Practical Tips for a More Enjoyable and Relaxed Holiday Season

The holiday season is often portrayed as a joyful and festive time, but for many people, it can also be a source of stress and anxiety. A shocking 45 percent of Americans say they’d prefer to skip the season entirely because it brings so much pressure. “ Festive Stress” is ruining the holidays for many, making this holiday season not as joyful and festive — but frantic. However, with some thoughtful strategies, you can reduce stress and enjoy the season more fully.

Holiday Stress Can Quickly Derail Your Health 

When you become stressed, your body secretes “stress” hormones which can quickly turn you into a Grinch for the holidays while at the same time take a serious toll on your physical and emotional health, influencing everything from your mood and brain function to your heart health and risk of both acute illness and chronic disease. Therefore, having effective stress-relief tools at your disposal is priceless in terms of the emotional and physical well-being they can offer you.

Slash Holiday Stress with Seven Healthy Habits

1.Exercise: A quick exercise break may be just the thing to relieve stress. Even brief light exercise releases a neurotransmitter in your brain called anandamide, known as the bliss compound. Exercise also creates new nerves in your brain which help to induce a natural state of calm. Exercise also boosts levels of potent brain chemicals like serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine, which buffer the effects of stress. Mind-body exercises, such as yoga, or even a quick walk are particularly beneficial in warding off stress.

2.Prayer/Meditation and Proper Breathing: If you’re not yet taking advantage of the health-boosting powers of prayer and meditation, there’s no time like the holidays to start! Even among people with anxiety disorder, those who learned mindfulness-based stress reduction techniques did better under stress than those who used other stress reduction methods.

3.Proper Sleep: It’s virtually impossible to cope with stressful situations if you’re not well rested, so getting quality sleep is especially important during the holidays. Lack of quality sleep is known to elevate physiological markers of stress. Getting back to the basics of improving your sleeping environment is important, including sleeping in complete darkness and avoiding exposure to blue light, including LEDs, after sunset. Wearing blue-blocking glasses is a simple way to achieve this.

4.Optimize Vitamin D — Vitamin D plays a role in facilitating serotonin production, a brain hormone associated with mood elevation. When your serotonin levels are low, you are more susceptible to stress. The best way to optimize your vitamin D level to the recommended 60 to 80 ng/ml is through sensible sun exposure, but for many, oral supplementation is necessary as well, especially during the winter. The only way to accurately assess your need for supplementation is to measure your vitamin D level. Also keep in mind that if you take high-dose vitamin D, you also need to increase your intake of magnesium and vitamin K2, as these nutrients work in tandem with Vitamin D. 

5.Tend to Your Gut: The greatest concentration of serotonin is found within your intestines, not your brain, and the state of your gut health can have a significant effect on that of your mood and anxiety level. Even severe and chronic mental health problems might be eliminated by dampening stress hormones in the gut. One of the easiest ways to tend to your gut health is to reduce your intake of processed foods and sugars during the holidays.

6.Essential Oils, Especially Lavender: Sometimes sending stress packing can be as simple as adding a few drops of lavender essential oil to your bathwater, massage oil or diffuser. A component in lavender oil, linalool, has also been found to produce relaxation effects like those produced by antianxiety drugs but without their side effects. If you enjoy the scent of lavender, this can be your go-to when you need a quick dose of calm — try rubbing a drop of diluted oil on your pulse points when the holidays give you that frantic feeling. If you don’t enjoy lavender, there are many other essential oils to choose from, many with equally calming effects, including bergamot, chamomile, rose, clary sage and vetiver. 

7. Regular Chiropractic Care: Maintaining your adjustments is the ultimate way to maintain your health and minimize the effects of holiday stress. By getting to the root cause of the effects of stress on your body via neurological-based chiropractic care, you are ensuring your body is at its peak efficiency during the holiday season.

Dr. Mark