Why Are People Stressing During The Holiday Season |

Why Are People Stressing During The Holiday Season

At any moment, there are things you could be stressed about. Layoffs. Rising prices. Shrinking investments. Running late. Strained relationships. Health problems. Extra things to do during the holiday season.

The secret to stress management is what’s happening in your head, not what’s going on around you.

How you think about the challenges, obstacles and frustrations determines whether they are stressful.

Stress is deeply tied into your own perception of events," says Jennifer Klein, who co-teaches a mind-body course at F.F. Thompson Hospital in Canandaigua, N.Y.

Imagine two people with identical life experiences. One might see life as full of stress and worry about multiple things. If he gets behind a slow driver, he thinks he never should have taken that route and must find a way to pass or questions why he is always running late. His alarmist thoughts cause knots to form in his shoulders and stress hormones to surge through his bloodstream. The other person might focus, instead, on living in the moment and appreciating the view and the music on the radio.

That’s why every stress management guru talks about deep, slow breaths that expand and shrink your belly. Stress leads to faster, shallow breaths. If you interrupt that cycle by expanding each inhale and gradually exhaling, "You’re sending a signal back that it’s OK," says Klein. "You’re helping bring the body back down to balance. It’s so, so powerful."

Dr. Tziporah Rosenberg, a therapist at University of Rochester Medical Center, says that like smoking, stress can have secondhand effects on those around you. When you’re worked up, you’re likely to be more abrupt, distant or conflicted, making it harder to communicate well with the people in your life. Taking steps to control stress not only benefits you, but also improves your connections to others, says Rosenberg, who specializes in the effects of stress, anxiety and depression on relationships.

She recommends noticing the control you do have because feeling helpless creates stress. If news about the economy is stressful, don’t stay glued to reports on how the stock market is doing, for example. If friends, family or spiritual resources help you cope, turn to them. If you can reach out and help a neighbor or volunteer time in the community, it will do you good in turn.

A certain amount of stress is normal and healthy, says Dr. Michael Kuttner, a clinical psychologist at Highland Hospital in Rochester. Just like muscles need tension to stand up, the body needs stimulation.

But being stressed about the future and being critical of yourself is unproductive. Notice your thoughts as you go about your day, Kuttner suggests. If you drop something, do you think, "Idiot!"? If so, avoid creating stress by thinking kind and nurturing thoughts, he says.

Michelle A. Schrouder, assistant director of wellness at Rochester (N.Y.) Institute of Technology, offers these strategies for managing stress:

Think positively and spend time with others who think the same.

Accept that you can’t control every situation and learn to be flexible.

Get plenty of sleep and keep consistency in mind to establish a regular bedtime and wake time.

Include at least 30 minutes of exercise on most days to boost your energy level and improve your mood.

Like exercise, healthy eating is a key component to a healthy body and mind. Under stress, people may make poor choices by eating fast food every day for convenience, skipping meals, eating only one big meal at night, going on crash diets and overdosing on caffeine – which will only add to your anxiety.

Make time to do things you love to do and identify the triggers/time sabotages that take you away from "me" time.

Stress Free | Why Are People Stressing During The Holiday Season

Why Are People Stressing During The Holiday Season

Comments

Sponsors

Top Posts

Stress Free Topics

Pages

Archives

Tags