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by Michelle Sutton-Kerchner
Use these health hacks to banish seasonal stress and muscle up your joy …
Enjoying the holidays can be a challenge, thanks to its associated stressors. With year-end deadlines in everything from work to fitness goals, random head colds, and excess shopping, well, your spirit just got flabby.
Rescue the season to enjoy (or at least manage) the craziness. Put these healthy spins on traditional holiday tasks.
Dashing
Holiday shopping shifts your motion in full gear. Train for it! Build stamina and burn stress with a cardio workout. Follow it with some kettlebell swings and chest presses. You will be ready to maneuver shopping bags– and that 20-pound turkey! Race through aisles and to your car faster than Santa dashes through the snow.
Health boost: Work out before venturing into holiday crowds at parties or malls. Exercise delivers an immediate boost to the immune system, as well as long-lasting benefits. Help your body fight off the chorus of coughs and sneezes shared with those season greetings.
Feasting
This season celebrates abundance. However, indulging can include more than food. Feast on life’s other pleasures: a walk in the frosty air, your favorite workout, a visit with a friend, time with a book, an uninterrupted movie viewing. Drink it in!
When you are ready to feast on food, make it count. Anticipate any upcoming little treats. Don’t waste calories on an unworthy splurge. It is easier to decline a bag of chips or store-bought cookies when saving calories for a better indulgence. Be sure to hit the Center for a quick calorie-burning session to counteract that feasting.
The more muscle you earn, the more calories you burn. Make strength training a consistent part of your balanced workout. This ensures burning the most calories, including while settled in for a multi-course holiday dinner.
Carving
The turkey is not the only thing to be carved this season. The hectic holidays often focus on doing for others. Carve time for yourself. Practice “portion control” to manage your own needs.
Decline the neighborhood cookie swap if it means you will be too tired to attend your family’s gift exchange later that day. (Twofer—your waist always thanks you for one less sweet feast.) Prioritize favorites that only happen this time of year. Reschedule any non-holiday activities that conflict with workouts and other things that keep you sane and festive.
Usually, workouts are the first thing neglected during the holiday rush. Stop the madness. You cannot afford to skip exercise, with its therapeutic and calorie-burning perks. (Plus, relatives will be happier around your post-workout mood.)
Remaining faithful to your fitness routine also helps combat the season’s emotional ups and downs. These often include anxiety and depression, especially for those who battle grief, guilt, and health issues. Carve out a generous serving of fitness to nurture a positive mindset as well as protect a year’s worth of health efforts.
Wrapping Up
It is the gift-giving time of year. When wrapping presents, be sure to wrap up plenty of love—for friends, family, and self. Gift your time and talents. Kindness is to holiday spirit what crunches are to abs. May your holidays be in great shape!
