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It is no wonder we get the blues when those short, cold winter days set in. We wake up in the morning and it is still dark outside. We drive to work, by which time it has just started to get light. Then it is already dark before we get home again in the evening. The last thing on our mind is to do anything active. We tend to eat and drink more, and the food is generally not the healthy variety, such as fruit. The long evenings are usually spent slumped in front of the television. We already feel pretty lethargic from November onwards, but our lazy lifestyle at this time of years makes us even less inclined to exercise.

Winter is in fact pretty bad news for some of us. Tests have shown that our cholesterol levels generally go up over the winter months. And if you are a man, then things are at their worst around Christmas time, while women wait until the New Year before their cholesterol levels peak.

The average rise in cholesterol levels in a study published by the Archives of Internal Medicine were not huge, but the problem was worse in those who already had high cholesterol levels.

Health experts believe that the reason for the changes is down to the fact that blood volumes in the human body are greater in summer, meaning the ratio of cholesterol to blood is lower during the hotter months of the year. It is also clear that people tend to lead less active lives during colder periods. As a result of long periods of inactivity, we tend to eat more and exercise less, leading to a rise in cholesterol levels.

This obviously impacts on testing of cholesterol levels. If you are shown to have borderline high cholesterol levels during a test in December, then you may react in one of two ways. You could be lulled into a false sense of security, believing the reading is high because of the time of year. Or you could, wisely, heed the warning signs and do something about it. Join an indoor gym, go for a walk around the block every evening, eat more healthy food and resist temptation to raid the fridge for a late night pizza or to crack open another beer.

Learn more about this author, Phil Hill.
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