Avoiding Holiday Stress
Our bodies do not seem to differentiate between physical and emotional sources of stress. Both trigger a release of cortisol and adrenaline from the adrenal glands. Confirming what all of us have known instinctively for years, a recent study by scientists at UCSF documents the link between psychological stress and aging at the cellular level. Women who experience a lot of stress show measurable signs of premature aging: weaker immune systems, higher levels of free radicals and shortened telomeres (the caps of DNA at the ends of chromosomes that determine cell life). In the women with the greatest stress, their telomeres resembled those of someone ten years older than their chronological age!
Holiday stress and hormonal balance
Think of your hormonal balance like a teeter-totter: on one side are the demands you make on yourself, on the other are the support mechanisms you have in place. The stress of the holidays is like throwing a 100-pound weight on the demand side.
If you’re not yet familiar with the ways in which your body responds to hormonal imbalance, I encourage you to read about the symptoms of hormonal imbalance, then take our on-line hormonal health assessment to evaluate your own symptoms. You’ll see that when your hormones are out of balance, the effects are pervasive. Fortunately there is a lot you can do to restore hormonal balance, even during times of holiday stress. The first step is to identify the relevant factors that are affecting your own hormonal balance.
Sources of holiday stress — the demand side
In addition to the emotional factors we discussed above, some of the common external sources of stress that affect our hormones during the holidays are:
- Poor nutrition: Holiday parties, office noshing, cookie-swaps, and gifts of sugary treats all contribute to a big spike in simple carbohydrate intake. This can throw our metabolism out of kilter and lead to intense mood swings, digestive upset, weight gain, and increased insulin insensitivity. Lots of women accumulate most of their adult weight gain during the holidays — a few pounds each year that they never lose.
- Lack of sleep: Not getting enough sleep for an extended period of time (more than two days) sets up a vicious cycle that upsets our natural circadian rhythm. We stay up too late, then need caffeine or some other stimulant to wake up. This gives us a temporary boost that leads to a crash a few hours later, which makes us crave carbohydrates (or more caffeine) for energy. We feel better in the moment so we take on more activities, which keep us up too late yet again, and the whole cycle repeats itself.
- Alcohol use: Indulging in some eggnog or champagne is a rite of the holidays. But we tend to overdo it. Wine, in particular, contains a lot of sugar. Alcohol is a depressant; it initially triggers a gush of serotonin that makes us feel happy and relaxed until the levels recede. This sets up another binge-and-crash cycle like the one we discussed above. Too much alcohol also dehydrates and inhibits healthy liver function — which in turn influences the production of cholesterol, the mother molecule for estrogen and progesterone.
- Lack of exercise: Skipping your morning walk because you stayed up too late or passing on the gym to get some shopping done undermines a significant source of support for your body. At the very time when we most need to get and stay moving for added energy, a lot of us put exercise on the back burner and rely on caffeine and sugar to keep us going.
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