Are You Counting The Days Until the Holidays? : Ideas For Women ...

Are you counting the days until the holiday season with joy or with dread? The attitude you have towards any stressful time of year makes an impact on your physical and mental health.

Stressing over holiday preparation leads to headaches, increase in bloodpressure, increased risk of stroke or heart attacks, and weight gain even if you watch what you eat. What can you do to make the holiday a healthy experience rather than one that drags you down?

Here are some quick tips to think about before the holiday gets into full swing:

1. Set a limit for holiday activities that you want and need to participate in. School programs, church programs, and family activities need to be fun and not a hassle. Avoid attending parties or social events that do not fit with your family?s goal for the holidays. Don?t be pressured into doing more than you want during this time of year, rather choose to do fewer things that mean more to your family.

2. Decide on menu ideas, baking needs, and? snacks to keep on hand to avoid over shopping and over preparing for food. Make meals simple. Bake fewer things and stick with one or two of your absolute favorites. Don?t stress over holiday meal preparation. It is not good for your health. Plan on fresh veggie trays, fruit trays, and less sugary baked goods too.

3. Think about sparkling water, fruit smoothies, and flavored waters in place of sugary sodas. Hot cider, hot chocolate, and flavored tea also make a healthier beverage to serve guests.

4. Check your attitude during the season. Keeping a positive and grateful attitude will help your get through the season with less stress. Practice forgiveness. And when all else fails, give yourself permission to exclude yourself from holiday situations that will cause mental and emotional pain. Sometimes it is necessary to avoid people or situations until you are in a better frame of mind rather than making a scene during the holidays that affects other people.

5. Avoid over spending. Over spending is a major cause of stress and family arguments especially between marital partners. Stay within your budget and avoid using credit cards. After holiday stress when those bills start coming in can be harmful to your emotional and physical health too.

The holidays should be pleasant. They are never going to be perfect and there will always be some level of stress because we are human and we expect the best.

Source: http://blogs.ideasforwomen.com/blogs/health/2012/11/05/are-you-counting-the-days-until-the-holidays/

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