Wellness Tips to Maintain Good Health Throughout the Holiday Season and Into the New Year
Maintaining your health during the holiday season can be challenging. Between the pressure of social events, finding the perfect gift, and juggling all the festivities with never ending “To Do” lists and year end work obligations, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. The holidays are undoubtedly the busiest time of year and one of hardest in which to maintain your healthy habits and meet your wellness goals.
To help you combat the holiday stress, better enjoy the “most beautiful time of the year!” and maintain a healthy lifestyle, we’re offering several stress-free holiday tips to help you achieve better mental and physical health through the holidays and into the new year!
1. Make Time for Yourself.
Enjoying some much-needed “me time” isn’t selfish but rather a necessary component of a healthy and active lifestyle. This is especially important as you navigate the joy and chaos of the holiday season. “Me time” can be whatever you want, or need, it to be – from taking a walk, going for a run, or doing yoga to enjoying a good book, spending time on a hobby, or indulging in a spa day. Whatever it is you enjoy, setting aside time to de-stress, detoxify, and take care of yourself is one of the best ways to maintain your mental health.
2. Maintain Healthy Eating Habits
Culinary temptations abound throughout the holiday season! From decadent desserts to favorite comfort foods, most every holiday celebration involves food. The key to navigating the snack tables and dinner buffets is to enjoy your favorite food, desserts, and beverages in moderation. Remember there is nothing wrong with mindfully enjoying a treat or two, and one meal, or day, of overindulging is not going to derail your health. Just be sure to recommit to your healthy eating habits at the next meal, or the next day, and do your best to balance your unhealthy indulgences with fresh fruits and vegetables, water, and other healthy eats.
3. Drink in Moderation
Like food, adult beverages abound during the holiday season! From work-related events to personal holiday parties, vacations, family get togethers, and meet ups, it can be easy to lose track of your alcohol consumption. To better enjoy your holiday beverages in moderation, drink water between alcoholic drinks and be sure to eat before drinking.
4. Sleep Well
Holiday anxiety is real and often exacerbated by a lack of proper sleep. Whether from anxiety, busier social schedules, holiday obligations, or year-end stress, it’s easy to become sleep deprived during the holidays. The average adult requires an average of 7 to 9 hours of sleep for their brains to function normally; getting a good night’s sleep is key to staying healthy over the holidays and ensuring you have enough energy for all of the social events and activities filling your calendar.
5. Enjoy Quality Time with Loved Ones
While it can be both challenging and exhausting to try to attend every event and make time for friends and loved ones, enjoying quality time with loved ones can be as simple as a phone call or holiday greeting. The key is to brighten the other person’s mood and let them know that you’re thinking of them. You might even notice that the more you do this, the more other people are willing to return the favor!
6. Stay Active
Leading an active lifestyle can be achieved by doing many things including playing with your kids, going for a walk with friends, working out, cleaning your house, or simply engaging in activities and hobbies that you enjoy. And it’s important to maintain your activity throughout the holiday season! Try to move at least 30 minutes a day.
7. Plan Ahead
One of the best ways to reduce your holiday stress is to plan ahead. Doing so can help you stay on top of your errands and to-do lists as well as encourage you to finish your shopping earlier. Planning ahead enables you to know your holiday shopping and preparations are done well ahead of schedule so you can just sit back, relax, and enjoy the holiday season.
8. Maintain Your Budget
Creating a budget, and sticking to it, is key when it comes to holiday shopping and preparations. Committing yourself to spending limits (for gifts, holiday outfits, and entertaining) and tracking your spending can help ensure that you enjoy the holidays without blowing your budget.
We hope you have a happy, healthy, stress-free holiday season!