by Glen Depke, Traditional Naturopath
What you may not be thinking about right now is how often you find yourself fatigued, stress out and dealing with weight gain during the holidays. With all the levels of stress the holidays can bring, is this a surprise to most of us?
This is the year you do something proactive so you do not have to run into the same obstacles?
Before we get into what you can do, let’s discuss the underlying challenges with the holiday season for most of us and the impact this has on your health.
Here is a quick and easy list of challenges during the holidays with this typically starting just before Thanksgiving and extending through the New Year celebration. With Christmas just a few days away, we are hitting the peak of this season.
- We often get much less sleep
- Too much alcohol
- Simply too much food
- Poor food choices
- Stress of being overwhelmed
- Financial stress of gift purchases
- Feelings of loneliness and leading to depressed feelings
- Having to “hang out” with relatives who’s company you may not enjoy
- Holiday travel
- And the list goes on
- Fatigue
- Poor sleep
- Weight gain, especially around the mid section
- Poor focus and low mental clarity
- Bloating due to poor digestion
- Suspect to colds and flu
- Energy crashes
- Achy
- Inflammation
- Moody
- Nervousness
- Depression