Holiday Burnout Recovery Tips

You are here:

Holiday Burnout Recovery Tips

holidays, holiday stress, New Year's, New Year's Resolutions, eating healthy, sleep, exercise, yoga, meditation, massage

Feeling stressed or run-down after the holidays? Dr. Doni Wilson gives some simple tips to recover from holiday burnout—and start the year off right.

holidays, holiday stress, New Year's, New Year's Resolutions, eating healthy, sleep, exercise, yoga, meditation, massage

As we ring in the New Year, many of us are worn out and sleep-deprived after rushing around to get ready for the holidays, and may even feel a few pounds heavier from enjoying holiday treats and parties. Subsequently, you might be experiencing signs of “burnout” (like fatigue, aches and pains, headaches, bloating, easily catching colds, and generally feeling irritable) that impact your ability to get through the day.1-5  These “post-holiday blues” are what inspire thousands of people to set a New Year’s Resolution. And yet, you might be feeling too burned out to even think of getting motivated for a New Year’s Resolution. Plus, research indicates that worrying about burnout only adds to the issues.6

So we need to keep this simple, because putting your health first can make a difference in your health now and into the future. By using simple and high-impact natural stress remedies to create daily habits to help manage your stress and wellness without worrying about it too much, you can recover from burnout and prevent it from occurring again.

Here are five tips for recovering from holiday burnout, losing a few unwanted pounds, and getting yourself on track to achieve optimal wellness:

Holiday Burnout Tips

Tip 1 – Eat five small “half-meals” each day

A key aspect of minimizing the stress on your system is to eat in a way that fits your physiology. The least stressful and most supportive way to nourish yourself is to eat five small “half-meals” each day. Spread these evenly throughout the day, with each small “meal” including a balance of:

  • Proteins (35%-40%),
  • Carbs (35%-40% or less), and
  • Healthy fats (20%-30% or more).

The key is to eat half as much as you usually would at a given meal, essentially eating until you are not hungry (instead of eating until you are full). This is based on research that suggests that calorie and carbohydrate restriction, along with higher protein and fat, improves wellness.7-13

An example day might be:

  • 7 AM: 1 scoop pea protein shake with berries and 1 Tb coconut oil,
  • 10 AM: 1/4 cup almonds/cashews with a few dried cranberries,
  • 1 PM: half of a salad with olive oil, veggies and 3 oz chicken/turkey,
  • 4 PM: the other half of the salad,
  • 7 PM: 3 ounces of wild salmon with sautéed kale or steamed broccoli.

Keep in mind that it is important to individualize your diet based on your preferences, needs, and health concerns.

Important: Notice that the examples I provided are gluten-free, dairy-free, and sugar-free because that also helps your body recover from burn out.

Tip 2 – Drink Plenty of Filtered Water

To find the amount you need, divide your body weight in half. That’s how many ounces of water you need to drink throughout the day, even if you don’t “feel thirsty.” You’ll need even more if you have been drinking alcoholic or caffeinated beverages, if you are engaged in vigorous physical activity, or if you are in a hot climate. Your thirst monitors don’t really reflect your body’s need for water, yet when your body becomes even slightly dehydrated, your stress response begins.14 I say “filtered” water in order to avoid toxins, metals, and other contaminates often found in water. It is also important to ensure adequate electrolytes (sodium, potassium, etc.) in your water and beverages—but avoid sweeteners. For optimal burnout recovery, while increasing your intake of water, decrease consumption of alcoholic beverages, caffeine (soda, coffee, tea), and sugar-filled beverages.

Tip 3 – Get 7.5 – 9 Hours of Refreshing Sleep Each Night

We all need sleep—and we need it even more if our waking hours have been full of stressful challenges. Even when we experience these challenges as positive—holiday shopping and events, spending time with family, a vacation full of thrilling adventures—our body needs time to relax and recover from the demands of the day. Aim to get into bed and turn off the lights and electronic devices with enough time to sleep at least 7.5 hours before you need to get up the next day. Unfortunately, it is often when we are most stressed that we don’t sleep as well. So if you are not getting good sleep, be sure to contact a health care provider who can help your body recover from stress so that you can get back to sleeping well.15-20

Tip 4 – Exercise at Least 15 Minutes a Day, Three to Five Days a Week

Your body was born to move, and when it doesn’t get that opportunity, you will find it very difficult to maintain optimal health. Of course, exercise itself is a form of stress—a physical challenge to your body— but paradoxically, it also helps to release emotional stress. A number of studies have shown that regular exercise is associated with decreased anxiety and depression, as well as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. But don’t overdo it! Even just 15 minutes of strength-building together with cardio helps your body recover from stress.21-24

Tip 5 – Reconnect with Yourself Through Yoga, Meditation, and Massage Therapy

A plethora of research demonstrates that stress plays a major role in depression and anxiety.25 This makes sense when you consider how significantly the stress hormone cortisol affects our neurotransmitters, the biochemical that determine mood, energy, and focus. Fortunately, the research also demonstrates that the stress response can be rebalanced through yoga, meditation, and massage therapy. 26-30 For your burn-out recovery, you may want to download a meditation app on your phone or iPad to help guide and inspire you. You could look for a local yoga class to join and perhaps make an appointment for a holiday-recovery massage. In just fifteen minutes a day, these activities will help prevent burnout from taking over.

For help integrating these tips into your life, you might want to sign up to receive a free 7-day email series I created calledBurnout Reset Support.”
These emails will be automatically delivered to your inbox and provide you with encouragement and information to keep you motivated and help you to recover from the holidays. What better feeling than to start off the year on the right foot—let me show you how!

–Dr Doni
5th January 2016

 

References

  1. Cohen S, Janicki-Deverts D, Miller GE. Psychological stress and disease. JAMA. 2007;298(14):1685–1687.
  2. Charmandari E, Tsigos C, Chrousos G. Endocrinology of the stress response. Annu Rev Physiol. 2005;67:259–284.
  3. National Institutes of Health. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Stress system malfunction could lead to serious, life threatening disease. NIH Backgrounder. September 9, 2002. Available at:http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/sep2002/nichd-09.htm. Accessed March 20, 2009.
  4. McEwen BS. Protective and damaging effects of stress mediators. N Engl J Med. 1998;338(3):171–179.
  5. Selye H. Forty years of stress research: principal remaining problems and misconceptions. Can Med Assoc J. 1976;115(1):53–56.
  6. Keller A1, Litzelman K, Wisk LE, Maddox T, Cheng ER, Creswell PD, Witt WP. Does the perception that stress affects health matter? The association with health and mortality. Health Psychol. 2012 Sep;31(5):677-84.
  7. Meckling KA1, Sherfey R. A randomized trial of a hypocaloric high-protein diet, with and without exercise, on weight loss, fitness, and markers of the Metabolic Syndrome in overweight and obese women. Appl Physiol Nutr Metab. 2007 Aug;32(4):743-52.
  8. Anglin JC, Borchardt N, Ramos E, Mhoon K. Diet quality of adults using intuitive eating for weight loss – pilot study. Nutr Health. 2015 Sep 23.
  9. Macedo da Costa TH, Pires da Silva FV, Gonçalves Reis CE, Augusto Casulari L. Improved metabolic response after 16 weeks of calorie-restricted low-glycaemic index diet and metformin in impaired glucose tolerance subjects. Nutr Hosp. 2014 May 1;29(5):1081-7.
  10. Gugliucci A1, Kotani K, Taing J, Matsuoka Y, Sano Y, Yoshimura M, Egawa K, Horikawa C, Kitagawa Y, Kiso Y, Kimura S, Sakane N. Short-term low calorie diet intervention reduces serum advanced glycation end products in healthy overweight or obese adults. Ann Nutr Metab. 2009;54(3):197-201.
  11. Clifton PM1, Bastiaans K, Keogh JB. High protein diets decrease total and abdominal fat and improve CVD risk profile in overweight and obese men and women with elevated triacylglycerol. Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis. 2009 Oct;19(8):548-54.
  12. Endrighi R, Hamer M, Hackett RA, Carvalho LA, Jackson SE, Wardle J, Steptoe A. Effect of short-term weight loss on mental stress-induced cardiovascular and pro-inflammatory responses in women. Stress. 2015 Sep;18(5):602-6.
  13. Paoli A1, Moro T, Bosco G, Bianco A, Grimaldi KA, Camporesi E, Mangar D. Effects of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (ω-3) supplementation on some cardiovascular risk factors with a ketogenic Mediterranean diet. Mar Drugs. 2015 Feb 13;13(2):996-1009.
  14. Van Rosendal SP, Strobel NA, Osborne MA, Fassett RG, Coombes JS. Hydration and endocrine responses to intravenous fluid and oral glycerol. Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2015 Jun; 25 Suppl 1:112-25.
  15. Aserinsky E, Kleitman N. Regularly occurring periods of eye motility, and concomitant phenomena, during sleep. 1953. J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci. 2003 Fall;15(4):454–5.
  16. Cappuccio FP, Cooper D, D’Elia L, Strazzullo P, Miller MA. Sleep duration predicts cardiovascular outcomes: a systematic review and metaanalysis of prospective studies. Eur Heart J. 2011 Jun;32(12):1484–92.
  17. Laugsand LE, Strand LB, Platou C, Vatten LJ, Janszky I. Insomnia and the risk of incident heart failure: a population study. Eur Heart J. 2013 Mar 5.
  18. Fernandez-Mendoza J, Vgontzas AN, Liao D, Shaff er ML, Vela-Bueno A, Basta M, Bixler EO. Insomnia with objective short sleep duration and incident hypertension: the Penn State Cohort. Hypertension. 2012 Oct;60(4):929–35.
  19. Watson NF, Viola-Saltzman M. Sleep and comorbid neurologic disorders. Continuum (Minneap Minn). 2013 Feb;19(1 Sleep Disorders):148–69.
  20. Vgontzas AN, Fernandez-Mendoza J, Liao D, Bixler EO. Insomnia with objective short sleep duration: The most biologically severe phenotype of the disorder. Sleep Med Rev. 2013 Feb 15. pii: S1087–0792(12) 00104–9.
  21. Hills AP1, Street SJ2, Byrne NM3. Physical Activity and Health: “What is Old is New Again”. Adv Food Nutr Res. 2015;75:77-95.
  22. Silverman MN1, Deuster PA1. Biological mechanisms underlying the role of physical fitness in health and resilience. Interface Focus. 2014 Oct 6;4(5):20140040.
  23. Schnohr P, Lange P, Scharling H, Jensen JS. Long-term physical activity in leisure time and mortality from coronary heart disease, stroke, respiratory diseases, and cancer. The Copenhagen City Heart Study. Eur J Cardiovasc Prev Rehabil. 2006 Apr;13(2):173–9.
  24. De Moor MH, Beem AL, Stubbe JH, Boomsma DI, De Geus EJ. Regular exercise, anxiety, depression and personality: a population-based study. Prev Med. 2006;42(4):273-279.
  25. Wilson, D. Anxiety and Depression: It All Starts With Stress. Integrative Medicine. 2009;8(3):42–45.
  26. Wolever RQ, Bobinet KJ, McCabe K, Mackenzie ER, Fekete E, Kusnick CA, Baime M. Effective and viable mind-body stress reduction in the workplace: a randomized controlled trial. J Occup Health Psychol. 2012 Apr;17(2):246-58.
  27. Michalsen A, Grossman P, Acil A, et al. Rapid stress reduction and anxiolysis among distressed women as a consequence of a three-month intensive yoga program. Med Sci Monit. 2005;11(12):CR555-CR561.
  28. C.E. Kerr, et al. Effects of mindfulness meditation training on anticipatory alpha modulation in primary somatosensory cortex. Brain Res. Bull. 2011 May 30;85(3-4):96-103.
  29. Martín-Asuero A, García-Banda G. The Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction program (MBSR) reduces stress-related psychological distress in healthcare professionals. Span J Psychol. 2010 Nov;13(2):897-905.
  30. Field T, Hernandez-Reif M, Diego M, Schanberg S, Kuhn C. Cortisol decreases and serotonin and dopamine increase following massage therapy. Int J Neurosci. 2005;115(10):1397-1413.
Share this Post:
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
LinkedIn
Reddit
WhatsApp
Email
Print
Master Your Stress, Reset Your Health by Dr. Doni Wilson

SIMPLE PRACTICES for SHIFTING FROM YOUR STATE of STRESS to YOUR FLOW and FREEDOM

MASTER YOUR STRESS
RESET YOUR HEALTH

Order Now!
More from Dr. Doni

Related Posts

The 5 Burnout Types

Did you know there are 5 burnout types? They are based on your Stress Type®, which is how your adrenal function has been affected by