If you check out the article archive on this site, you will find no shortage of fat-loss tips, healthy lifestyle recommendations and workouts. Therefore, this holiday season, I feel it makes the most sense to focus in on the silent killer…stress. You are well aware that in order to minimize the damage this season can deliver, you need to eat well and exercise often; however, how are you planning to manage the massive amounts of stress, anxiety, and unbalanced living that tend to go hand-in-hand with this season?
We will soon be hit with that lovely stuff we call snow, it’s Q4 at work, the in-laws are in town, and you have to find a way to entertain you six year old for two weeks…how will you cope? Stress has a sneaky way of creeping up on you without you even knowing it – then boom – you’re hit with a cold, an injury, or some degree of a breakdown.
Here a few tips to stop stress dead in its tracks, before it has a chance to burn you:
- Identify your triggers: what factors cause you stress and anxiety?
- Eat well and stay active: mitigate your body’s cortisol response through healthy living
- Talk, journal, RELEASE: don’t bottle things up…they will only stay buried so long
- “Pay yourself first”: unapologetically make time for yourself, treat yourself, take part in activities that will bring you joy (or just sleep!)
- Laugh: no explanation needed!
- When you take your vacation, TAKE A VACATION: leave the BlackBerry off, set-up your “away from office” response and enjoy some well deserved time off
