Holiday Stress Reducing Strategies

Top Ten Holiday Tips

1. Don’t over schedule yourself.
2. Mom don’t do it all yourself!
3. Drink plenty of water and keep yourself hydrated.
4. Get plenty of sleep.
5. Eat at least one to two healthy meals a day.
6. Take some extra walks or extra exercise – even 15 minutes extra will help you feel better.
7. Play some holiday music at home or in the car, and just enjoy listening and singing with it.
8. Remember to have some fun with family and friends – (okay my husband’s tip –you don’t have to see the family members that annoy you).
9. Take at least 15 minutes a day, just for yourself. Maybe it is reading, or having some quiet time drinking some tea, taking a long bath with bath salts, or meeting some friends for coffee.
10. Remember to laugh.

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Low Stress Fun Family Things to do with your children or grandchildren

1. Watch your favorite Christmas Movie as a family together – with popcorn.
2. Drive around and see some local Christmas Decorations at night – have some hot chocolate or hot cider afterward.
3. Attend one of the many local Christmas Days.
4. Make some homemade garden ornaments for the birds and hang them outside. Then watch the birds find their treat.
5. Let the kids decorate some areas of your house (their rooms) or have a family decorating party.
6. Make a gingerbread house with the kids. (Either a kit or bake your own – makes the house smell great).

Stress Reducing Exercises:

1. An exercise you can do at your desk to relax your shoulders and neck: Shrug your shoulders up and hold it for a count of three. Relax your shoulders to neutral, then push your shoulders down and hold it for a count of three.
2. For jaw clenching/ teeth grinding: Position for your jaw when under stress: Place your fingertips over your TMJ (jaw joints), clench your teeth. Relax your jaw, so that your lips are still closed, but your teeth do not meet each other.

When you feel stressed, and want a quick technique to help you relax:

1. Sit or stand up straight. Take a deep slow breath, lifting your chest; hold your breath for a count of three and then exhale completely and hold for a count of three. Do this three times slowly. Do not hyperventilate. I teach this breathing and exhaling through your nose.

Simple Massages to help reduce your stress:

1. Your face: Start with your two middle fingers at the bridge of your nose. Go up to the top of your forehead and then across to your temples. Repeat 5 times. Go back to the bridge of the nose, and do small circular motions at the bridge (both directions). Then move to the temples where you will use 2 – 3 fingers to gently massage in a circular motion. Then move down to your TMJ joints, continuing to massage lightly in circular motions. Continue down along your jaw line. Then move to your cheekbones along side of your nose. Again using small circular motion. As you do this, concentrate on feeling the muscles of your face and relaxing them. Feel the blood supply in your face.

1. Your Head: From your face, move your fingertips up to just behind your ear (mastoid bone). Slide your fingertips along the mastoid bone and along the base of the skull. From there take your fingers up to the top of the head like your are giving yourself a dry shampoo. If you find small tender points, just lightly massage them. Again feel blood supply in your muscles, and whether they are tight or not.

1. Your Shoulders: Take your opposite hand and grab your shoulder. Give a gentle squeeze. Take both hands along your neck from the skull to the top of the shoulders with gentle circular motions. When you get to the base of the neck, gently pull forward with your hands.  You can then start to gently massage the tops of your shoulders. You can also use a hand held massager (I like Panasonic) to do your shoulders and back of the head.
2. Your hands: I recommend you do your hands in general. Using your thumb, slowly run it along from the wrist down to the tip of each finger, slightly stretching the finger. Then pull each finger gently. Use your opposite thumb to make small circular motions throughout your palm, especially the thenar and hypothenar eminences

Outdoor Bird Treats:

1.      Hanging Treat: Take some peanut butter. Spread it on a pinecone. Roll the pinecone in some bird food mix. Hang using a twisty tie. Then hang from a tree limb for your birds.

2.      Birdie Bagel: This is a really easy to make treat for birds. Cut a day old bagel into half. Thread some kitchen thread through the hole. Spread peanut butter all over it. Then dip the piece into some birdseed so that it is covered with them. Then stick on some raisins or anything else that is small and healthy for your bird. Hang the bagel outside when you are finished.

3.      Big Peanut-butter Cheerio: String a bunch of Cheerios through a pipecleaner leaving one inch at both ends. Twist the ends together to form a hookends. Spread some peanut butter onto the Cheerios (not too much but JUST ENOUGH for the seeds to stay). Dip the ring into a bunch of seeds. Hang the hooked end of the ring on a tree branch.