How to look after yourself during the holidays
Feeling overwhelmed with the end of the year? You’re not alone. The holiday season can be a slippery slope for your mental wellbeing and if you have kids or trying to conceive, it can feel like a bit of a nightmare.
Find a way to relax
Holiday stress often starts in November, its the messages from family asking what is happening for Christmas, organising all the presents or on the other end of the scale, feeling alone and if this is what happens for you for the holidays, you’re more than likely to experience stress and anxiety during it and the lead up. But if you don’t want to spend the season counting down until it’s over, you’ll want to get smart. There are plenty of ways to manage stress – you just need to find which works best for you.
If you unwind best by pressing pause, try a guided meditation app, or close the door for 5 minutes and practice deep breathing. If you find yourself full of nervous energy, do some jumping jacks or stretches. I find that because I am in Australia, hitting the beach or the lake is very helpful to reduce my stress. When I feel the pressure of the holidays but I can’t to do that I like to have a really hot shower for a ridiculous long time. Now is not the time to fall into doom scrolling on TikTok!
Find a way to stay active
When you’ve got a Christmas list a mile long, it’s easy to let your exercise regime slip. But you don’t need to do formal exercise to benefit. Instead, look for ways to stay active while you’re ticking off that to-do list.
Heading to the shops for Christmas shopping? Carry your bags instead of using a trolley, and walk back to the car each time your arms are full. Planned a family Christmas dinner? Instead of everyone lounging in front of a Christmas movie, encourage everyone down to the local park to play some cricket or football. At an office party? Head to the dance floor! Or if the shops send you into a spin, order online and get it delivered and if you do it early like at the end of October during Black Friday sales, you save some money and it’s all done - you just need to hide it somewhere so people don’t see their gifts.
Spend some time in nature
Our ancestors spent most of their time out in nature. Over the last few generations, we’ve almost cut it out completely and I feel that a lot of that is because of technology but modern ways of life also contribute a lot to this too! The research shows time and time again that spending time outdoors is good for your physical and mental health.
Spending time out in nature has been shown to help with everything from immunity to hypertension, I really love it for lymphatic support if you use the trampoline and even the reward of gardening as you can grow your own produce, work on your circadian rhythm and be out in nature. But most importantly, it can help you to manage stress and keep perspective through the silly season.
If you’ve seen me for a naturopathic consult you’ll know that Its best to just start! Start with short walks, or organise a family trip to the beach when you start to feel overwhelmed or get a hammock, a book and some noise cancelling headphones if you don’t have a huge yard and need a quick break. We often walk to the back of our property and listen to the birds in the top paddock and getting the kids out of the house also helps them regulate too!
Focus on quality sleep
Sometimes it’s hard to get enough sleep over the holiday period. Between Family Christmas Parties and Lunches, end of school term, the manic shops and school holidays many of us are up early and heading to bed late. But if you can’t get your regular 9 hours of beauty sleep, you can still work on quality sleep.
To get a good night of sleep, minimise your use of technology before bed. You might also like to do some deep breathing exercises in bed. My favourite tip for a good night sleep is Headspace and I often find taking a herbal melatonin, magnesium and passionflower great for sleep* (please do not self prescribe).
If you’re thinking about ways to improve your health in the new year, I am taking bookings. You can book in for a naturopathic consult by visiting www.shonellesiegmann.com/book-in
Ps. Need a break during the day, go take that nap!
References
https://environhealthprevmed.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1007/s12199-008-0068-3
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0914508712001852
https://environhealthprevmed.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1007/s12199-009-0086-9