Why is it That You Gain Weight in the Winter?

!±8± Why is it That You Gain Weight in the Winter?

There are a lot of people out there that complain of the fact that they usually gain quite a few unwanted pounds during the winter months. The natural system is that every winter we pack on a few pounds but come summer we do not lose all of them. A few of these pounds stay around and that means that every year we get a little heavier. It seems that its easy to pack on the pounds but hard to get rid of them. Why does this happen and what can we do to prevent it?

There are many reasons as to why this happens. First it seems that we as humans are genetically created to pack on more pounds and store more fat during the winter months. Of course this was vital to our survival when our ancestors were living in caves. The extra layers of fat that we pack on help to protect the body against the harsh winters and of course come spring time when food is low it can be used as fuel. Of course this process is aided through the time of harvest when there is plenty of food going around. Of course subconsciously we may even be picking foods that are aiding our weight gain.

Another thing that you need to take into consideration is the fact that hormone levels can also affect how much weight that we gain. The effects that hormones have on the mind and body can be so that we are more hungry more often and crave food during the winter months. Also note there are quite a few neurotransmitters that can influence what we eat and how much of it we do eat. Those people that are overweight and even obese seem to have less of these neurotransmitters and the result of this can be to have a massive appetite for the wrong kinds of foods. Other side effects include depression and sleep disorders. Also note that the lack of daylight hours and the short days that we experience in winter can bring about the winter depression and cause us to eat more as a result.

A helpful factor that will help to keep the weight off is to do regular exercise. The more physical activity that we do on a regular basis the more weight we will keep off. And there is a tendency among people to relax and stay inactive during the winter months. Of course this is natural as its cold outside. However do note that we are not cavemen anymore, and we do have many modern conveniences such as heating in our houses and of course we do not have to worry that there will not be any food come spring time. We just do not need to keep on fat like the cavemen had to do in order to survive.