The holidays are finally here. For many of us, this signals a time of joy, celebration, and connection. But if we are being honest, the arrival of the holiday season also brings an uninvited guest – Stress.
As the calendar turns to December, we often feel a sudden, crushing weight of expectation. At Better Life Chiropractic & Wellness, we see this shift physically manifest in our patients every year. Shoulders get tighter, sleep gets shorter, and health priorities take a backseat to a frantic to-do list.
This holiday season, I have a challenge for you.
It isn’t about buying the perfect gift or cooking the perfect meal. It is about fundamentally changing how you view your own health amidst the chaos. It is time to stop risking our well-being to serve others and start managing holiday stress by appreciating the greatest gift we have ever received: the human body.
The Hidden Toll of the “Most Wonderful Time of the Year”
It is all too easy to get caught up in the holiday machine. We are culturally conditioned to believe that to be a “good” parent, friend, or family member, we must sacrifice ourselves. We work harder to pay for gifts we can barely afford. We spend extra time we don’t have attending extracurricular activities, pageants, and parties.
This creates a deficit in our energy reserves – a deficit we are not used to managing. When we overextend ourselves, three primary pillars of health tend to crumble immediately:
- Energy/Sleep: We trade hours of rest for wrapping presents or late-night social gatherings.
- Nutrition: We succumb to social pressures surrounding food.
- Mental Bandwidth: We operate in a state of high-alert, “fight or flight” stress.
The Social Pressure of Holiday Eating
One of the most difficult aspects of the holidays is the nutritional landscape. It is easy to eat a significant amount of junk food during this time – not necessarily because we need it or even because we really want it (a lot of people feel guilt or resentment after indulging), but because of social obligation.
We have all been there: You are at a party, and someone has spent hours baking cookies or preparing a rich meal. You feel that if you don’t partake, it looks rude. You feel that because they put in the work, you have to put in the calories.
Research Note: Psychologists refer to this as “social facilitation” of eating. Studies suggest that people tend to eat significantly more when they are with others than when they are alone, often to mimic the behavior of the group to build social bonds. This “people-pleasing eating” is a major contributor to holiday weight gain and inflammation.
This social pressure compounds the stress. The lack of sleep weakens your willpower, making it harder to resist the sugar, which in turn causes inflammation and crashes your energy, requiring more caffeine or sugar to keep going. It is a vicious cycle.
Commercialization vs. Well-being
The stress we feel isn’t entirely our fault; it is also a byproduct of an increasingly commercialized season. Every year, the bar seems to get raised. The expectations for decorations, gifts, and hosting duties compound year over year. It feels more and more necessary to do everything, but we have to step out of that mindset.
We must realize that the “necessity” of these stressors is an illusion. What is actually necessary is your health. Without your health, you cannot be present for the people you are working so hard to please.
Shifting Perspective: The Ultimate Gift
So, how do we stop the spiral? How do we enjoy the holidays without burning out?
We need to shift our perspective on gifts, and sustain focus on our goals. We spend weeks stressing over what to buy everyone else, but this year, I want you to give yourself a gift: Gratitude for your own biology.
You were gifted perhaps the most advanced piece of machinery to ever bless the earth. You were given the human body and the human brain. The complexity of your nervous system, the resilience of your immune system, and the capability of your muscles to move, adapt and heal are nothing short of miraculous.
Gratitude Regardless of Circumstance
I know that for some of you reading this may be thinking, “My body doesn’t feel like a gift right now”.
- Some of you may be fighting a chronic illness.
- Some of you may be dealing with persistent brain fog.
- Some of you may be struggling with chronic fatigue or pain.
However, even in those struggles, there is so much to be thankful for. The fact that your heart is beating, that your lungs are processing oxygen, and that your cells are fighting for you is a gift.
Why?
Because if your heart is still beating and you’re still taking in oxygen, your body was blessed with that ability to heal. You may not have found the right levers to pull yet, but you can continue to find, implement and eventually heal in almost all cases.
This leaves the question we must ask ourselves regularly: How are we taking care of that gift?
If you gave a friend a thoughtful, expensive Christmas present and they opened it, tossed it aside, and said, “Yeah, whatever,” you would know they didn’t appreciate it. You would be hurt.
Yet, we are guilty of doing this to ourselves. We take the gift of our health for granted. We run it into the ground, fuel it with garbage, and deny it rest. This isn’t meant to guilt you – I have been there myself.
It is meant to wake you up.
A Personal Journey: When Perspective Changes Everything
It is easy to take health for granted until it is threatened. I have experienced this firsthand.
In 2003, I was diagnosed with autoimmunity. Leading up to that diagnosis, there was a period of intense fear. Based on my symptoms, I was genuinely concerned that I was going to receive a cancer diagnosis (I lost 20 pounds in 3 weeks).
When the doctors told me it was an autoimmune issue, a strange thing happened: I was thankful.
As difficult as autoimmunity is to manage, it wasn’t cancer. That was a better outcome than I expected. That moment shifted my entire perspective. It forced me to look at my life and my career through a new lens.
At the time, I was doing personal training. I knew that people with thyroid and autoimmune issues often struggle with weight gain and exercise intolerance. I had a moment of doubt, thinking, “How am I going to make this work? If I’m trying to tell someone else to exercise, but I’m not in good shape, do I lose my credibility?”
Congruence is vital to me. I never want to be a practitioner who tells a patient to do something I am not willing to do myself.
- I won’t tell you to eat clean if I’m eating junk.
- I won’t tell you to prioritize sleep if I’m pulling all-nighters.
While there are supplements I recommend that I don’t take personally (because I don’t have that specific condition), I generally try to be the “guinea pig” first. I want to know if a supplement upsets the stomach or if it requires food to digest properly. I want to lead by example.
That diagnosis forced me to double down on taking care of the machine I was given. It forced me to be congruent. It reminded me that even with a diagnosis, the body is capable of incredible things if we treat it with respect. Perhaps more importantly, it forced me to think – and learn – outside of the box.
Practical Steps to Implement NOW (Don’t Wait Until January 1st)
We have a habit of treating the holidays as a “throwaway” month. We tell ourselves we will start fresh in the New Year. But why wait?
Why treat your body poorly for another couple weeks?
Here is how you can show appreciation for your body right now:
1. Prioritize Sleep Hygiene
When your schedule fills up, sleep is usually the first thing to go. However, sleep is when your body repairs itself and manages cortisol (stress hormone) levels.
- Action Step: Set a “reverse alarm clock.” Decide what time you need to wake up, count back 7-8 hours, and set an alarm for when you need to be in bed. Treat this appointment as strictly as a doctor’s visit.
2. Practice “Polite Refusal” with Food
You do not have to eat everything offered to you to be polite. Your health is more important than someone’s momentary feeling of validation regarding a cookie. I have had to navigate this with food allergies/intolerances, and I can promise you, there have been very few cases where people didn’t understand.
- Action Step: Eat a healthy, protein-rich meal before you go to the party. When you arrive, you won’t be starving, and it will be easier to say, “Everything looks delicious, but I’m actually quite full right now.”
3. Move with Gratitude
Exercise shouldn’t be a punishment for what you ate; it should be a celebration of what your body can do.
- Action Step: Instead of sitting on the couch after a big holiday meal, invite the family for a 20-minute walk. It aids digestion, lowers blood sugar, and reduces stress.
Research Note: Walking after a meal, known as postprandial walking, has been clinically shown to significantly lower blood glucose levels compared to sitting, which is crucial for managing energy levels and inflammation during the sugar-heavy holidays.
4. Shift the Focus to Gratitude
When you feel the stress rising – when the traffic is bad, the lines are long, or the finances are tight – stop and take a breath. Look at the things you have to be thankful for.
- Action Step: Start a simple morning ritual. Before you look at your phone, list three things your body allows you to do (e.g., “I am thankful my legs can carry me” or “I am thankful my eyes can see the holiday lights”).
Conclusion: Use Your Assets Wisely
As we wrap up Hanukkah and move toward Christmas and the New Year, my hope for you is simple: Have a phenomenal holiday.
Take care of your family. Take care of your friends. Buy the gifts and cook the food. But please, take time to take care of yourself.
Your attention is one of your greatest assets. The fact that you have spent time reading this tells me you are ready to make a change. Don’t wait for a resolution. Start treating your body like the precious gift that it is today.
From all of us at Better Life Chiropractic & Wellness, Happy Holidays.
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