5 Ways to Manage Holiday Stress for Better Hormonal Health

Holiday stress can do more than wear you out; it can disrupt your hormones, too. Here are five simple steps you can take to manage stress, balance your hormones, and support your overall health and wellness all the way into the new year.

Between shopping, social events, and family gatherings, holiday joy can sometimes seem elusive. While a certain amount of stress is normal, ongoing tension can impact your hormones, particularly those that regulate your mood, metabolism, and menstrual cycle.

Richard Roberts, MD, and the team at OB/GYN Associates of Conroe help women balance hormone issues during the holidays and beyond with natural women’s health solutions aimed at optimizing physical and emotional wellness. Here, they offer five simple, actionable tips that can help you maintain stability and joy throughout this holiday season.

1. Prioritize sleep

There’s no denying the holidays can be hectic, and when demands pile up, sleep is often the first thing that gets cut back. Unfortunately, regular, restful sleep is one of the most potent and powerful tools for managing hormone levels and avoiding the dips that can lead to physical and emotional symptoms.

Poor sleep raises cortisol and lowers melatonin, two hormones responsible for helping your mood stay balanced and buoyant. In fact, cortisol is often referred to as the “stress hormone,” and if levels are unbalanced by lack of sleep, you can wind up with significant disruptions to your well-being.

Maintaining a regular sleep schedule is one of the best ways to keep hormones in balance, stabilizing your body’s circadian rhythm and supporting optimal emotional stability. Creating a bedtime routine is also key. You can find plenty of tips for setting the best routine for you at the CDC website here.

2. Set boundaries to avoid burnout

It’s natural to want to make everyone happy during the holidays, but overcommitting can take a toll on your hormone balance, too. Once again, chronic stress keeps cortisol levels high, in addition to throwing off estrogen levels and worsening menstrual cramps and other PMS symptoms.

The solution to this is pretty easy in theory, but a little more difficult in practice: Just say no. Choose the activities and obligations that mean the most to you, then let go of events and activities that don’t make the cut. This type of prioritizing puts your needs first, so you can enjoy the holidays and spend more quality time with your loved ones.

3. Focus on healthy eating habits

When you’re busy and on the go, it’s easy to skip meals or turn to fat-laden fast food or sugary snacks. But poor eating habits can trigger spikes and crashes in blood sugar, leading to mood swings and hormonal fluctuations.

To stay balanced, pack healthy snacks when you’re out and about, and keep meals balanced, too, with plenty of lean protein, colorful fruits and vegetables, and healthy fats to help keep your hormone levels (and your energy) steady all day long.

4. Make physical activity part of your daily routine

Exercise is one of the best ways to support hormonal balance, naturally reducing cortisol levels while releasing higher quantities of so-called “feel-good” chemicals or endorphins. Best of all, you don’t need to join a gym to reap the benefits. Even a half-hour walk at a moderate pace does the trick, and other activities — like yoga and even cleaning your house — count, too.

Bonus: Regular exercise improves insulin sensitivity and keeps your metabolism humming to prevent holiday weight gain, and it also promotes better sleep at the end of the day. Gentle movement also helps reduce bloating and water retention, common and uncomfortable side effects associated with even small shifts in your hormone levels.

5. Carve out time to practice mindfulness

Taking some time each day to practice mindfulness activities is a great way to lower your stress levels and support a more positive attitude (along with elevations in those feel-good endorphins).

Try to carve out some time to meditate, practice deep breathing, listen to relaxing music, or take part in a hobby you enjoy. Spending a little time outdoors is another natural way to lower stress levels and improve your physical health, too. Keeping a gratitude journal is another quick, simple way to connect with positive emotions and help keep stress and hormone levels balanced.

Help for hormone issues

Holiday stress may be unavoidable, but it doesn’t have to derail your hormones or your health. Just a few simple adjustments to your routine can yield major benefits for your physical and emotional wellness during the holidays and beyond.

For persistent hormone issues that last beyond the holidays, hormone replacement therapy may help. To learn more, request an appointment online or over the phone with the team at OB/GYN Associates of Conroe in Conroe, Texas, today.