Although Christmas is filled with excitement and happiness it can also be the time of year when people are most stressed, tired, bloated and susceptible to illness. In addition, the social and festive calendar does nothing to help our bodies and December tends to be the time of year that we gain the most weight.
The start of the New Year is usually the natural end to these excesses but why wait till then to introduce some of your resolutions? Guaranteed popular resolutions are to get more exercise, eat less and learn to relax more – all of which will help counter balance the festivities of December. Try some of these to help you achieve your goals:
- Food Journal – Are you gaining weight but not sure why?? It sounds obvious but it’s likely that you are eating or drinking too much. Try keeping a food diary or journal and become more aware of what you are putting into your mouth. Also take this time to become more aware of how the food you are eating affects how you feel. Maybe that 2nd donut is the reason you are feeling tired and depressed?? I keep a food journal and it enables me to keep a track of what I’m eating and to learn about what works and what doesn’t work for me.
- Lists – Be organized by making lists. Write down everything from the gifts you need to buy, to the food you need to cook. Stick them on your fridge and tick them off as you go. Seeing the list go down will have a calming effect on you.
- Drink lots of water – With the holiday parties come the dreaded hangovers! Avoid these by drinking a glass of water for every glass of alcohol you consume and make sure you eat some food!
- Breathe - check out my article on taking time out to just breathe. Stop rushing around for 5 minutes and just breathe.
- Exercise – make sure to fit time into your busy schedule for exercise. Exercising is a great way to deal with stress as it reduces the production of stress hormones in your body and increases the endorphins – giving you the ‘feel good’ factor. So take a stroll outside or a gentle run, whatever you enjoy doing. Write out a schedule to make sure you fit it in as often as possible (or add it to your list!)
- Relax and have fun – most importantly Christmas is the season to spend time with family and to have some fun.
