Stay healthy through the holidays: 3 simple self-care tips

When there’s so much going on during the holidays, it can be hard to make sure to take care of yourself. Whether you’re traveling, hosting, shopping, or hiding under the bed, the stress of the holidays can wear on your immune system.

The best way to stay healthy through the holidays is to keep your stress levels in check.

All it takes is a few minutes a day to make sure you don’t get rundown this season. There’s nothing worse than having to take a week of sick days to recover from your vacation.

Here are 3 simple ways to stay healthy through the holidays:

1. Essential oils

Essential oils are a great portable way to relieve stress on the go.

stay healthy through the holidays

Essential oil bottles are usually small enough to take on airplanes, so even if you’re traveling you can rely on this one.

Lavender and Rosemary oils have been shown to reduce levels of the stress hormone cortisol in the body.

You can smell lavender and rosemary in the bottle or dab them on your wrists like perfume to reduce stress and relieve anxiety. These are also great to add to your washcloth or bath to invigorate the skin and relax as you get clean.

Peppermint is another great one. You can smell it and/or add it to your drinking water (only edible grade oils if you’re going to consume it). Peppermint is both relaxing and invigorating, so it’s a great way to get energy while soothing the body.

2. Breathing

Pausing for a moment to take a few deep intentional breaths each day can re-set your stress levels and give you a window into how you’re really feeling. It gives you a chance to catch up with yourself, and keep track of how you’re doing.

stay healthy through the holidays

Any breathing exercise is great. You could combine it with BodyTalk and balance your brain with the cortices technique, or you could just commit to taking 10 deep breaths each morning before diving into the day.

Another nice breathing technique is the 4-7-8 breath that Dr. Andrew Weil likes to share. For this breath, you place your tongue on the roof of the mouth and inhale through the nose with your mouth closed for a count of 4 breaths. You hold the breath for a count of 7, and then release the breath through an open mouth for a count of 8. Repeat this breath 4 times, and then check in with your physical and emotional self.

3. Movement

While it’s great to really take it easy when you’re on vacation, a little bit of movement can go a long way in keeping you healthy.

In addition to helping you digest all the great holiday food, movement helps relieve stress, gets the blood flowing, and keeps the body healthy. Even 10 minutes a day of movement will boost your health during the holidays.

You could…

  • Stretch– do your favorite yoga sequence or just some light stretching in the morning or evening.
  • Jog-put on the old running shoes and take a jog around the block. This is also great for lymph circulation.
  • Dance- put on your favorite song and jump around! (I did this twice while writing this blog post: ) Bodies like to move!

stay healthy through the holidays

And those are my top three ways to stay healthy and keep stress levels down when you have limited time. What’s your favorite way to focus on your health when you’re busy?

However you choose to stay healthy through the holidays, I wish you a warm and joyful season. heart

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Comments

  1. Isabelle Richardson says

    Thank you so much for your insights, Amberlee! I love your posts. Just reading them relieves stress. Miss you and sending love to you and Peter! Love, Isabelle

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