Staying active during the holidays can seem challenging, considering all the family obligations, festive outings, excessive drinking, hosting, and tempting treats. Amidst all of this, it is easy to get swept up in the madness and forget to take out some time for yourself. As a result, both your physical and mental health may suffer.

However, this year can be different. Learn how to stay healthy and balanced through these helpful tips and practices.

1.   Don’t Forget to Exercise

Working out and staying active during the holidays becomes even more imperative. This ensures that you burn those extra calories, maintain your weight, prevent stress, and maintain good mental health. Find time with your busy routine to incorporate any sort of physical activity, such as working out, stretching, walking, or yoga. 

2.   Stay Hydrated

Drinking enough water ensures that you stay hydrated and prevent dehydration from consuming salty holiday foods. If you drink before meals, you will also prevent overeating. This tip is even more important to remember if you are traveling during the holidays since people tend to forget to drink water, leading to dehydration.

3.   Get Enough Sleep

The holidays can be the busiest times of the year for us. However, no matter what, you must try to get enough sleep; otherwise, it will lead to many harmful effects. For example, it will make you feel tired all the time and lead to overconsumption of food since tiredness makes us hungrier. Moreover, lack of sleep also negatively impacts mental health.

4.   Make Plans and Schedule Your Day

Before you begin your day, it would be helpful to plan out and schedule it. This will help you stay on track with all the tasks that need to be done and help you plan out how you can squeeze in physical exercise and sleep. Overall, having a game plan during the holidays will help you track your activity level and calories intake and help you stay organized.

5.   Enjoy a Day of Indulgence

It is easy for people to form a pattern of unhealthy eating during the holidays. However, if you set aside only one day for indulging and eating, this would be far better than spending the entire holidays avoiding food or overindulging. One day will not break your health plans or lead to weight gain.

6.   Take a Moment for Yourself

Stress is common during the holidays. It can lead to poor sleep, not wanting to exercise, and even overeating. Not to mention, this is the time of the year when you tend to forget to give yourself time. This is why you should take time out every day for yourself to reset your mind, breathe, or indulge in self-care. This can tremendously help with maintaining good mental health.

7.   Deepen Your Connections and Relationships

The holidays are the perfect time to deepen all your connections and relationships with friends and family. This emotional nurturance can be pretty helpful for not just your mental health but that of others as well. It can allow you to take care of each other, feel satisfied, and take the burden of stress off.

8.   Take Time to Rest

Lastly, you must not forget to take a break and rest during the holidays. Since it is typically quite cold this time of the year, physical exertion can also lead you to develop colds and flu. Hence, take time to rest and recharge your mental and physical batteries.

Final Words

Being inactive or too active during the holidays can both have negative impacts on your mental and physical health. This is why you should try your best to stay healthy and balanced during this time. However, if you find yourself falling off the rails, you can always get in touch with a licensed medical practitioner for help over at Health One Family Medicine.  You can call at (469)262-5762 or visit our website https://www.healthonemedicine.com/