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3 Easy Ways to Fight Holiday Stress

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While the holidays can be the best time of the year for some, for others it can feel like the worst. The American Psychological Association has actually found that almost half of women in the US experience heightened stress during this season, putting them at increased health risk.

 

Aside from holiday stress, SAD (seasonal affective disorder) or winter depression can make this time of year challenging.
 
To manage stress, it is common to resort to food and alcohol to manage stress. Self-care and stress-management techniques, on the other hand, can help you stay healthy and feeling like your best self during the holidays.
 
I remember a quote by Katie Reed, a writer, speaker, and mental health advocate. She said, “Self-care is giving the world the best of you, instead of what’s left of you.”
 
This holiday season, let’s work to keep our sanity and our relationships with others as healthy as possible. Here are 3 suggestions:

Don’t Neglect Healthy Habits

No matter what the season, never ever let go of healthy habits because they are the foundation to a healthy and awesome you. Be mindful of your physical activity–make sure you have ample time for movement and exercise every day. Physical activity does not only boost your energy but also elevates your mood. Get enough rest and sleep and eat healthy meals. 
 
Take a break from social media and news, too. Not all news and updates we see online make us happy. You can choose to go offline and spend more time on yourself.
 
Read a book. Take a night stroll. Go stargazing. 
These are all good for your mental health–to free yourself from stressors by doing something nice for yourself, focusing on the moment, and reducing distractions.
 

Take Time to Reflect on the Meaning of the Season

Most people are stressed out by holiday shopping and hopping from one event to another. But instead of doing that, especially right now with the shelter in place orders, I suggest you take some time off to reflect on the true meaning of this season for you–what can you focus on that you enjoy about this time of year? What are the things that you’d actually like to do with your precious time rather than doing things out of obligation? 
 
If you feel overwhelmed with gift shopping, why not prepare something that money can’t buy or donate to a worthy cause on someone’s behalf? If you are stressed by the busyness of your schedule, you could schedule some activities later, like the first week of January.

Reach Out

While some people are overwhelmed with the company of family and relatives during this time, we are being told not to travel right now and not to gather in large groups, so some are spending Christmas and New Year alone. If you are one, don’t hesitate to reach out to someone–a friend, a family, a relative. A letter, a call, a video conference…find a safe way to connect with someone you care about. It’s a win-win.
 
Stressing out about what we don’t have control over, won’t lift anyone’s holiday spirit, so I encourage you to focus on these suggestions instead.

It is my passion to work with people like you whose health symptoms are getting in the way of you living life fully and with a sense of freedom in your body. I can help you to regain your health so you can feel great and free to enjoy life fully.
 
If you’re ready to discover where your best health has been hiding, I’d love to connect with you!
Apply for a complimentary Unstoppable Health Discovery Session. http://bit.ly/schedulinghealth (subject to availability).
Until next time, I’m wishing you unstoppable health!

~Rebecca

Replace Fear With This!

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Replace fear with this!

As many of you know, I have long since been an advocate for boosting immune health, gut health, energy levels, and mental-emotional wellness through HeartMath stress resilience tools. Now more than ever, we have to “self-regulate” our stress levels to be able to survive (and thrive) during this tumultuous time. 

How we act over these next weeks and months will have a huge impact on our lives and how we are able to look back on what feels pretty darn overwhelming right now.
This is an opportunity to built your resilience muscles. Choosing an attitude of hope and replacing fear with an alternative, what the HeartMath community is calling “managed concern”, is something each of us has the choice to do. Managing your fear day by day will benefit yourself, and make your immune system stronger, your community, and the world.



I will be using this tool daily and I invite you to do the same. Let’s not only get through this hard time, but come out stronger by using all the health building tools available.

Care Focus Tool (by HeartMath Institute):

“The tool is intentionally simple but effective. 
           
1.  While breathing in a relaxed pace, pretend you are breathing through your heart or chest area and imagine calming your mind and emotions with each breath. (Calm emotions help to create a space that enables intuitive access for clearer discernment and choices when evaluating situations.)
2.   As you breathe, visualize mental and emotional calm and poise streaming into your mind and into all your cells. Hold a conscious intention in your heart to change feelings of anxiety or fear into feelings of managed concern. Practice will increase your capacity for maintaining care and compassion for humanity’s challenges without creating burnout in your own system. Remember, any progress is a lot of progress when reducing fear. Be patient.
3.  Let’s close by radiating compassionate care and calm into the global energetic field to help reduce the fear and see people making smarter, less stressful choices from a perception and attitude of managed concern. This leaves people more in charge rather than a pawn of fear and mental scatter. The Coronavirus is a perfect situation for this effective practice for transforming the fears and anxiety which suppress much of our life force and power to create a better life. “
 
It is my passion to work with people like you whose health symptoms are getting in the way of you living life fully and with a sense of freedom in your body. I can help you to regain your health so you can feel great and free to enjoy life fully.
 
If you’re ready to discover where your best health has been hiding, I’d love to connect with you!
Apply for a complimentary Unstoppable Health Discovery Session. http://bit.ly/schedulinghealth (subject to availability).

Until next time, I’m wishing you unstoppable health!

~Rebecca

Lifestyle Changes to Prevent and Reverse Memory Loss

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Last week’s newsletter explored diet and lifestyle risk factors for Alzheimer’s and how your diet can impact your brain. Check it out here in case you missed it. 
Your food and lifestyle choices determine if you are at high risk for developing memory loss or not. Today, I want to give you tips on how to create a lifestyle your brain will love as well as foods that nourish your brain (and also ones that are harmful).


Exercise

We all need physical movement to be healthy, especially if your work entails a lot of sitting down. Exercise is also an important therapeutic strategy to reduce risk for dementia.
 
Aerobic exercise uses oxygen to meet the metabolic demand of the body as the cells convert more glucose into fuel or energy. The heart then pumps blood faster to meet the oxygen demand and to eliminate the carbon dioxide, as a byproduct of metabolism. This is why aerobic exercise is also referred to as cardio. Examples include walking, jogging, cycling, running, dancing, and swimming.
Take a moment to evaluate your lifestyle. From 1 to 10, where 1 is sedentary and 10 is active, where are you?
Depending on your answer, look for opportunities where you can improve. For example, squeeze in a 10-minute walk every day. It’s a lot better than nothing! Current recommendations are 150 minutes of walking weekly or 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic exercise. Start where you can. Any amount is better than none.

Sleep Well

Poor sleep is a risk factor for dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Want to maintain brain health even when you age? Aim for at least 8 hours of quality sleep every time you hit the sheets at night.
 
If you don’t get enough sleep, your brain cannot form pathways for new learning and memories. You might notice that when you lack sleep, it’s harder for you to concentrate and respond quickly.
Consider sleep to be as vital as food and water.

Manage Stress Effectively

Everybody deals with stress, but the way you manage it is a game changer. Stress management techniques such as imagery, yoga, deep breathing, friend time, exercise, and my favorite HeartMath are all helpful. Why I love HeartMath tools for managing my stress so much is because you can do them anywhere and anytime (and that is a great thing because stress can hit us anywhere and anytime…the sooner you can address it, the better!). One super easy HeartMath tool is called Heart-Focused Breathing and all you need to do is to focus your attention on your heart and imagine your breath flowing in and out of your heart or chest area. Make your breath a little slower and deeper than usual.
Doesn’t that feel great?!
Here are 10 other simple tips to help manage and reduce your stress levels.

Eat a Healthy Diet

Certain foods can badly affect your brain. The 7 Worst Foods for Your Brain are:

  • Sugary drinks and food – This causes brain inflammation and memory impairment.
  • Refined carbs – This refers to sugars and highly processed grains like white flour; it also causes insulin resistance.
  • Foods high in trans-fats – These are chemically modified unsaturated fats that have a negative effect on the brain. You don’t need to worry about the trans-fats that are naturally occurring in small amounts in some foods like dairy. Our concern is the artificial trans-fats in shortening, margarine, frosting, microwavable popcorn, frozen foods, and so on.
  • Highly processed foods – Avoid these because they usually are high in sugar, added fats, and salt.
  • Aspartame – An artificial sweetener! Definitely a no-no! Phenylalanine, one of aspartame’s components crosses the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and disrupts neurotransmitter production.
  • Alcohol – Drinking a glass of wine here and there may be fine, but excessive alcohol consumption is not healthy. Binge drinking and drinking to the point of slurred speech is particularly damaging to your brain.
  • Fish high in mercury – Though fish is a good source of protein and healthy fats, you must be aware that fish is highly susceptible to accumulating mercury, most especially predatory fish such as shark and swordfish. Mercury is neurotoxic and can permanently damage the brain.

Instead focus on eating foods that make your brain function optimally. Make sure you get enough healthy fats like omega 3 fats from fatty fish (like salmon and sardines), coconut oil, extra-virgin coconut oil, avocados, eggs, nuts, and seeds.
 
It is also good if you can supplement your diet with high quality multivitamins and other food supplements for brain function, such as probiotics, since good gut health is crucial in brain function as well.
 
These are simple lifestyle changes that can create a big impact in your life, especially during your senior years. Won’t you love the elderly version of you who is still able to think clearly and enjoy all the good memories you’re creating?
 
It is my passion to work with people like you whose health symptoms are getting in the way of you living life fully and with a sense of freedom in your body. I can help you to regain your health, so you can feel great and free to enjoy life fully. I hope that today’s suggestions are helpful to you.

If you’re ready to discover where your best health has been hiding, I’d love to connect with you!
Apply for a complimentary Unstoppable Health Discovery Session. http://bit.ly/schedulinghealth (subject to availability).
 
Until next time, I’m wishing you unstoppable health!
~Rebecca