CHRISTMAS STRESS
With Christmas just around the corner stress levels can go through the roof. The thought of all that shopping, the rituals of Christmas day or the imminent arrival of the in-laws can send our stress levels soaring. Below are a few handy hints to keep the stress under control so you can enjoy a wonderful time this Christmas.
Recognise what Happens
A significant amount of stress is induced by our own thinking. When you perceive a situation as threatening or outside of your control, your brain triggers the “Fight or flight” stress response. This activates your nervous system and energises your body for action which is often a completely in-appropriate response.
Understand the long term implications of stress
The danger is that, during the Christmas season, one festive pressure after another continues to trigger this physiological response, which doesn’t just mean you’ll get uptight and yell at your nephews for making a racket or the mother-in-law for getting to drunk. In the long term it can contribute to intestinal, cardiovascular and immunological diseases.
Determine the cause
When you find deadlines looming or carol singers calling and you blood starts to boil, check out your reaction. Ask yourself, “what am I feeling about this situation that’s making me so tense?” The other problem is that once you’ve worked yourself up rational thought goes out the window and normally the problems just compound themselves. Take a couple of deep breaths and try to calm yourself down.
Get away from whatever it is that is causing you too get worked up (sometimes easier said than done) until rational thought has returned.
Accept the fact
Often you’ll find that you cant change the thing that’s stressing you out about Christmas. Once you’ve realised the futility of stressing about something you can change (Mother-in-law getting drunk, nephews getting rowdy), it’s easier to stop. You can’t change Christmas or the fact that you may get stressed but you can change the way you think about it and hopefully this will lead to you having a stress free Christmas time. Kennedy