Reset Your Mind And Body This Spring With Our Expert Health Hacks

TEXT: MATT NIXSON AND HANNA GEISSLER
DATE: 6th April 2026

We’ve asked 10 well­being and health pro­fes­sion­als to share their top tips on how to stay in shape now the days are longer and lighter.

Spring is tra­di­tion­ally the sea­son of renewal, mak­ing it the per­fect time to reset your health habits. Now that we’ve enjoyed Easter Sunday and the daf­fodils are well and truly bloom­ing, it’s time to make those all-import­ant life and health hacks. “It’s not just the weather that changes, our bio­logy shifts too,” explains registered nutri­tion­ist Rob Hob­son, author of The Low Appet­ite Cook­book.

“Increas­ing day­light helps reset the body’s internal clock, influ­en­cing sleep, hor­mones, diges­tion and energy levels.”

We asked 10 experts for their own spring tips.

DR JACK MOSLEY FROM THE FAST 800

MY HABIT: “When the days get warmer and longer, I cycle to work every day, rather than sit in the car for 30 minutes. That half hour means I can make the most of that early morn­ing sun expos­ure, to get my cir­ca­dian rhythms going, which boosts my energy for the day ahead. I swap any last rem­nants of reg­u­lar winter snacks and replace them with nuts, which are packed with fibre, healthy fats and pro­tein.”

WHY IT WORKS: “My dad, Michael Mos­ley, pop­ular­ised The Fast 800 and the 5:2 diet. Adding a few fast­ing days (where he would eat 800 to 1,000 cal­or­ies) was a fant­astic way for him to enable a spring reset, and lose some of that excess winter weight, as well as keep­ing his blood sug­ars out of the dia­betic range. I con­tinue to fol­low his example, as a sus­tain­able spring reset.”

DR EVA MELEGH, DERMATOLOGIST

MY HABIT: “The one skin­care change I always make in early spring is to use a min­eral SPF every day. I suf­fer from ros­acea, and strong sun­light is the main trig­ger for flare ups.” WHY IT WORKS: “A min­eral SPF provides a phys­ical bar­rier against UVA and UVB rays and is less likely to trig­ger skin reac­tions than a chem­ical fil­ter. There are two types of min­eral SPFS: titanium diox­ide and zinc oxide. I favour zinc oxide as it is less react­ive and has an anti-inflam­mat­ory action, which is cru­cial for con­trolling ros­acea and redu­cing pus­tules.

“I use Kalme Day Defence SPF30 (kalme.co.uk) which con­tains a pure micronized zinc oxide SPF. It’s spe­cially for­mu­lated for sens­it­ive and ros­acea-prone skin, and reduces red­ness without leav­ing a white residue.”

DR JENNA MACCIOCHI, IMMUNOLOGIST, AUTHOR AND MEDITATION/BREATHWORK TEACHER

MY HABIT: “In spring, I delib­er­ately increase my out­door light expos­ure within the first hour of wak­ing – ideally bare­foot on grass if pos­sible.” WHY IT WORKS: “From an immun­o­logy per­spect­ive, sea­sonal light shifts are power­ful bio­lo­gical sig­nals. Morn­ing light anchors cir­ca­dian rhythms and immune cells fol­low cir­ca­dian pat­terns. When light expos­ure is mis­timed, immune reg­u­la­tion and inflam­mat­ory tone can drift. Spring’s longer morn­ings are an oppor­tun­ity to recal­ib­rate. Nat­ural light helps reg­u­late cortisol rhythms, sup­ports sleep qual­ity, and indir­ectly strengthens immune resi­li­ence. For me, it’s less about detox­ing, and more re-syn­chron­ising my bio­logy with the sea­son.”

DR HILARY JONES, GP, PRESENTER AND AUTHOR

MY HABIT: “In spring I look to the sun. So, instead of the stuffy con­fines of the gym, I’m out there in the fields and forests, walk­ing, run­ning, or on my bike. The fresh air is like res­pir­at­ory cham­pagne, the sound bath of the bees and the birds, and the crisp crackle of dry twigs under my feet is my nature’s diazepam. I eat less beige stodge and more col­our­ful salads, less dark chocol­ate and more bright fresh fruit.” WHY IT WORKS: “Being out­doors is pro­foundly ener­gising, boost­ing all those endorphins and tun­ing in with Mother Nature. It’s an end to deadly dull hiberna­tion and the start of a prom­ising new begin­ning. And, one of them, as it hap­pens, is the excit­ing launch of my third book Under Dark­en­ing Skies (£13.21, Moun­tain Leo­pard).”

ANNA MATHUR, PSYCHOTHERAPIST AND AUTHOR

MY HABIT: “I move with the light. Every winter I try to force early morn­ing workouts in the dark and every year it feels gruelling. So I stopped fight­ing it. In darker months, I exer­cise later in the day which can be a juggle with work and three chil­dren. When spring arrives and morn­ings get lighter, I’m nat­ur­ally back to mov­ing first thing.”

WHY IT WORKS: “Morn­ing light reduces beha­vi­oural fric­tion mean­ing that motiv­a­tion requires less will­power when the envir­on­ment feels brighter.

“Also, mov­ing in the morn­ing helps reg­u­late cir­ca­dian rhythms, improv­ing sleep and mood. So, the biggest well­being shift I’ve made isn’t push­ing harder, it’s know­ing when to ease off and work with myself sea­son­ally!”

ROB HOBSON, REGISTERED NUTRITIONIST AND HEALTHSPAN UK CONSULTANT

MY HABIT: “I like to focus on one simple, pos­it­ive habit. This year, I’m being more inten­tional about my fibre intake, which often includes adding a small daily dose of psyl­lium husk. You can stir it into almost any­thing, but I tend to add it to my overnight oats in the morn­ing. It also works well mixed into yoghurt or blen­ded into a smoothie.”

WHY IT WORKS: “Psyl­lium is a sol­uble, vis­cous fibre that forms a gel in the gut. This helps reg­u­late bowel move­ments and sup­ports stead­ier blood gluc­ose levels. There’s also good evid­ence that, when taken reg­u­larly as part of a heart-healthy diet, psyl­lium can help lower LDL cho­les­terol.

“As someone who keeps an eye on cho­les­terol levels, it’s a simple, evid­ence-based strategy. I am real­istic about my diet, and when life gets busy, hav­ing something reli­able in my routine helps me to stay on track with my fibre intake and heart health.” Try: Health­span Easy­fibre Cleanse, £19.99, for 300g via health­span.co.uk

DR SHEENA KUMAR, CHARTERED COUNSELLING PSYCHOLOGIST