Easing Through the Holidays with Grace
And so it begins . . . the holiday rush. Well, it actually began last month, but we are now in the thick of it, to be certain. With school events, parties, gifts, family gatherings, decorations, and travel, we put a lot of stress on our bodies. To be more accurate, we put ourselves into situations where we are more likely to have a higher stress response. Remember, as we always say, “Stress happens IN us, not TO us. It is all about managing our stress response…”
That being said, our goal here is to give you some tools to manage the stress response. First, Tracy will detail the physical/nutritional aspects of trying to physically stay strong throughout the season. Then, Heather will provide tips to help improve your mental/emotional response to said stress. So, let’s get healthy!
Tips from Tracy for staying strong through the holidays:
~Exercise! Or, more importantly, MOVE! Even walking for 20 minutes can help improve your immune response, decrease stress levels, and clear your head. Make it part of your routine, schedule it in. The more sedentary you are, the faster your body ages and the less resilient you are. Set a timer that will go off every 20-30 minutes, reminding you to stand up and move around.
~Limit Sugar – easier said than done, I know, especially while you are face to face with that triple chocolate brownie….but, it will make a huge difference if you are aware of the amount of sugar you are consuming and choose to cut back where you can. Opt out of that cinnamon roll and don’t put jelly on the toast, replace the sugar in your coffee with stevia and choose to forgo the sweet cocktail, or eat only half that triple chocolate brownie. In addition to helping you pack on the pounds, sugar depresses immune function, feeds candida and causes inflammation.
~Drink Up! Water, that is… Proper hydration is essential to help remove toxins from the system (like the ones produced by that triple chocolate brownie) and bring essential nutrients into the cells. Aim for ½ of your body weight in ounces per day. And, no, coffee and wine do not count towards that…
~Sleep Tight… Getting off of your sleep routine is easy to do during the holidays. When we are tired, our brains do not function as well, and we are more susceptible to stress and illness. Take care of your body and cherish those hours if you want to stay healthy and strong. Protect your routine and your health.
~Up your supplements. Taking extra magnesium, Vitamin C and B Complex can help your body better cope with stress. In fact, when you are experiencing physical or emotional stress (they usually come together, by the way), you burn these nutrients up quickly. If you are looking for something to help you feel more relaxed, try l-Theanine, an amino acid that provides “Alert Relaxation.” GABA is another favorite to help slow down your busy brain.
Hints from Heather for transforming your stress response during the holidays:
There’s a fancy term for the relationship between thoughts, emotions, stress and what physically occurs in our nervous and immune systems. Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) is the science that has proven the relationship between stress and disease. This fascinating science points to bonafide lifestyle habits that can arm us against the perils of stress-induced illness. These three transformative practices have the capacity to change your stress response immediately while permanently rewiring your body for a new relationship with the hustle and bustle of the holidays!
~Release through BREATHWORK. Breathing deeply and purposefully creates multiple defenses against disease by releasing toxins through filtration via the lungs, balancing our autonomic nervous system, reducing blood pressure, reducing cortisol levels, increasing oxygen delivery to cells and generating 1200 stress-reducing genes. One study on breathwork found a 46.3% increase in SIgA (an antibody that protects gut lining) in cancer patients. Practicing belly breathing for 2 minutes, once in the morning and once in the evening can have a profound effect on managing the sometimes debilitating holiday stress and transforming your experience into true holiday cheer!
~Rejuvenate through MEDITATION. You don’t have to be a Zen monk on a mountaintop to get the safeguards of meditation against stress and disease. Ten minutes of meditative stillness per day can make a huge difference in the quality of whole-body health. In fact, look at these statistical tidbits.
A UCLA study run by Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn (and for which she won a Nobel Peace Prize) showed that just 12 minutes of meditation for eight weeks increased telomerase (immortality enzyme) activity by 43%. Eat your heart out wrinkle creams; meditation is our best anti-aging serum.
Researchers ran genomic analyses of the blood and found that people who meditated regularly suppressed more than twice the number of stress-related genes than the non-meditating group. Bring it on Grinch, we’ve got this!
~Reinvent through MANIFESTATION. By reframing the way you think and by purposefully reaching for ͞feel-good emotions throughout the day, you can actually rewire your brain and nervous system, thus positively affect your immune system. Dr. Rick Hanson, author of Hardwiring Happiness speaks of self-directed neuroplasticity. Try to notice when something positive occurs and stay with the feeling for 12-20 seconds. Sounds easy, huh? Well, instead, most of us experience something positive and either immediately dismiss it or switch to noticing something negative or worrisome. For instance, how many times have you felt a glimmer of holiday cheer or seen magic dance in a child’s eyes and instead of purposely relishing that present moment opportunity, you find yourself immediately shifting your thoughts back to your overwhelming holiday to-do list? If you can purposefully notice the good things and FEEL the emotion associated with the good experience for up to 20 seconds (all day long), you will have armed yourself against the bustle of the holidays and maybe even the often associated holiday sniffles. Most powerfully, you are manifesting the new positive reality you desire. CREATE your “happy holidays!”
If you can incorporate these tools into your daily life during the most stressful times, just think how well you will be able to manage typical stressful days throughout the whole year. It will be life-changing.