Nutrition Eat a healthy diet that gives you most of your calories from vegetables, fruits, grains, and other delicious low-fat ingredients. Why? When you eat better you feel better and have more energy. You look better and consequently, your self-esteem is enhanced. The higher your self-esteem, the more confident and successful you are. Stress can actually be triggered or compounded by an inadequate diet.
B-Complex Vitamins Because our adrenal glands play a key role in the resistance of stress, it is important to supplement with a good B-vitamin complex. Fruits, vegetables, nuts, whole grains, and beans are excellent sources of vitamin B.
Avoid Sugar Sugar is not your friend. The health dangers sugar creates when habitually ingested are certain. Simple sugars have been observed to aggravate asthma, provoke depression, mood swings and personality changes, prompt nervous disorders, promote heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, and aggravate arthritis.
Drink Plenty of Water Drink the right amount of water every day. You may wonder, ‘How do I know how much water is the right amount of water for me?” To determine the right amount of water for you, simply take your body weight and divide it by two. The resulting number is the number of ounces of water that you should drink each day. Example for a person who weighs 100 pounds: Divide 100 by 2 and the result is 50. Fifty (50) is the number of ounces of water that a person who weighs 100 pounds should drink every single day. You can only count raw water as water (not other beverages such as soda, juice, tea, etc).
Set Realistic Expectations The most important contributors to a happy holiday season are the expectations you create in your own mind about the holidays. You can't make them perfect - people get sick, recipes don't always turn out as expected and family members don't always get along. You don't have to have the perfect party, perfectly behaved children, or the most beautifully decorated home. Give yourself a break. You'll be happy you did.
Exercise Exercise regularly. You have to burn energy to gain energy - it’s as simple as that. The more exercise you get, the more energy you will have. You can make a difference to your health regime by adding just 10 minutes of exercise to your daily routing. Walking is one of the healthiest ways to accomplish this.
Take Control of your Time — Limit your Commitments You are in charge of the number of commitments you make. You don't have to host a holiday party at your home. Nor do you have to attend every event just because you received an invitation. And think about this - you don’t even have to answer your cell phone just because it is ringing. Now that’s liberating!
Embrace your Family and Friends Spend your time with people that you love. Make sure you don't spend the holidays trying to change your siblings or rehashing grievances from years past. Share memories and laughter. Take time for personal reflection.
Make a List and Use It Create a simple bullet-point style list of the things you need to do. Place the most important things at the top, and the ‘nice to get done’ thing last. Work from your list and do not deviate.
Do Not Worry There has never been a single person on the face of the earth who has changed an outcome by worrying. Do not worry about things that are out of your control. ‘Worry is like sitting in a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but doesn’t get you anywhere.’
Relax Employ deep circular breathing (inhale with your nose into your belly instead of into your chest) and exhale through your mouth. Practice meditation, Tai Chi, and/or Yoga to enhance relaxation.
Rest Get eight hours of sleep each night.
Bodywork Schedule a massage, reflexology, cranial therapy, or a combination thereof - these are tremendously beneficial modalities for reducing stress.
