Welcome to 30 Days of Winter Wellness — a Healthline-powered daily challenge giving tips on small, supportive habits to help you stay healthy and well this winter.
Many people love winter for its beauty, atmosphere, and slower pace. However, it can be a challenging season for prioritizing health and well-being. Shorter days, colder weather, disrupted routines, and less sunlight can all impact our ability to maintain wellness routines due to their effect on our mood, motivation, and immunity.
That’s why, here at Healthline, we created the 30 Days of Winter Wellness Challenge.
It’s a gentle, practical guide to taking care of yourself throughout the month of January.
It’s one day, one habit, and one wellness topic at a time, bolstered with expert advice, community quotes, and our high quality medically reviewed information.
Winter can be more demanding on our minds and bodies. Many people find that they move less, spend more time indoors, crave comfort foods, experience changes in their sleep patterns, and sometimes feel more isolated.
Cold weather and health
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However, the 2025 study found there was no link between temperature and optimism, strength, and energy. This suggests that though our environment may make it more challenging to stay motivated during colder winter months, we can still have the right tools to continue building beneficial habits for our mental and physical health.
How this challenge can help
30 Days of Winter Wellness is not about “fixing” yourself or starting extreme resolutions.
We want to support your body where it is, helping you build accessible habits and teaching you facts about your health to better equip you to stay well in the winter. Small changes can make a big difference.
This challenge is a monthlong series of daily articles designed to help you:
- learn why winter impacts health and wellness
- discover realistic, accessible habits you can try that day
- build a sustainable approach to caring for yourself in winter
Each day in January, we’ll publish a new article centered on a specific wellness topic, ranging from winter morning routines to at-home movement, nutrition, sleep, mental health, and social connection.
Content examples
Here are some examples of topics we’ll be focusing on during this challenge:
- simple winter morning and evening routines
- at-home strengthening exercises and stretches
- nutrition support, including information on vitamin D, sugar-free snacks, and comfort foods
- alcohol-free drinks
- sleep tips and mental wellness practices
- skin care
- home hygiene
- preventive health screenings
- nourishing, warming recipes
- journaling and meditation microhabits
- social connection tips
We’ll be incorporating expert advice and community quotes with high quality health information reviewed by our network of medical professionals to ensure you’re set up for a healthy winter this 2026.
Winter wellness starts with awareness, and we can grow it through small, intentional choices.
Join us at Healthline for the next 30 days as we explore simple ways to feel more supported, energized, and well this winter.
30 Days of Winter Wellness Challenge
- Day 1: Quoted: Winter Morning Routines: Inspiration for ways to start building a healthy morning routine
- Day 2: At-Home Workouts to Try Today: Discover 30 body weight moves to try at home today that can be scaled for beginner, intermediate, and advanced exercisers.
- Day 3: Nine Nutritious Foods with High Vitamin D: Incorporate these foods into your diet during darker winter days to boost your vitamin D levels.
- Day 4: What Happens When You Stop Drinking Alcohol: Learn how your body responds to cutting out alcohol, and read tips on how you could cut back this month.
- Day 5: A Complete Vegan Meal Plan and Sample Menu: Try our recipes and meal plan to see how you can incorporate more vegan food into your diet this winter.
- Day 6: Quoted: Staying Motivated Throughout Winter: Snippets of quotes giving tips on how to keep motivated in the colder months.
- Day 7: Winter Skincare Tips: Consider these eight science-backed tips to protect your skin barrier from cold, dry, and sometimes harsh conditions.
- Day 8: Mobility Exercises for Winter: Try our mobility exercises to keep your joints supple and healthy this January.
- Day 9: Sugar-Free Snacks: Give our recipes a go, and sweeten up your snacks the sugar-free way.
- Day 10: How to Find the Right Gym: Use this guide to help set your priorities, so you’re empowered to find the right gym for your needs.
- Day 11: At-Home Pampering Ideas: Prioritizing pampering can involve boosts to your atmosphere, clothing, bathing, skin care, sleep, mental health, and much more.
- Day 12: Keeping Your Home Clean During Winter: More indoor activity and dry indoor air can increase the likelihood of getting sick during the winter. Read how to keep your home clean and germ-free this winter.
- Day 13: Healthy Sleep Hygiene Tips: Explore what sleep hygiene is and the adjustments you can make to your daytime and nighttime habits to improve your sleep.
- Day 14: Winter Health Screenings: Read our guide to health screenings to prioritize this winter and stay on top of your preventive health.
- Day 15: How to Start Journaling: One of your best wellness tools this winter may be a journal. Find out how to get started.
- Day 16: Recipe Swaps For Alcohol: Some people avoid alcohol in recipes for health, financial, or other reasons. Read about the many nonalcoholic alternatives for cooking or baking.
- Day 17: Quoted: Maintaining Social Connection in Winter: We asked our in-house editorial team at Healthline to share their tips for building and maintaining social connections during winter.
- Day 18: How to Manage “Winter Blues”: Some refer to changes in mental health in the winter as “January blues”. Learn why it can happen and what can help.
- Day 19: Gratitude Practice: Learn why starting a gratitude practice can benefit your health and read our tips on how to incorporate this into your daily routine.
- Day 20: Habits to Improve Mental Health: Simple, consistent daily habits can help support your mental health, improve your mood, and build resilience over time. Here’s how to get started.
- Day 21: A Guide to Digital Detoxes: Looking to spend more time away from the screen? Read why this can be good for your health and how to get started.
- Day 22: Benefits of Reading Books: Reading books has several health benefits. These include strengthening your brain, increasing your ability to empathize, reducing stress, and building your vocabulary.
- Day 23: Warming Breakfast Ideas: Use our recipes to give your mornings a healthy but comforting start.
- Day 24: All About Gut Health: Improve and reset your gut health using our tips.
- Day 25: Winter Microhabits for Mindfulness: Ensure mindfulness is a key part of your daily routine this winter with these easy steps.
- Day 26: A Guide to Comfort Food: Learn the science behind why we love comfort food and how you can find a healthy balance.
- Day 27: How to Get the Rest You Need: Learn about the different types of rest and how you can build it into your daily life this winter.
Getting started
Here are some ways you can set yourself up today to make the most of the challenge:
- Bookmark this page: The list above will be updated with every addition to the challenge. If you’re reading this after January 2026, you can restart the challenge by following each article from the start of the list again.
- Bookmark the Healthline homepage: We’ll update the homepage daily with that day’s Winter Wellness Challenge article.
- Follow us on social media: We’ll be linking to articles on our Instagram page.
- Sign up for our newsletters: Follow this challenge in our Daily News newsletter, and take a second to check our other newsletters to receive high quality health information on other topics that may be beneficial for you.