How to Deal with Holiday Stress

Traveling, road hazards, weather, falling behind at work, getting places, finances, shopping, family and family baggage and finally, family joy. You hope. There is an emotional time bomb built into the American holiday season. It starts around Halloween and continues to about mid January. Don't let the inevitable stress-induced behavior get in the way of anyone's enjoyment of the holidays. Learn some very helpful hints about how to eat right and structure your travel plans to make the holiday stress melt away. A nice side effect is you'll over-indulge less and have a strong immune system to fight off winter colds and flu you'll be getting exposed to in all those stores and upcoming festivities.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

1. Start eating right first thing in the morning. Take a multi vitamin and focus your diet intake on protein and complex carbohydrates. That means whole grains, fruits and vegetables. Watch out for the sugars. If you start making it a habit to have a vitamin B complex/protein boost in the afternoon around 2:00 p.m. The right vitamins in your brain will have you making better decisions about over-indulging and will have you at your prime to deal with stress and behavior. Great advice if you are traveling or visiting with children too. Don't let them load up on extras that will load them up for challenging and emotional behaviors.
2. If you eat the right foods, you'll also have a tendency to drink less alcohol. Try eating half of what you think you want, and then, if you are hungry 20 minutes later, have some more. Turkey is especially great, but be ready for the now-famous triptophan effects of that great turkey meal. They're called the after Turkey nap. Take the nap. It is one of the best restorative things you can do for yourself after the hustle and bustle of traveling.
3. Remember that books could be written on the effects of holiday travel on your body and your mind. Add holiday security and weather concerns, of traffic and lines…. You can fill in the blanks. Those things will have the people that tend toward bad choices. The most important advice is to SLOW DOWN if you can. If you can take an extra day or two and take the train or arrive ahead of the usual crush times, then do so.
4. If you must fly or get somewhere on a time budget, try to adhere to a complimentary energy cycle that will make sure you're traveling at times when everyone can self-regulate. Always try to arrive the day before the festivities are planned, whenever possible. If you cannot, the best time of the day to travel will be planning to arrive at your destination before 2:00 p.m. Make sure, by 2:00 p.m., that you have a protein and complex-carb snack, or a vitamin water/energy drink. It is a great time to take one of those tablets advertised to take during air travel. They're actually mini energy drinks without the caffeine and sugar. Add them to your favorite beverage, and you'll not only be better equipped to fight colds and flu (immune system boost), you'll also be able to self-regulate and monitor your behavior for longer and better throughout the day.
5. Move toward fun, creative and interactive/emotional experiences between about 3:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. Cut off the interactive and video fun by 7:00 p.m. and limit any sugar thereafter. Kids should be sleepy after a cup of warm herbal tea and a warm bath--adults, by midnight. Limit the alcohol and focus on the herbal tea and warm bath department too.
6. Going home should follow the same suggestions. Be sure you arrive home by 2:00 to 3:00 p.m., and tuck yourself in by 9:00 p.m. Eat light when you get home and focus on light foods of your choice to make sure sleep is easy and good.
7. Enjoy your holidays. Remember one final rule. If nothing is likely to physically change in the next 48 hours as a result of anything you say or do, then do not say or do it. Keep your emotions and your commitments in check with this simple rule. You'll enjoy the post-holiday season a lot better too.

Tips & Warnings

• The train is an excellent way to unwind before you arrive. Don't expect it to be on time, so plan accordingly--but that is part of the fun--you almost have to slow down and when you get to your destination you'll be remarkably relaxed.