Written By Dr Stephanie Lipnicki, DACM, LAc

As a business owner with a storefront, the holidays often end up being about making the magic for everyone and come Christmas day (in my case) all I want to do is sit home in my pajamas instead of preparing a plethora of side dishes for my family.

And listen, this isn’t to overwhelm you - take what you need and can use and leave behind what you don’t need or want.

Here are five ways that you can work on maintaining your health and sanity in this final countdown to the holiday season

Make sure to take your vitamins - even if it is just a multivitamin so that you are working at maintaining your stamina and not completely depleting your resources. I take a ton of supplements to fight the effects of endometriosis and the havoc it wreaks. Do yourself a favor and when you are out and about grab yourself a multivitamin. Brands I like - Innate Response, Mega Food, Solgar, and Source Naturals
Schedule yourself some time to nurture yourself. I am an Acupuncturist so OF COURSE I am going to suggest Acupuncture - even if it is just a mini session, a lot of us Acus offer mini sessions as a quick destress or pick me up. Schedule a massage - get yourself in to get worked on either in the days before the holiday or right after - drop hints that you need a session as your holiday gift.
Set aside a few minutes a day to meditate - a few minutes can make a HUGE difference in your stress level. While of course I would love for you to pop into one of my longer meditation classes, you can still benefit from even a few minutes. Download my free mini meditation (you can get this from the main web page by signing up for my email list). Free versions of the Calm app or insight timer are also great. You can start by doing one of the short and sweet meditations.
Get enough sleep. Everyone has their own sweet spot for how much sleep they require to feel rejuvenated and fully rested. Me - I need at least 8+ hours (ok really 10 is ideal for me). Put down your phone, turn off the TV and eliminate light from devices. This will allow you to wind down and fall to sleep easier. Make an effort to get enough sleep.
Be careful with the sweets. It’s the holidays - we are going to eat the sweets its a given. Take smaller bites and watch the portions. Sugar has a HUGELY negative impact on white blood cells - the part of our blood that helps to fight infections. I had a teacher once use this analogy and I love how accurately it represents what happens. When we over consume sugar, white blood cells become like rafts on the lazy river. They lounge around and take a vacation from their job - fighting infections.
Have you ever considered why the flu ends up peaking after the holidays? White blood cells stunned into complete uselessness from sugar
Watch What You Eat/ Make Sure You Eat. Try to meal plan if you can to get balances meals. Don’t eat overly cold foods and drinks unless you live somewhere where the temperature is consistently above 80 degrees. It’s colder here where I live and it is soup season.
Think heart, stick to the ribs foods.
Missing a meal is more likely to make you reach for the sweets (see number 5) and negatively impact your health and wellness.
Make lists/ Put things in the Same Places. It is so easy to become overwhelmed and forget things. There are two times of year this happens for me - Winter Holiday Season and from May -June when it’s the end of the school year (this should no longer be an issue since all my littles aren’t so little any longer). Make a list of things you need to do. Place items (keys for instance) in the same place so you aren’t panic searching for them.
Bundle trips for errands - see where you can consolidate your time so that you can efficiently get things done leaving you with more time for rest.
Dance it out. Ok, maybe dance is my choice, but get up and move in a fun way. You can go for a walk, run, or exercise. But if I am honest - I really want you to dance. Take 5 minutes (or more please) and put on some of your favorite music and just dance around your living room. MOVE YOUR QI and your body and mind will thank you. Studies have shown that dance helps reduce stress, increases levels of the feel-good hormone serotonin, and helps develop new neural connections, especially in regions involved in executive function, long-term memory, and spatial recognition. Just dance like no one is watching!
Be kind to yourself. I strive to try and make everyone else happy almost every holiday season. At a deficit to myself. I end up exhausted and not the rewarding kind of exhausted either. So as I make a commitment to be kinder to myself, I would like you to make a commitment to be kinder to yourself. Cut yourself some slack.
NO can be an entire sentence. There is a scene in the movie 27 Dresses when James Marsden’s character asks Katherine Heigl’s character a series of questions to show her she’s not very good at saying no. I cannot even BEGIN to touch on how much I related and probably still do to that scene. I am giving you permission to say NO this holiday season. Protect your health and wellness and say NO when you need to. IT IS OK to say no.

Again, please take what tips you need and leave the others behind, take all of them if you need them!

I hope that whatever holidays you celebrate you stay physically and emotionally healthy and well. And I hope to see you on the treatment table! ~Dr Stephanie