The holidays are a stressful time of year for most. You likely have a lot of traveling, cooking, gift buying and family get-together scheduled for the upcoming weeks. Strained family relationships and financial difficulties commonly occur during the holidays and can cause a person to feel stressed. Making time to relax helps relieve holiday related stress.
Spend Time Alone
Too much time with family and friends during the holiday season can feel overwhelming at times. MayoClinic.com suggests that you try to get away from it all and spend at least 15 minutes by yourself. Take a walk or sit outside to clear your head.
Free Activities
You will likely spend large amounts of money over the holidays on gifts and entertaining. Because money could be causing some of your holiday stress, Mental Health America recommends that you relax with activities that do not cost money. Some suggestions include sledding, window shopping, driving around to look at holiday lights and making cookies.
Yoga
Yoga can be performed alone in a quiet area of your home. Spend at least 10 minutes performing different poses. Exercise helps relieve stress, so other types of physical activities can be done as well. Some examples are walking, swimming and cycling.
Play a Game
Games and puzzles keep your mind busy and off of your long mental to do list that occurs during the holidays. Some games and puzzles to play alone are solitaire, Sudoku and crossword puzzles.
Sleep
If your holiday stress is keeping you up at night, you are likely to feel fatigued and irritable during the day. Aim for at least seven hours of rest at night. If you are not getting enough sleep, make time for a power nap. Lower your stress levels by taking a short 20-minute nap during the day.
