How to Ensure Your Holidays are Full of Energy

Importance of Self-Care for the Holidays

     The Holidays can be so stressful and draining for so many reasons not least of which is preparing & planning, holiday parties, holiday related expenses, seasonal weather, lack of sunshine, increased exposure to the rush & fury of shopping, not to mention the friends and relatives that may test your patience. 

     So this month I am sharing with you some ways in which you can re-energize, restore, build resilience and hopefully have a better more enjoyable holiday season!

     Practicing Self-Care is important all year long. The busyness of the holidays can cause us to let self-care slide, and set us up for decreased ability to fight off seasonal colds and flu's as well as other immune conditions. This can exacerbate chronic diseases and conditions, making us much more miserable by the holiday season's end. 

     Some main key self-care items are adequate sleep, staying well hydrated, getting fresh air, adding in fresh fruits and vegetables, finding time to meditate, journal, or some other quiet activity to just tune out of what's around you and tune into yourself, and last but not least adding more laughter into your life.

• Sleep: making a sleep routine. This is a regular sleep schedule, with pre-sleep wind down of activities, of the recommended 7-9 hours. This is the time your body needs to adequately recharge, restore, and rejuvenate all of your internal systems. Without this, your immune system becomes weaker, you become grumpy, foggy minded, reaching for sugar and caffeine to get a boost to get through your days. When you have a good sleep you should wake feeling refreshed. If this is not happening it may be a good time to look at your sleep habits and see what can be improved. Are you sleeping with a TV or computer on in your room? Is your phone in your room and sending you alerts throughout the night that even if they are not waking you, may be interrupting your REM cycles. Are you eating too close to going to bed? This can contribute to increased indigestion during the night. Are you filling up on liquids too close to bedtime that it is causing you to wake to use the bathroom multiple times? Are you drinking caffeine in the late afternoon or evening hours? This can increase the difficulty of you being able to fall asleep.  
• Hydration: being well hydrated can help you feel more energized, snacking less, helps to keep toxins moving out of your system, is good for your kidneys and liver, and your skin! You can go by the recommended eight 8 ounces glasses of water a day, or 1/2 your weight (in pounds) in ounces of water. For instance if you weigh 150 pounds you would need to drink about 75 ounces of water a day to meet your minimum requirement. Any caffeinated, sugary drinks, or juices do not count towards this hydration. Water, mineral water, & herbal tea's can all add to your hydration for the day.
• Fresh Air: exposure to daily sun can boost your Vitamin D levels at least 15 minutes if you are fair skinned during the non peak times such as 8-10 am and 2-4 pm. This can help improve mood, prevent seasonal affective disorder as well as improve production of many other hormones your body produces. The fresh air, hearing the birds and animals in nature, grounding yourself by walking through nature also lifts your mood. Have you ever gone outside and taken a deep breath of the fresh crisp fall or winter air and just found it to be so refreshing? Making a point to get a few minutes every day can really make a difference.
• Adding in more Vegetables and Fruits: By just prepping a few vegetables or fruits to have at the ready throughout the week, and adding in these when going for a snack you are not only adding in wonderful vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, you are crowding out other unhealthy highly processed snacks! This can give you the opportunity to try different fruits and vegetables too! So this option is a win win!
• Meditation: Daily meditation is the most effective method of de-stressing, centering yourself, clearing your head, charging your batteries, and improving your immune system response. Making meditation part of a daily routine, building it in so it is as automatic as brushing your teeth can help you obtain the most benefit. This can be as little as 2 minutes daily up to 20 minutes twice a day! Meditation helps regenerate your body similarly to sleep. Those who meditate actually generally feel more rested, have increased energy, increased ability to focus, and sleep better at night as well. You can use guided meditations to get started or look for a meditation instructor to better individualize a routine for you.
• Laughter: THE BEST MEDICINE! We have all heard this one! So making sure you find laughter in your day, in your work routine, laugh with your coworkers, your family, friends, laugh by yourself even! This also is wonderful to build up your immune system increasing your ability to fight off seasonal viruses! This helps improve your mood, decreases tension, builds better relationships, helps even the most stressful events be more manageable. Finding funny books to read or shows to watch even a few minutes every day can help you enjoy your life more.

I hope you try all or even a few of these tips to make your holiday season a little more joyous happy and less stressed! Bless you and your family this season! Thank you for taking the time to read my blog.

💝🙏

Tina

 Redwood Whole Health Coaching