Reduce Holiday Stress - Ideas to bring the joy back to the season

Reduce Holiday Stress - Ideas to bring the joy back to the season

Over the past few weeks our blog has been themed around maintaining health and sanity during the holiday season addressing gratitude and thankfulness,  holiday food survival,  and today holiday stress survival.  The theme will continue into January, when we’ll switch to a typical weight loss, healthy eating and healthy living, New Year’s Resolutions vs. intuitive living and more! My goal will be short and sweet- I know you have lots of extra “to dos” during this season. If you like what we have to say or just want to join the discussion, feel free to comment online! Short on time? Check this interview I did with CNN on Holiday Stress.

Tips to Reduce Holiday Stress

We are deep into the holiday season and the many demands upon us. The food temptations abound, time is cutting into your exercise plan, and the stress is mounting. How can you survive without giving in and gaining weight and losing sanity?  

• Prioritize- what is really important about the season? 
• What can you let go? 
• Follow your normal patterns of eating as much as possible.
• Stick to your exercise routine.
• Keep with your normal bedtime routing and bed time.
• Watch expectations, you can only control YOUR reaction.
• Take time to find joy everyday.

Incorporating exercise and activity into your day will make a huge, positive impact to offset some extra calories, decrease stress, and overall feel better.  This time of year affords more distractions on your journey to health, yet is also a time to plan your strategies for success. This is not the best time of year to focus on weight loss, more success comes from healthy eating as your base and conscious choices to maintain weight.

• Make exercise priority- exercise aids with balancing the extra calories and stress.
• Park and walk.
• Take a walk around the mall, the department store, the grocery store, and every other store, BEFORE you shop.
• Choose the stairs or walk the escalator.
• Take time for yourself and enjoy a yoga class or take time to meditate.
• For a 150 pound* person, standing in line to see Santa burns 85 calories/hour! 
• The 150 pound person will burn 160 calories/hour building a snowman, 180 calories/hour caroling, 270 calories/hour dancing at the holiday party, and 215 calories/hour putting outside lights up.
• Find a fun activity of the season and participate- if you have snow choose snow shoeing, skiing, sledding, etc. If you don’t have snow, hiking, walking, biking, etc are fun activities for the entire family (and friends)!
• Plan a walk around the neighborhood each evening after dinner. This is a nice way to take in your neighbors decorations.
• Seasonal chores burn calories! Do you still have leaves on the lawn? Do you need to shovel the sidewalk or driveway? Do you need to “holiday” clean your home? Although these activities often get in the way of formal exercise, they are activities that burn calories and can add to fitness!

What is one way you can fit activity into this week? What might get in your way? What solution exists to get around the challenge?

More Tips to Reduce Holiday Stress - Ideas to Keep the Holidays Positive and Joyous:

• Choose crunchy, colorful, naturally sweet and savory foods for the Holidays and New Year.  
• If you’re indulging, don’t forgo the healthy choicest too.
• Breathe and then breathe again, and again.
• Choose to move more and take yoga classes more often.  
• Greet the New Year with no regrets, no guilt, and no diets.  
• Be free to choose foods you love and that taste good, feel good, and nourish your body. 
• Choose to be active, to manage stress, and to enjoy a restful nights sleep. 
• Live an intuitive life, something that can be learned through many of our programs. 
• Weight maintenance during the holiday season is more realistic, doable and much less stressful than weight loss.