Stressed Around the Holidays?
It is easy to simply grab another cup of coffee, a donut or skip that aerobics class because of the busy holiday season. Allowing yourself quiet moments for a walk, a cup of tea and skipping the soda and sugar is the first step to not only practicing self-discipline but also helping your long-term path to better health.
Reading books or researching an obscure food or recipe may also help you to de-stress. There are many foods that have positive impacts on mood, in addition to herbs. Believe it or not, simply increasing meals with protein such as beans or nuts has positive impact on your neurotransmitters. Walnuts are high in Omega oils (possibly helping to prevent depression), lentils are rich in folate (B-complex family, essential mood elevators), and salmon is high in Vitamin D (increases serotonin production).
Herbs such as lemon balm, peppermint, ginkgo and ginger are a few that when steeped into teas can quickly sooth and relax the restless mind. Besides eating well and supplementing your diet with vitamins or herbs, try practicing this relaxation technique:
Slow release
This simple technique, known as progressive relaxation, helps relax your muscles, one body part at a time. As you're lying in bed (or sitting in a chair), clench your right fist as tightly as you can. Hold for about 10 seconds, and then release the tension immediately and completely, as though you were turning off a switch. All the tension will drain out of your body. Feel the looseness in your right hand and notice how relaxed it feels. Now do the same thing with your left hand; then clench both fists simultaneously and slowly relax them. Next, bend your elbows and tense your arms. Hold a moment. Then relax your muscles and let your arms sink into the mattress (or pillows of a chair). Continue by tensing and relaxing your head and brows. Then squeeze your eyes and clench your jaw. Finally, tense and then relax your stomach, lower back, buttocks, thighs, calves and feet. By the time you're finished, your whole body should feel limp, relaxed and ready for sleep.
Recommended reading:
Herbal Recipes for Vibrant Health – Rosemary Gladstar
The Farm to Table Cookbook – The Art of Eating Locally – Ivy Manning
Reading books or researching an obscure food or recipe may also help you to de-stress. There are many foods that have positive impacts on mood, in addition to herbs. Believe it or not, simply increasing meals with protein such as beans or nuts has positive impact on your neurotransmitters. Walnuts are high in Omega oils (possibly helping to prevent depression), lentils are rich in folate (B-complex family, essential mood elevators), and salmon is high in Vitamin D (increases serotonin production).
Herbs such as lemon balm, peppermint, ginkgo and ginger are a few that when steeped into teas can quickly sooth and relax the restless mind. Besides eating well and supplementing your diet with vitamins or herbs, try practicing this relaxation technique:
Slow release
This simple technique, known as progressive relaxation, helps relax your muscles, one body part at a time. As you're lying in bed (or sitting in a chair), clench your right fist as tightly as you can. Hold for about 10 seconds, and then release the tension immediately and completely, as though you were turning off a switch. All the tension will drain out of your body. Feel the looseness in your right hand and notice how relaxed it feels. Now do the same thing with your left hand; then clench both fists simultaneously and slowly relax them. Next, bend your elbows and tense your arms. Hold a moment. Then relax your muscles and let your arms sink into the mattress (or pillows of a chair). Continue by tensing and relaxing your head and brows. Then squeeze your eyes and clench your jaw. Finally, tense and then relax your stomach, lower back, buttocks, thighs, calves and feet. By the time you're finished, your whole body should feel limp, relaxed and ready for sleep.
Recommended reading:
Herbal Recipes for Vibrant Health – Rosemary Gladstar
The Farm to Table Cookbook – The Art of Eating Locally – Ivy Manning