The Holidays are here! This means bright lights, delicious meals, present hunting, and family time. Unfortunately, a lot of stress can also come with all of this joy, whether it be from struggling to stick to healthy habits, having too much family time, trying to find the perfect gifts for your loved ones, etc. If you were at our last free health workshop, you know how powerful stress is on our body’s organs and nervous system and the endless list of symptoms that it accompanies. We want to help you fight the stress and have your healthiest holiday yet. Here are some ideas of how you can do this:

Spend more time in the kitchen… Don’t be afraid of kitchen! Not only are homemade treats and meals way healthier for you, but cooking can be very therapeutic if you allow it to be. Cooking can actually boost one’s confidence and self-esteem from the psychological effects of being able to do something that you feel good about. Need some healthy recipe ideas? Check out our Healthy Holiday Dish Pinterest board! Grab a family member or friend, find a heart healthy recipe and get cooking!

Treat yourself… Although the holidays are all about giving, many of us forget to give some loving to ourselves. This also goes for our overall health and wellbeing. Studies show that self-compassion can actually help with chronic stress, boost your immune system, help with anxiety and depression, and can change the chemical composition of your brain. Compassion Meditation is an actual practice that is studied that has been found to actually help the brain function more efficiency by changing the structure of it. Other ways of practicing self-care might be a long bath, massage, reading a book, or treating yourself with Acupuncture or Nutrition Response Testing!

Practice gratitude… According to Dr. P. Murali, expert in brain and mind health, “If thankfulness were a drug, it would be the world’s best-selling product with a health maintenance indication for every major organ system.” It has been proven that gratitude alters your brain and helps lower inflammation, blood sugar, improves immune function and heart health, lowers stress, and improves mental health and sleep. Writing down what you are thankful for before going to bed is a great way to practice gratitude and will improve your quality of sleep!

Sleep in… Speaking of sleep… sleep is one of the most important aspects of maintaining good health. According to MindBodyGreen, sleep optimization is on the list for the 2018 health trends. Getting enough quality sleep can help protect your mental health, physical health, quality of life, and safety. Forget about your alarm, shut the shades, and get in a couple more hours of Zzz’s this holiday season.

Become friendly with nature… Tons of research has shown the positive impacts of nature on our social, psychological, and emotional life.  In some cases, nature can even improve the symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and provides a calming influence by helping you concentrate. Interacting with nature has also been shown to help people who suffer from physical illness or mental health disorders, such as depression and anxiety. We have an advantage by living in the beautiful mountains. Get outside and enjoy what nature has to offer!

Start crafting… Not only does it help to ease stress, it also increases happiness, helps those who suffer from anxiety and depression, and may also protect the brain from aging. Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi explains, “When we are involved in creativity, we feel that we are living more fully than during the rest of life”. The holidays are a great way to start crafting by making homemade gifts for your friends and family.

Acupuncture… Acupuncture can help treat severe anxiety and stress by balancing the Qi and the body’s overall health. It also has the ability to help relieve pain and improve sleep, digestion and emotional well-being. People see results after just one treatment, and often continue to come back for maintenance and better a quality of life. Make an acupuncture appointment today and see the difference!

Nutrition Response Testing… By testing your body’s neurological reflexes, we can find out how the nervous system is doing and what organs are under stress, which is what causes a long, long list of symptoms. Instead of masking your symptoms with medications, we can help you get to the underlying cause of the issue at hand and peel back the layers to get you back to good health. Get rid of any pesky symptoms that you’ve been ignoring and make yourself an NRT appointment. We often don’t know how great we are capable of feeling until we actually get better!