How to Stay Healthy Over the Holidays

It’s the time of year when chronic stress can build causing unwanted physical and emotional symptoms.  Anxiety, flu and general fatigue will flourish just when you have the least amount of time for dealing with them!.  Your best defense is to be ready with a plan to prevent illness and help you cope with all the demands on your time.  
Here are some tips that help calm the nervous system:  

1. *Make time for self-care.  Actually schedule time to relax on your calendar.  A soothing bath,  a massage or a restorative yoga class are simple examples.  Listen to music or watch/attend  a comedy special (laughter really is the best medicine).  
   
2. *Take your vitamins, particularly Vitamin D and magnesium.   Both of these nutrient powerhouses combat stress and anxiety.  Vitamin D regulates your mood and wards off depression.  It also supports the immune, brain and nervous systems.  Magnesium balances your blood sugar, stabilizes the stress hormone cortisol, improves the GABA levels in our brain that help you relax and rejuvenate, reduces brain inflammation and helps you sleep.  
   
3. *Focus your diet on whole foods including lots of vegetables and fruit.  Include greens, healthy fats such as avocados and pumpkin seeds for their zinc and magnesium content.  Have a nutritious  snack before going to parties so you are less likely to overeat. 
   
4. *Limit your intake of caffeine and alcohol as they affect your ability to get a peaceful sleep.  They also ramp up your cortisol levels.  
   
5. *Try to get to bed before 10 p.m as each hour before this time is really worth an hour and a half of sleep. It’s a better quality sleep than morning sleep. 
   
6. *Make a commitment to go outside, preferably in nature, at least once a day.  Hibernation is for bears, humans need the fresh air and the oxygen that plants and trees provide.  
   

If you feel you can’t do anything from this list , at least do a Legs up the Wall or an Inversion when you are really stressed and busy.  It is the absolute best way to unwind and relax when you only have a few minutes.