With holidays come positive and negative emotions. Its fun to celebrate the days and exchange gifts with your loved ones but with all this comes stress, especially for women.
Most women report their stress levels are high during holidays. If you are the one who is juggling different roles (part planner, designer, shopper, check, baker and more) you would be in stress too.
You can only check your health if you know how your health is affected by all that stress. It’s not the kind of stress that would go away with retail therapy. You will have to take other aggressive measures.
Let’s first understand how stress can hurt women’s health:
1. Menstrual Cycle
The first thing that is going to be affected is your menstrual cycle. The American Journal of Epidemiology says that women who have to go through high-stress scenarios are at a 50 percent higher risk of experiencing a shortened menstrual cycle.
They might experience multiple periods in a month. While some have their cycle shortened, others report a heavier flow than usual. With a heavier flow comes more lethargy and pain. Other than this, you might experience severe PMS symptoms.
2. Mood Swings
Women are at a higher risk of developing anxiety. When the body responds to stressors, a higher level of stress can trigger conditions such as OCD and PTSD.
3. Bowel Issues
Your body will display some physical symptoms as well and having bowel issues is very common. Women under stress are likely to experience upsets stomach, nausea, and even diarrhea. Some also become a victim of Irritable bowel syndrome. It is triggered by stress.
4. Muscle Aches
This is another common physical symptom of stress. It’s so acute that you might not even notice your muscles are sore because of the stress. The common spots are shoulders and stiff neck.
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If they are hurting, it’s not caused by wrapping all the presents. You are actually in stress because of the holidays.
5. Insomnia
The holiday stress can keep you awake at night. If the level of stress is higher, then you could be a victim of both fatigue and insomnia which is pretty frustrating. With lack of sleep comes tension headaches. Some females even start experiencing a migraine.
6. Sadness
Above all, you are drenched in sadness. All that stress can wreak your attitude and emotions. You might have heard of holiday blues. Trust me, it’s real.
Triggers such as past holiday memories, seasonal effective discovery and feelings of loneliness together can make you sad and anxious. A survey revealed that 45 percent of the respondents said they dread the holiday season even though it is considered to be a joyous time of the year.
7. Inability to Focus
You might lose your focus and motivation. Some also feel restlessness, anger, and irritability. These are all emotions triggered by holiday stress. You could be at the risk of losing your cool in front of your family.
Tips to Manage the Stress and Focus on Your Health
Wondering how to keep this fallout at bay? Fortunately, there is a lot that can be done to keep the stress away or at least minimize it:
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Plan everything in advance
Most of the time, it’s doing everything at the last hour that contributes to the stress. A simple solution is to plan in advance.
List down the things you need, create a to-do list and plan how you are going to accomplish all of it. Appoint one member of the family to help you. Divide the duties so that you are not the one who is solely responsible for everything.
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Set a budget
Money is another cause of stress. If you don’t keep track of the finances, you will end up spending beyond the budget. Buy only the gifts you can afford. Outline a budget and stay within it.
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Say no
Don’t say yes to everything just to make your family happy. It can be stressful to manage your commitments. If things don’t excite you or they could be too much to handle, turn them down by saying no.
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Try muscle relaxation
If all the stress has made your muscles stiff, press your shoulders for 10 seconds. Release the tension slowly and you will observe that your muscles have started to relax.
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Spend some me-time
I hear you, holidays is a time for getting together and meeting with your family. But in the midst of it all, you should spare a few moments for decompressing and recharging. Don’t sweep into the festivities too much that you end up neglecting yourself.
With these tips, you too will be able to keep the stress away.
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