ITS FEBRUARY AND ITS COLD, DARK, AND WET………
By this time of year the excitement of Christmas and New Years has worn off, you have probably already abandoned your New Years resolution, and all you feel like doing is catching up on another Netflix series......I’ve got another idea to make the winter pass more quickly.

TAKE A SUNNY VACATION
This is always my first suggestion, one that I like to refer to as “vitamin D therapy.” I’m always happy to write a prescription for you if necessary. If you book the time off work but wait until the post Christmas sales and promotions come up and you are willing to let the deal determine your destination, you can actually get a week of sun without having to dip into the line of credit.

However, if this is not an option try the following….

INCREASE YOUR VITAMIN D LEVELS SYNTHETICALLY
For winter I suggest at least 2000 IU of Vitamin D3/day. However, if you are already taking this much try increasing to 3000 or 4000IU/day. Since it’s a fat soluble vitamin you can take it all at the same time. Remember to decrease your dose again once the sun comes out.

GET OUTSIDE
I found that the best way to get through a Vancouver winter is to embrace it. Yes, it's a nice time to catch up on reading and movies but during the daylight the best thing is to just get outside any weather. In other words we take out the clause “weather depending”. Spending
my days off in the mountains either cross country skiing, snowshoeing or skiing/boarding just feels good. If you are not a skier get up to the local hills and try snowshoeing. Cypress even marks its trails according to the steepness, so you have green to black. Or you can do the free
trails of Hollyburn.

LEARN TO LOVE THE RAIN
If you live in Vancouver you MUST learn to love the rain whatever the season is. Remember when you were a kid and you loved to go and play in the rain? Well, it’s still fun as an adult. Invest in a decent rain jacket and some gumboots (luckily they are trendy again and come in fun designs for adults). If you have the right equipment nothing can stop you. Don’t walk around the puddles walk right through them and tell me if that doesn’t just put a smile on your face.

REMEMBER, Vancouver would not be so green and luscious if we didn't have all this rain. It's keeping you young!