Staying Stress-Free During The Holidays
Alecia StantonGet Access to Support, Benefits, and Resources for Expecting Parents. Join the EPAOA Community for FREE!
The holidays can stress anyone out. But trying to prepare for the holidays while simultaneously pregnant is even more stressful. However, it’s also more important to manage your stress during pregnancy. Being overly stressed during pregnancy can result in emotional and developmental for your child or even cause a miscarriage. Thankfully, you don’t have to stress about being too stressed. The techniques below can help.
Making sure you are getting enough food, water, and sleep. A lack of any of these can make small annoyances feel like the end of the world. Eat small meals every few hours, sip water throughout the day, and get to bed early. It can make a world of difference.
The best way to get rid of stress is to avoid it altogether. Identify the things that cause you the most stress and let someone else take care of it, if possible. If cooking the thought of cooking a holiday feast all by yourself feels overwhelming, ask a family member to do it. If you’re anxious about navigating overcrowded malls to shop for presents, pass your list of off to your significant other (or shop online).
Unfortunately, you can’t avoid all of your stressors, so making a note of the telltale signs of rising stress will enable you to nip it in the bud. Stress shows up differently for everyone. Some people may shut down while others may try to push even harder. Some start over or under-eating and some start over or under-sleeping. As soon as you realize you are stressing out, it’s time to start managing it.
If you need to throw in the towel, speak up. Stay realistic about what you can and can’t do. You’re growing a human being. Don’t feel guilty for needing help or a break and certainly don’t attempt to keep trying to push yourself when it’s time to throw in the towel. No one expects you to be superwoman.
Sometimes, all it takes is a little relaxation to get back on track. Stop whatever is stressing you out as soon as possible and take a nap, sit in a quiet room and breathe deeply, or meditate. Leave the laptop and cell phone in another room and unplug for a bit. Once you feel calmer, decide whether to finish what you were doing before or move on to something else.
When relaxation just isn’t possible, turn to a positive outlet. Take a walk, do some light exercise, or enjoy one of your hobbies. Re-routing stressful energy allows you to release it instead of letting in build up. As previously stated, too much built up stress can have detrimental effects on both you and your baby so it’s if you can’t let it dissipate through relaxation, work it out by doing something to release it.
As you might have noticed, a major part of preventing and managing stress is self-reflection. Taking note of stressors and symptoms, identifying what relaxes you and what helps you release stress – these are all things that you will have to figure out on your own. This is valuable work though. Stress management will always be necessary. Work, family, money, and soon, parenthood are all highly stressful parts of our lives, and the early you learn how to manage it, the better.
Have any stress management techniques of your own? Let us know if the comments below!
By: Alecia Stanton
