Build Better Habits This Fall: 5 Simple Systems to Reduce Stress

I was recently hit with the realization that with fall upon us, the doldrums of winter are fast approaching.

If you are like me, despite the excitement for the holidays, cooler weather, and cozy vibes, winter also means that we will be much less motivated.

New Year’s resolutions feel poorly timed because I always find it harder to find motivation and create new healthy habits when the weather is dreary and the days are short.

Because of this, I try to make plans. Beginning in the fall, I like to create systems that feel solid and will help me continue my healthy habits, even in the darkest of months.

Stress can sneak up on us, and while many of us look forward to the leaves changing and pumpkin-spiced lattes, fall also brings new schedules, shorter days, holiday prep, and back-to-school season.

All of this can start to feel overwhelming, and if you don’t have a system to manage all aspects of a full life, certain things can start to fall by the wayside.

When stress builds, you go into survival mode, trading exercise for doomscrolling and healthy meals for takeout.

Being stress-free isn’t as simple as having the right mindset. Creating structure and sticking to routines that support your mental and physical health can help you stay on track with the things you want to be doing, particularly those habits that support a healthy mind and body.

Why Systems Matter for Stress & Health

It’s no secret that stress thrives in chaos.

When you feel stressed, it is usually an indication that something is out of balance.

When stress starts to build in one area of life, we tend to neglect our goals or habits in another. For example, when you get really busy at work, you might neglect your diet and exercise.

In the short term, skipping a habit or routine might save you time or energy, but in the long run, it all catches up to you, leaving you feeling worse than when you started.

Having systems and structures in place reduces decision fatigue and keeps you on track, no matter what is going on in your life.

The human brain craves stability and structure. The habits you repeat become ingrained in your identity. Over time, things that were once hard become like second nature.

Hopefully, the habits you repeat are those that help to support the healthiest, most confident version of yourself.

Seasonal Impact

In the fall and winter, it can be especially hard to maintain good habits. The shorter days, busier schedules, and colder weather all make you want to climb under the covers and stay there until spring.

Succumbing to this desire will only hurt your progress and your mental health.

Many people are already more prone to depression and anxiety during the darker, colder months. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) affects 5% of the population, with up to 40% of people who live in colder climates reporting a milder “winter blues.”

Regardless of the time of year or how you are personally impacted by the changing seasons, having solid routines and systems in place is incredibly helpful to stay on track with your goals.

Systems also help to prevent stress-driven behaviors you want to avoid, like skipping meals and workouts or emotionally eating.

Systems & Habits That Lower Stress

Now that you understand why creating these systems will help you, what are the routines you can enforce to tend to your mental and emotional health and become the best version of you?

1. Morning & Evening Routines

Every good routine starts with a good night’s rest. 

Having consistent waking and sleeping times is the first step to building a structure around your day that really works for you. 

Especially as the seasons change, it can be harder to maintain a consistent sleep schedule. You may be tempted to hit the snooze when you won’t see the sun until mid-morning. 

Quality sleep is one of the cornerstones of a healthy routine. Sleep is when your body and brain undergo cellular and muscular repair and dispose of waste material. Quality sleep also helps you think more clearly during the day. 

A lack of quality sleep can also contribute to weight gain. You are more prone to poor decision-making and increased cravings for junk food, sabotaging your physical health goals. 

Protecting your sleep starts with committing to consistent morning and evening routines. This means getting in bed and waking up at the same time each day. 

It can also mean incorporating small rituals that help you anchor the day, such as a morning walk, journaling, or even just putting your phone away in the evening. 

Experts recommend exposing yourself to bright light in the first hour of waking. If you live in a sunny place, you can simply enjoy your morning coffee outdoors, but for those of us in darker climates, light therapy lamps (over 10000 lux) can be a good alternative. 

In the evening, exposure to blue light can actually disrupt your circadian rhythm and your sleep quality. Wear sunglasses after 4:00 pm and avoid screens at least an hour before bed. 

Check out this past blog post for a more in-depth study on building a better bedtime routine, check out this past blog post! 

2. Meal Planning Systems

Cooking is a daily chore that can be hard to keep up with when life gets stressful. 

When you have a large project at work, your kids’ after-school activities are overlapping, or you are faced with other circumstances that leave you short on time and energy, you may find that you turn to emotional eating, skip meals, or opt for unhealthy takeout.

Meal prepping or batch prepping ingredients on the weekend can be one way to reduce last-minute food stress and make it easier to stay on track when the week gets busier. 

If meal prepping isn’t for you, it’s a good idea to at least go into the week with a plan.

Use the 3-2-1 technique to streamline planning. In this technique, you plan for 3 dinners, 2 lunches, and 1 breakfast, and shop for those meals at the beginning of the week.

This technique gives you variety, but also takes out the guesswork so that you aren’t scrambling for dinner options after work or hitting the vending machine on your lunch break.

The 3-2-1 technique is also a great way to help stretch your food budget and prevent overspending on restaurants and takeout.

Cooking at home is also a great opportunity to get the family involved or get creative. Find some comforting, nourishing, seasonal recipes that you are excited to try, and turn on your favorite playlist while you’re in the kitchen. 

3. Movement Habits

Exercise can be one of the hardest habits to maintain when the weather turns. 

Don’t wait for motivation, which may or may not show up when you need it. Instead, block exercise into your calendar as though it were any other appointment. 

I attend a gym with classes that I have to book ahead of time, or risk them filling up. I book my classes a month out, always attending the same days and times. If I cancel too late, they charge me a small fee. 

This might not work for everyone, but it works for me because it gives me the incentive I need to stick to the commitments I made to myself, even when it’s hard and I’m unmotivated.

If you treat movement like a real commitment to yourself and actually block that time in your calendar, it becomes non-negotiable, even if you are working out in your living room. 

Habit stacking is another technique that can help you add more movement into your daily routine.

For example, you can stretch while watching your favorite show at night, go for a walk when you have your weekly phone call with your long-distance bestie, or do wall sits while brushing your teeth in the morning. 

Finally, take advantage of the season by taking a brisk walk to admire the fall foliage, or get cozy with a yoga class followed by a hot tea or coffee. 

4. Time Management & Boundaries

I totally get it, life is busier than ever, and it’s easy to start feeling overwhelmed. 

I have a bad habit of overscheduling myself, and often have to relearn the lesson of time management and setting better boundaries for myself. 

I love to travel, and have a hard time saying no to anyone when they ask for my time.

Last year, I was lucky to do a lot of traveling both in and out of the country, but I found that on my last trip of the year, I felt completely overwhelmed. I had another trip already planned, and I ended up canceling it. 

Being able to recognize when you need to slow down is a skill, and one that’s important to develop. It can be difficult, but try to learn to say no to commitments that add unnecessary stress to your life. 

Everything I commit to gets added to my Google Calendar or my physical planner, so that I can keep track of my obligations, but also as a visual aid so that I can see when I’m over-scheduled and in danger of burning out. 

Using tools like online or physical calendars and daybooks can also be a good way to build in buffer time in between obligations. That might mean that if you have a social Friday and Saturday, you take Sunday to veg out and tend to chores or just relax with a good book. 

If you are taking on a lot at work, can you delegate any tasks to other coworkers with less on their plates? If you are feeling overwhelmed at home, is there anyone who could help with childcare so that you could take a day off? 

It can be really hard to ask for help, but you would probably be surprised by how many of your loved ones want to step up and help out when you need it. When they need a little extra support, you’ll be able to help them too. 

5. Mindfulness & Reflection Systems

You wake up to your alarm clock blaring, turn over, and open your phone to scroll your social media feeds, before you’ve even gotten up to pee.

You down some coffee, skip breakfast, and rush out the door to get to your stressful job.

You get home, order DoorDash, and alternate between the TV, your work laptop, and your phone until it’s time to fall into bed, just to wake up and do it all over again the next day. 

Does this story sound familiar?

When you consider your health routines, you probably think of your diet and exercise, but it’s rare to reflect on how some of your other daily habits, or the lack thereof, impact your mental well-being. 

Instead, most of us just walk around on autopilot, unaware of how our habits are contributing to how stressed and overwhelmed we all seem to feel. 

Believe it or not, a negative mindset is a habit, just as much as your gym routine is, and you can actually make positivity a habit too. 

Daily reflection through journaling is a great way to identify stress triggers and start to flip the script. Making a habit of practicing gratitude in your journal helps to make a positive mindset feel more natural. 

Meditation, mindfulness, and breathwork, even for just five minutes at a time, can help relieve stress and lower cortisol. 

Finally, having hobbies you enjoy helps to get you out of your head and involved in something outside of work that gives your life purpose. 

Establishing positive, nurturing habits like these helps you to build positive coping mechanisms for when life gets hard. 

Quick Habit-Building Checklist

This was a lot of information, but it’s really quite simple.

As the weather gets chillier, the days get shorter, and your schedule starts filling up with work, school, and holiday plans, identify one or two ways you can start to build systems into your routine that will help carry you through the harder times. 

• Set a morning & evening routine

• Plan meals ahead

• Schedule movement

• Use a planner or app for time management

• Add one daily mindfulness practice

What area of your life do you feel like you need the most help with? If you are overstressed, maybe start with setting boundaries or nailing your morning and evening routines. If you find yourself in the drive-thru line multiple times per week, maybe start by introducing some meal planning. 

To avoid feeling overwhelmed, start small, implementing one new habit and giving yourself some time to adjust to the new routine. 

Find Joy in All Seasons of Life

Stress is, unfortunately, a part of life, and it doesn’t just disappear on its own.

However, with the right systems in place, you can start to manage stress and build good habits that will carry you through the tougher moments in life. 

Although stress feels huge, it’s the small habits done consistently that make the biggest impact on your mental and physical health. You don’t need to do it all perfectly, but being consistent will take you far. 

Start by picking one thing that you can start to improve on, and see how you can build a routine that reflects your best, most confident self.