Happy holidays! It’s the most wonderful time of the year, a time to enjoy lights and decorations, good food and celebration. Most importantly, it means time with family and friends as we slow down and have a chance to reflect on life’s blessings.
Many people make big plans for the holiday season, the roughly six-week period that runs from Thanksgiving to New Year’s. Maybe you’re planning on hosting Thanksgiving, Christmas or Hanukkah celebrations in your home and gearing up for lots of cooking, baking or decorating.
Perhaps you’re getting out of town and have a year-end vacation planned. Or maybe your plan is to keep it low-key this year and enjoy some peace and quiet at home.
Whatever your holiday plans include, they all have one thing in common – they can all be derailed by illness or an injury. Make this year’s holiday season extra special by keeping yourself and your family healthy and safe.
Keep Yourself Healthy
Our holiday season coincides with a decidedly less joyful, less festive time of year – cold and flu season. As the temperatures cool and we start spending more time indoors, the germs that lead to upper respiratory sickness spread more easily. While we all get colds from time to time and it’s always possible to also get the flu, there are steps we can take to reduce the risk of getting sick:
Get a Flu Shot
Flu season runs from October to April. If you haven’t gotten your flu shot yet, do it now! Flu season starts to ramp up in December and usually peaks in January and February. The flu shot reduces the odds of getting the flu, and if you do get it, your symptoms will likely be less severe and subside faster.
Wash Your Hands
Washing hands frequently is one of the best ways to protect yourself from getting sick. “When we touch something that has germs on it – like a doorknob – those germs migrate to our hands,” explains Dr. Bob Felty, a family medicine physician in Midlothian. “Then, we inevitably touch our faces, giving the germs a pathway straight into our respiratory system. The way to break this unhealthy cycle is to wash your hands often – and avoid touching your face or rubbing your eyes.”
Wash your hands thoroughly for at least 20 seconds with soap and warm water. It’s a good idea to carry hand sanitizer with you for times when you cannot readily wash your hands.
Sleep
Sleep is a basic human need, but too often it is one we don’t pay enough attention to, especially at this busy time of year. Sleep has many benefits – it helps our body repair itself and allows us to think more clearly. Essential to the immune system working correctly, getting enough sleep gives our body a better chance of successfully warding off invading germs. The less sleep you’re getting, the weaker your body’s defenses are – and that’s one way to get sick.
Deck the Halls – Safely
For many families, it wouldn’t be the holidays without decorating the house, inside and out. Make it festive – but do it safely! Follow these tips to avoid preventable injuries:
Hire a Pro
If you’re planning on decorating your home with outside lights, hire someone who does light installation. Don’t risk falling off a ladder – or your roof. Every year, people are seriously injured – or worse – trying to hang lights.
Check your Lights
Before putting up any lights, inside or out, inspect them carefully for damage. This includes pre-lit decorations, such as trees, wreaths and garland. Any broken or missing bulbs need to be replaced. If the wiring is frayed or damaged in any way, throw the lights away and replace them.
Be mindful of how many light sets it is safe to string together and take care not to connect too many to one electric outlet. If you have older light sets that still use incandescent bulbs, it’s time to toss those and upgrade to LED lights. Not only will the lights burn much cooler, but they’ll also save you money on electricity.
Tree Safety
If you plan to put up a live tree, take care to always keep the water basin full and keep the tree away from heat sources. A dried-out tree is a fire hazard.
Don’t Ditch Your Healthy Habits
It’s a myth that people gain five or more pounds over the holidays – that’s not the case for most people. However, it is true that we tend to gain some weight – typically one or two pounds. While that’s not much, the data also show we tend to never lose it – and those pounds add up over the years. Here are some tips on how to keep your body – and mind – healthy over the holidays.
Navigating Holiday Meals
What is one to do, with rich holiday meals, plentiful sweets and holiday drinks everywhere you turn this time of year? Make a plan and stick to it!
“No one suggests you deprive yourself of the great holiday food we look forward to,” says Dr. Wilder Diaz-Calderon, an internal medicine physician in Fort Worth. “Instead, make a plan to enjoy it – just do it in moderation.”
Here are some tips to navigate your holiday meals without taking on thousands of extra calories:
- Mind the serving size: It is not necessary to cover the entire surface area of your plate at a holiday meal. You can enjoy the turkey, stuffing and potatoes – even the gravy – by having a moderate amount of each. Sit for a while before deciding if you really need to go back for seconds. You’ll likely realize you are full if you give it a few minutes.
- Skip the appetizers: the appetizers aren’t usually the main draw at a holiday meal. You can skip those – or at least go light on them – and spare yourself hundreds of calories.
- Have some dessert: Yes,there’s no need to deny yourself a holiday dessert. But try to go for a sliver of pie instead of a huge slice. And if you have options – say, pecan, cherry and pumpkin – think about which one you really want and reject the temptation to sample all three!
- Skip the high-calorie drinks: Even non-alcoholic holiday drinks can be loaded with calories. Cut out the cider and eggnog this year and you’ll do your waistline a favor.
Go Easy on the Alcohol
Moderation is especially important when it comes to alcoholic beverages, not only for weight management but for your safety, as well. At many holiday gatherings, especially office parties, alcohol may be in plentiful supply. Remember the medical guidance that men should have no more than two alcoholic drinks in a single day and women no more than one.
The more drinks you have, the more calories you’ll be consuming. That’s not the worst part of excessive drinking, though. Drinking to the point of intoxication leads to unpleasant hangovers and can be embarrassing. Worst of all, it can be very dangerous.
Never, ever get behind the wheel of a car after drinking. Never get in someone else’s car if the driver has been drinking. Alcohol-related vehicle collisions and fatalities tend to increase around the holidays. Don’t risk being part of that sad statistic.
Keep Exercising
With all the hustle and bustle of the holidays, it’s easy to fall out of your exercise routine. It’s important to have a plan to not let that happen.
“First and foremost, we all need to take care of ourselves,” says Dr. Felty. “Staying with your exercise program – even if it’s just going for a brisk walk – will be good for your body and mind. We all need time to ourselves to clear our minds – exercise is a great way of doing that, while also giving the heart a nice workout.”
All adults should get at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity, at least five days a week. Make time to maintain this priority – the shopping and gift-wrapping can wait half an hour.
Keep a Lid on Stress
We all experience stress in our daily lives – it’s normal and to be expected. The key is that we must learn to manage stress and not let it overwhelm us. If stress begins to overtake our lives, it can have serious negative repercussions on our mental and physical well-being.
Stress can become an even bigger factor around the holidays. “First of all, it’s easy to get overwhelmed,” says Dr. Diaz-Calderon. “With end-of-year work projects, decorating, shopping, wrapping, cooking and baking – it’s easy to believe there are simply not enough hours and not enough days to get it all done. If you start to feel like this, take a deep breath and remind yourself you don’t have to do it all.”
Scaling back on your holiday decorating or shopping won’t be the end of the world. Your guests won’t notice if you didn’t put up the wreath this year. They won’t care that you don’t have four different kinds of fresh-baked cookies. Give yourself permission to do less – you’ll enjoy the season much more this way.
There’s a second major way stress enters the picture around the holidays: for some, this is simply a difficult time of year. Many people who have lost loved ones feel those losses more deeply around the holidays, a time when family is meant to be together. This is normal, but if those feelings give way to depression, it’s time to get help.
“Just like you would call your doctor if you started having aches and pains in your body, you should call us if you’re experiencing pain in your mind and soul,” explains Dr. Diaz-Calderon. “Mental health challenges are normal and nothing to be embarrassed about. Your primary care provider is there to talk with you and get you the help you need to get through it.”
Embrace the Spirit of the Season!
The holiday season brings with it many traditions. Remember that you don’t have to do everything – make some time for yourself and give yourself a break when you need it. Remaining mindful of your health will make the season more enjoyable.
Most importantly, remember what this time of year is all about. Fundamentally, it should be about slowing down, spending time with family and friends and giving thanks for what we have.
As for Privia Medical Group North Texas, we’re thankful for our dedicated physicians, nurses and staff – and we’re so grateful for our patients who entrust their health care to us.
