Holiday stress can cause breakouts right when you least want them. Fortunately, there are simple ways to reduce stress while participating fully in the party season.
Dr. Andrew Weill MD told a meeting of the American College of Cardiology I was at in Hawaii that the single most important therapy he had encountered in his medical career was – breathing exercises. Right there and then, he led the audience in a simple practice of slower, deeper breathing and invited them to observe what it did for them.
It’s a super easy experiment to do yourself. Just by deliberately breathing into your abdomen, you can feel an immediate release of tension. Breathing deeper in an easy, relaxed way causes a cascade of good things to happen in your body and mind.
This can be very handy at any time, but it is especially helpful for transiting stressful periods – like the holiday season.
Liz Burns, a former Olympic athlete and fitness coach, has additional easy tips that can make all the difference to how you feel through the party season. For example, having a stash of nuts to snack on can help you avoid showing up to parties hungry so you don’t gorge on the fatty, salty food that’s there. And she suggests you be realistic about your schedule. It’s better to reduce your exercise or skip your exercise routine than to have it overburden a day with too many obligations. Stress, after all, is an inside job.
There are more ideas about de-stressing for the holidays in this article in Organic Spa Magazine: De-Stressing for the Holidays.
Happy Holidays!
