Avoid stress this Christmas
Spending Christmas with the entire family can be a stressful and chaotic experience for some women.
Comedic film ‘Four Christmases’ plays on the concept of family destruction in a light-hearted way, but such issues are a harsh reality for many women over the Christmas period.
Pressures to be the perfect host and to carry out a variety of social roles can be detrimental to women’s health and relationships during the Christmas period, and are often prolonged throughout the New Year.
The National Health Service and FemaleFirst outline some prominent stress triggers during the festive season, and suggest ways in which women can deal with them efficiently this year.
Family feuds can cause a great deal of tension on Christmas day, and women hosting the family party in their home can feel a lack of control over such situations.
The NHS advises that all problems be dealt with before the big day, so as to avoid uncomfortable silences or arguments during Christmas dinner.
But where this is not achievable, women can create a calm atmosphere in their home by providing family-friendly games or activities that have proved popular in the past. This will hopefully help families to forget about their feuds and focus on enjoying each other’s company for the day.
However, statistics show that January is the busiest month for divorce lawyers, which suggests that women who avoid dealing with their marital problems during Christmas often suffer the aftermath during the New Year.
Women who are cooking the Christmas dinner can enjoy a peaceful hour to themselves in the kitchen in chaotic environments, or else allocate jobs to other members of the family to reduce stress.
This creates a positive environment if everyone respects each other’s boundries, but as the saying goes; “Too many cooks spoil the brothâ€.
Also, women who are expected to cook a meal for the family are under addititonal strain from costly food bills at this time of year. A good means of cutting costs is for women to ask each family member to provide different foods for the day, and possibly cater towards a family buffet rather than a formal meal.
In terms of food shopping, supermarkets are normally immensly busy throughout December, which can present further difficulties for women who suffer in the presence of big crowds of people.
The build-up to Christmas should be as exciting as the day itself, and pressures to buy food and presents can be reduced through Internet shopping.
While delivery is sometimes expensive, the process of Internet shopping is argubly cheaper than manual shopping, because women won’t be tempted to buy products that they weren’t initially intending to purchase.
This also ensures that all the Christmas shopping is done in one swift go, leaving the rest of December for delicious guilty pleasures, such as mulled wine and mince pies.
However, the NHS warns that a typical Christmas day’s food, such as roast potatoes, christmas pudding, red wine and liquers, add up to around 6,ooo calories. This is three times the recommened daily allowance for women, and people gain an average of five pounds in weight during the Christmas and New Year season.
Healthy lifestyles help to reduce stress, which is particularly important at Christmas, so the NHS advises that women avoid over-eating this year, and substitute fatty foods for healthier options where possible.
This coincides with keeping alcohol consumption to a minimum. Alcohol is a serious problem over the Christmas period, as those who already suffer from stress or depression may drink alcohol to numb the pain, and others often drink in access of the legal drink-drive limit. NHS research has shown that ten people die and around 400 people are injured in drink-driving related incidents every Christmas, so women should ensure that neither themselves or family members drink with the intention of driving afterwards. Taking small walks is a great means of boosting women’s moods and health over the Christmas period. The fresh air helps calm nerves and gives women some time away from bickering families and stressful situations in the home.
Finally, women who are visiting relatives this year may feel pressures towards being the perfect daughter, wife, neice and granddaughter simultaneously.
The best solution here is for women to be confident enough to dismiss any misconceptions of themselves and demonstrate that their lives have changed since moving into their own home.
Discussing any concerns with a partner beforehand may help women to stay positive, and consequently more able to tackle any uncomfortable situations during this year’s festivities.
For more advice about how to stay stress-free and healthy this Christmas, visit the NHS Choices website.
By Kay Taylor