Getting Ahead of the Post Holiday Blues

We love Christmas. There's pretty much nothing better. We gladly accept all the stress and chaos in exchange for those moments of laughter, silence, comfort and love with our families. But with Christmas comes days (MULTIPLE DAYS) of doing a lot of nothing, a lot of indulging and a lot of lounging around.

We all take weeks, if not months to prepare for the holiday season. Now Christmas has come and gone, it’s no longer the 25 of December and so begins the empty lull week between Christmas and New Years. After all the excitement and merriment, the holiday you looked forward to for weeks has gone by in a day. Family visiting from out of town starts to leave and you're left with an strange lull week waiting for New Years to come. Still, New Years isn't quite the same as Christmas.

The entire holiday season typically starts around 20th of December and lasts until the 2nd of January; two weeks of hype, fun and getting away from reality. When this suddenly stops, we know it as the Post Holiday Blues. We will find ourselves with nothing to look forward to, the Christmas carols on the radio stop, all the decorations start coming down and we have no more events or gatherings to attend.

When you are taken out of your regular routine for an extended amount of time, it can really take a hit on you and we are not just talking about your fitness, even your everyday life admin has likely fallen by the wayside as well. What we suggest is try reverting back to your regular routine as quickly as possible. Try little things that you know you can do, like drink more water, get to bed at an earlier hour, cook and eat more balanced meals at home and of course start incorporating your workouts into your day again during that lull week between Christmas and New Years (let's be honest, your body is probably begging you to do that anyway).

Taking yourself out of your regular routine for almost ONE week and reintroducing it is much easier than taking yourself out of your regular routine for TWO or more weeks. It sounds a bit crazy but we are all creatures of habit and the sooner we get ourselves back on track, the happier our bodies and our minds will be. They'll thank you for it!