Coping With Stress During the Holidays: 4 Easy Tips to Help Manage Holiday Stressors by Dr. Teralyn Sell

While the holiday season can provide cheer and fun, you can’t argue that this time of year can be stressful. Whether it be finances, family stress or health and wellness, the holidays offer their fair share of stressors.

In order to keep one’s mental health and physical health top-shape during this time, it is crucial to find ways to address and manage stress quickly and easily. Holiday stress is a real thing and something that many people struggle with in silence. From the stresses of creating a perfect holiday to financial stresses and trying to spend time with family as a requirement, stress is not lost on most people during the holiday season.

On top of typical stress, we are also grappling with on-going pandemic fatigue, stress and loneliness. Stress has long been connected to problems with physical health and with mental health. When left unattended, stress will eventually have a negative impact on our immune system. 

Here are four ways that you can help manage holiday stress:

1. Learn to say no. Setting boundaries with family and friends is an important part of reducing stress around the holidays. Over-committing to events or travel creates a lot of stress so learning to say no to invitations or even to family obligations can feel freeing.
2. Pay attention to your thought patterns. If your thoughts are turning negative, it's time to do something different. Catch yourself in a negative thought pattern and turn it into a neutral thought or a positive thought. Keep it simple like, “I’m OK right now.”
3. Eat well, even when you don’t want to. Stress often causes us to reach for sugar or carb-loaded foods (to seek comfort). Instead, opt for protein-filled foods every couple of hours to stabilize your blood sugar (avoiding more stress) and to fuel those feel-good brain chemicals at the same time.
4. Connect how you want. If you are staying at home and cannot travel to family or friends, the loneliness can be loud. Be sure you talk to your family or loved ones about the importance of connecting with you while you are away. Test out technology before the gathering to avoid frustrations. Perhaps suggest an app that you can play games together from a distance. 

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