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Seasonal stress shouldn’t spoil holidays
Published December 26, 2008
SEGUIN — Just because people are ripping presents open and popping champagne, doesn’t mean the problems of the real world disappear.
In some cases, this time of year only serves to heighten the stresses that people deal with on a daily basis.
Why? Because simply get lost in the whirlwind of gifts, parties and family members that surround the season.
“Some of the emotions that people can experience during the holidays can be anything from sadness, feeling very lonely, nervousness, becoming highly anxious at times and feeling overwhelmed with all of the demands that are placed on people during the holidays,” said Chris Mata, Director of Guadalupe Regional Medical Center’s Teddy Buerger Center.
“It can be due to more gatherings, more family commitments, finances — which can be a big one — and can lead all the way up to people having some significant depression during the holidays.”
The Buerger Center deals with such problems as stress, anxiety and depression — all things which have become associated with the negative side of the holiday season. These emotions are triggered in many ways, and also in many different settings.
“It can be the family gatherings or even through more stress at work,” Mata said. “You’ve got some people who are physically there, but they’re on holiday already and may not be working quite as well, and there’s still demands, there’s still jobs that have to be done whether it’s the holidays or not. We’ve got people whose kids are out of school, they’re trying to figure out, ‘What do I do with my kids and work,’ and trying to juggle everything.”
But it’s not all economic in nature. Sometimes when people get around their families, old habits will emerge.
“Not every family is the Cleaver family,” Mata said. “We feel obligated to get together with family members that we don’t see eye to eye with or don’t see very often, that can create a tremendous amount of stress.”
And all too often, that stress translates into an unhealthy course of action when a favorite holiday pastime is included.
“Quite honestly what we see the trend is, is whenever there are groups of people that get together and you put in the added fuel of alcohol, that tends to brew disturbances,” Seguin Police Department Capt. Maureen Watson said. “That’s kind of the nature of the beast, but we see it on Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Easter — it’s not just Christmas, it’s whenever there’s large gatherings of people that may not particularly like each other throughout the rest of the year.”
Luckily, Watson said, the Seguin PD mostly sees cases of arguments and small fights, and not major cases of violent behavior among families.
Even when people don’t act out against family members or others, though, there still may be the potential for health problems.
“When we become overextended, overwhelmed and totally stressed out, our immune system tends to become compromised,” Mata said. “And so we may be physically more susceptible to colds, viral illness, flus, those types of things.”
Mata said that there are a number of ways to handle the many happenings that occur this time of year without succumbing to stress. In short, you shouldn’t let the holidays change some of your normal routines.
“First and foremost, if you have healthy habits to begin with, don’t let them go by the wayside during the holidays,” Mata said.
A few more tips include getting as much rest as possible and eating healthy, which can be especially tough given the nature of most party fare. That’s why Mata recommends eating a healthy snack in order to stave off feelings of hunger while staring at cookies and other pastries.
Planning ahead is a key part of not getting caught up in feelings of helplessness and despair, which can eventually lead to sickness.
“Making sure that we take some time out for ourselves, in whatever way that is, can help us to keep our immune system as healthy as we want it to be,” Mata said.
Consulting a professional is also never a bad idea if one is feeling overwhelmed or depressed. The Buerger Center is open to those in need of aid, call (830) 401-7367.
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