Spring is coming, but many of us are still living in all kinds of cold right now. As I write, it’s 27 degrees here in Philadelphia, with the kind of wind chill that can get into the bones and keep you feeling cold all day. This typically means two things: we bring more of our workouts indoors, and we spend more of our free time indoors. It’s human nature, but the research backs me up on this one: stepping out for a bit is a good idea.
 
The average person already spends 90 percent of their time indoors, and there are a bunch of reasons why lowering that percentage (or at least not increasing it) is beneficial for our health as individuals and as athletes.
 
Most of my personal workouts take place in my apartment. There, I said it. I’ve got some of the basics set up, and on a typical day I make sure I bang out a workout before work. But here’s the kicker. I also work remotely. This means when I wrap up my workout, I jump in the shower, and head to… the living room.
 
This is where my work desk is. And it’s where I stay for most of the day. Days could pass (and have) where I’ve put in long workdays and only stepped outside to grab the mail or a coffee from the shop around the corner. This routine had a fairly significant negative impact on my health, for several reasons.
 
To start, indoor air pollution is invisible and horrible. During my indoor workouts, I kicked up all kinds of dust and dirt in the carpet, likely stirred up all kinds of other household dusts, and simply wasn’t breathing the kind of clean air I could have been breathing if I’d been outside. We often think of air pollution as what’s outdoors, but the EPA says that indoor air typically contains two to five times more contaminants. Then there’s this: while we focus on the food we take in, we tend not to focus on the 30,000 to 70,000 liters of air we exchange each day. To say nothing of the mold behind our drywall, or where the candlelight smoke drifts to when it’s cold out and all the windows are closed.
 
Beyond the air, there’s the healing power of light, even if it’s cold outside and you’re mostly bundled up. In fact, even exposure to sunlight has been show to have health benefits. A 2005 study in Psychosomatic Medicine showed that patients staying on “the bright side of the hospital unit,” where they were exposed to 46 percent more sunlight, experienced less perceived stress, and “took 22 percent less analgesic medication per hour” which resulted in “21 percent less pain medication costs.”
 
Pair this with how vitamin D insufficiency is established as 21–29 ng/mL, and yet 75 percent of us are at about 30ng/mL. This includes many athletes as well. Over the course of decades, studies have shown a link between vitamin D insufficiency and athletic performance. A 2009 study published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise found that “peak athletic performance seems to occur when 25(OH)D levels approach those obtained by natural, full-body, summer sun exposure, which is at least 50 ng x mL(-1). Such 25(OH)D levels may also protect the athlete from several acute and chronic medical conditions.”
 
Going outside may also generally reduce inflammation, something each one of us—coach, athlete, or weekend warrior—should be working to reduce on a regular basis. A study in Biomedical and Environmental Sciences found that when 20 healthy university males were split up (10 spending two days in the forest and 10 spending two days in the city), one group had significantly lower levels of oxidative stress, cortisol, and other pro-inflammatory levels. Care to take a guess? It was those in the forest. While the primary cause was likely the light and the air, a host of secondary causes probably impacted the results as well.
 
Lastly, and this likely taps into all sorts of other benefits, there’s what I can only describe as a sense of “waking up.” Getting outside for a bit, even if it’s brief dive into the bone-chilling cold, helps to reinvigorate my body, mind, and in turn the rest of my day. If you’re like me and you work from home, or you otherwise workout in the same place where you work, you probably know what I mean.
 
With spring around the corner, there’s no better time than March to jump into a routine of getting outside for a bit. Here are a few of my recommendations. They come from experience as a trainer who cares about health but who has worked remotely from home for the past ten years:
 
Occasionally open the windows and/or run a fan, even in the winter. I’ve found this has helped with my energy levels. Sometimes I’ll do it twice a day, for no more than a few minutes. The circulation (when the windows are open) pulls in some fresh air from outside, and the fan stirs up the stagnant air.
Take a break every one or two hours by heading outside. I’m not always successful at this, but I’ve found that even a 10-minute stroll around the block really helps me feel refreshed and apply a newfound focus to whatever project I’m working on.
If it’s not too cold, replace one of your weekly workouts with a hike or an outdoor workout. If I don’t have time to drive to the park here, I’ll get up early to head to one of the local playgrounds where I can do a quick circuit of pull-ups (monkey bars for the win!), squats, and sprints.
If you’re training clients, consider going outside as part of the cool down phase. Depending on where you live, it will literally cool down the body and certainly provide the recovery benefits of light and air mentioned above.
 
Whatever your workout or work routine, both can be improved simply by placing a bit more focus on getting outside. We spend much time focusing on what foods can optimize our performance; it’s time to think about the role light and air play as well.