Best Ways to Beat Holiday Stress
Too much food, lots of shopping and family. Here are some tips to survive.
Nov. 28, 2007 Special to ABCNEWS.com — -- Starting this week, many will spend the next month preparing feasts, attending several parties and shopping obsessively for the perfect presents, all while counting blessings and enjoying the company of family and friends.
Millions of Americans will also spend it focused on reducing stress instead of spreading cheer.
From long lines to even longer lists, there are numerous opportunities to become mired in holiday strain, but experts say it can be overcome by tailoring festivities to your liking, as opposed to mimicking the grandiose displays reflected in commercials or movies.
Click here to see the best ways to beat holiday stress at our partner site, Forbes.com.
"I encourage people to not just jump on the bandwagon," says Dr. Beverly Thorn, professor of psychology at the University of Alabama. "We need small doses of expectations or else we're setting ourselves up for failure."
Adopting this philosophy is an empowering start, but to be fully prepared for the holiday season you should be aware of the warning signs of stress, common triggers and effective coping strategies.
Though Americans struggle to manage stress throughout the year, the holidays can magnify underlying issues and emotions. An American Psychological Association study conducted in 2006 found that while 78% of respondents reported feeling often happy around the holidays, about two-thirds sometimes or often felt stressed and fatigued.
Dr. Edward Creagan, a professor of medical oncology at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine who has studied the effect of stress on the body, says the warning signs of stress can include irritability, fatigue, sleep disorders, indulgent eating, loss of enthusiasm and feelings of detachment and angst. People who feel high levels of stress during the holiday season, he says, often function as if they're "in a robotic fog, thinking, 'I don't want to do this. but there are familial pressures and cultural expectations.' "
Drinking and eating excessively, smoking and being overly critical of family members are common negative-coping strategies that signal difficulty in managing holiday anxiety. Aggie Casey, director of the Cardiac Wellness Program at the Benson-Henry Institute at Massachusetts General Hospital, cites these bad habits as well as physical symptoms like headaches, muscle tension and an accelerated heart rate as evidence of heightened stress levels.
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