People in the Southeast Houston, Friendswood, Clear Lake, League City, and Pearland areas keep asking me about: Staying Healthy This Holiday Season is the Best Gift of All
Bottom Line:
We all know someone who gets sick around the holidays every year. 2020 has been on a whole other level for everyone and we are just trying to make it to the other side of the problem.
Our bodies are designed to be healthy and resilient, and research indicates that our daily choices may be the most crucial factor in our ability to stay well.
Why it Matters:
Managing our daily choices well = managing our daily stresses well = staying well.
Each day, our bodies are tasked with handling our chemical, physical, and emotional stresses in order to protect and maintain an optimal state of health. It’s a tricky balance. That doesn’t only includes what goes into your bodies, but I would argue what goes into your mind!!! This can also impact how we use our bodies, and any changes we make to our habits in response to stressful situations.
Each is vitally important.
Knowing that, here are 3 steps you can take today to treat yourself with better health as we head into 2021...
Daily Movement: Movement is medicine and exercise is an essential way to keep your mind and body fit over the holidays. Even with the change in weather maybe you start to change up your training to keep it interesting. You cannot keep doing the same thing every single day and expecting a different result. Maybe now is the time to cross-train. Maybe now is the time to focus on indoor cardio. Maybe now is the time to focus on your flexibility. The goal is to keep moving and don't let the holidays keep you down.
Mental Moments: Each day, set aside time to pause, decompress and count your blessings. That small amount of time is going to go a long way for your mental well-being, but I challenge you to really start looking at the opportunities throughout your day, the cues in your life, the smaller moments, that you know you can practice some of these things on a daily basis.
Breathe, Breathe, Breathe!: This one is actually a two for one. In order to move well we need a stable spine to create force off of. Part of that stability comes from your diaphragm and your pelvic floor. Most people who develop painful movement habits often realize when they come see me that they've ignored the way that their body produces spinal stability and it has to come from somewhere else, usually inefficiently, hence their pain. Some people come in and realize that they are living in a state of chronic stress (fight or flight) and they've developed abnormal breathing patterns as a result. By practicing the fundamental mechanics of breathing on a daily basis you're retraining your brain on how you expect it to move. You're showing your brain that you're capable of breathing better, moving better, and healing better.
Next Steps:
Staying healthy this holiday season is more than attainable – it’s easy! Just take a few minutes each day to be proactive with your healthy habits. Managing your daily stresses with the tips above are great ways to get started, and if you need help, we hope you’ll give us a call. I'm here for you.
Stay Strong, Inspire Others!
Science Source(s):
Psychological Stress and Susceptibility to the Common Cold. NEJM. 1991.
Stress Management. Mayo Clinic. 2020.