Taking Care Of Your Health And Wellness Over The Festive Season

It’s December and what a year it has been, with many looking forward to 2020 drawing to a close. With New Zealand’s successes in managing covid-19, we can all look forward to Christmas gatherings at work and with friends and family. While it can be tempting to ditch physical activity and exercise for parties, one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself this Christmas is the gift of health. So, while you are out celebrating, make sure you take time to look after yourself.

If there is one thing that 2020 has taught us is that our health and wellbeing should be valued. Regular exercise doesn’t have to be all about running marathons on Boxing Day, as many discovered during our level 4 lockdown periods, with smaller, more regular physical activities being beneficial.

Some tips to keep up with your physical activity and exercise during the holiday season:
 

• Review the time of the day that you exercise. If you are an evening exerciser and find you are missing sessions due to social events, try exercising in the morning or at lunchtime.
• If you are a member of a chain exercise facility, there may be a branch near your holiday location.
• Lockdown taught us we can still maintain contact with our exercise professionals through online sessions and social media. If you are away, you might still be able to book in a session
• Ask your trainer to set you up with a holiday programme you can do at home.

Over the break make sure you keep up moving about; even if your exercise sessions are intermittent, you can keep up the health benefits of incidental activity by walking and taking part in active relaxation.

While not indulging in any Christmas treats is not needed, keep an eye on your intake as it can be easy to have your usual food intake and also add those extra Christmas treats on top. The secret to moderation is not giving up on all treats, but trying for something in the middle. If you know it’s going to be a feast of an evening or a treat filled event, go light with your energy consumption over the rest of the day. When cutting make sure you leave in all the nutrient dense fruit and vegetables.

We also tend to drink more, and not just alcohol. When it comes to soft drinks and high sugar fruit juices, it may pay to steer clear as research is showing that our bodies have a weak compensatory diet response when consuming energy in liquid form. When we eat more dense food, our body will respond by feeling full. However, when consuming high calorie liquids, our body does not have this response, so we eat more as we aren’t satisfied.
At Christmas celebrations where we have access to and a tendency to eat more food, adding drinks to the mix can make a big difference. Stick to water.

If you are taking a break from your normal exercise routine due to holidays, put the date in your calendar now for your return to your regular exercise, be it the gym, running or a session with your registered exercise professional. Having a date set now gives you something to aim for and prevent the end of January arriving before you get started again.

Have a safe and relaxed holiday.

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