2020 has been a year of unknowns and cascading amounts of necessary cleaning precautions and initiatives. We are taking more safety measures every day, more than we have before in history. Although we are taking all the right safety measures externally, we also need to ensure we are taking care of ourselves internally for staying healthy.

Our bodies are designed to be healthy and resilient. Research indicates that our daily choices may be the most crucial factor in our ability to stay well.

Daily Choices

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 and balances. These balances help to protect and maintain an optimal state of health. This includes what goes into our bodies, how we use our bodies and any changes we make to our bodies with habits. These changes may take place in response to stressful situations.

Each is vitally important.

Here are 3 steps you can do today to gift yourself better health as we head into 2021…

• Daily Movement: Exercise is an essential way to keep your mind and body fit over the holidays.
• Mental Moments: Each day, set aside time to pause, decompress and count your blessings.
• Portion Planning: Try to plan and balance your meals. This will help you avoid empty calories or foods that may lead to added inflammation.

Conclusion

Staying health this holiday season is attainable. Every day we can choose to make healthy decisions and do our best to prevent sickness from coming our way. Just take a few minutes each day to be proactive about leading a lifestyle of healthy habits. Managing your daily stresses with the tips above are great ways to get started.

If you’d like more on how to maintain stress levels during the holiday season, checkout out our last blog post here.

Sources:

Psychological Stress and Susceptibility to the Common Cold. NEJM. 1991.

Stress Management. Mayo Clinic. 2020.