene, you can capture it in a custom made snow globe. It’s an easy and short project. Once it’s done, you can enjoy its beauty or gift it to a family member or a friend.

Try a Tangram Puzzle

Exercising your mind can be fun, no matter what age. The Tangram puzzles allow you to work alone or with friends to create different geometric objects, animals and figures.

In addition to the book that usually comes with the puzzle you can purchase other books with hundreds of different shapes to keep you busy all winter.

You May Also Like
9 Relaxing Crafts Perfect for Winter Evenings

Winter Mental Health Self-Care Essentials:
Keep the Winter Blues at Bay

Winter blues are inevitable, especially if you live up North where days are short and evenings and night are dark and long. But there are things you can do to stay mentally healthy and avoid feeling down.

Red Light Therapy

Red Light Therapy has been used for a long time in medicine. Now you can bring it home. According to WebMD Red Light Therapy is great at helping with Seasonal Affective Disorder, Depression and Sleep Disorder among other problems. All these things affect our mental health. So why not improve your mood and provide a bit extra heat to your body during the cold winter months.

“Happy Light” on Your Desk

Winter days are very short and we rarely get enough sunlight and vitamin D during cold wither months. HappyLight or any other white light therapy lamp is a great way to beat winter blues, Seasonal Affective Disorder and Sleep Disorder.

Just place it on your desk facing you and turn it on for an hour or so each day while you are working. That’s all! No extra work required to add this lamp into your winter self-care ritual.

Sunrise Alarm Clock

For those of us who are not morning persons, getting up when when it still dark outside is especially hard.

Sunrise alarm clocks makes it a little easier. They give you an option to set different natural sounds to wake up to. But more importantly, they provide gradual light illuminating your room before the alarm clock sounds. This helps your body to wake up on its own using your circadian rhythm.

Having one of those next to your bed can be a life saver when it comes to getting up and getting to work on time.

Journaling for Mental Health

Journaling has been long linked to improving mental health, getting things out and ridding yourself from thoughts that weigh your down.

Since winter evenings are long, adding journaling to your winter self-care is a great idea. There is plenty of time to sit in your comfy chair with a hot beverage in hand and writing down a few thoughts to clear your mind or to plan the good things to come.

Gratitude journals have been especially popular, as there is research showing how expressing gratitude and counting your blessings have an uplifting effect on our health and our lives.

If you’re not sure where to start, you can try The Three Good Things Exercise or maybe challenge yourself to one of Monthly Gratitude Challenges found here.

Conclusion

Winter is the hardest time of the year. It really takes it’s toll on our physical and mental health. That’s why it is so important to implement a solid winter self-care routine during this season.

The products listed above are bound to help you in your quest to not only survive, but also thrive during this cold season.

Do you have a favorite product that you incorporate into your winter self-care? If so, I’d love to hear about it in the comments…

This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on a product link, we may receive a commission in return at no cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.