The holidays are great and provide us with time off, time spent with friends and family as well as lots of good food and not always knowing what day it is. When we’re doing it, it’s awesome. When January comes and we return to work, school and our regular schedules we experience the holiday hangover. We have to ask ourselves, ‘how do I do my job again?’
Sleep Well
One of the best ways to get back on track is to sleep well. Being well rested helps our brains experience optimal functioning, which we need to be efficient human beings. The average adult needs 7 to 9 hours of sleep a night. That means if you are waking up at 7am you will ideally be asleep at 10pm for 9 hours of rest. The majority of people do not get this leading to 1 in 4 Canadian adults being sleep deprived. For all of the hours of missed sleep our body accumulates what is known as sleep debt. This can negatively impact your health and mental wellbeing.
To ensure you are getting the rest you need and deserve as well as mitigating sleep debt there are many easy things you can do. The first is create a sleep schedule. Go to bed and wake up at roughly the same time everyday (even on the weekend). This will eventually train your body for the most efficient sleep and wake cycle. If you don’t fall asleep after about 20 minutes get up and go do something relaxing until you feel tired, then try to sleep again. Ideally you would also sleep in a relaxing environment, so a cool, dark, quiet space. I highly recommend diffusing lavender essential oil in your sleep space to help your brain and body relax while you sleep.
Another way to help you fall asleep and stay asleep is to avoid screens for 30 minutes before you go to bed. The goal is to avoid blue lights. This type of light is emitted from most screens increases alertness while signalling to the brain it needs to be busy and therefore increases activity in several regions of your occipital cortex which minimizes melatonin production. Essentially your brain become engaged with the screen and decides it’s not ready to go to sleep.
Pace Your Tasks
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed when coming back to ‘reality’, especially if your work place stayed open over the holidays. It may seem that you have a mountain of things to do when you return. This year I encourage you not to rush through all of your tasks. This can lead to you feeling exhausted after your holiday and may feel like you are setting an unsustainable pace for the year. This year take each task one-by-one, set boundaries for downtime and be strict with them. By setting work time and downtime it can help you be more productive within your work day as well as prioritizing quality rest. This will allow you to attend to all of your responsibilities while easing into your workflow.
Get Back to Your Regular Diet
December is full of delicious meals and snacks that we don’t typically eat. This may cause you to feel slower, bloated or leave you craving something a little extra sweet throughout your day. To help you reset try incorporating more nutritious foods into your diet. Foods such as fruits, vegetables, nuts and proteins will help you feel full for longer while replenishing your body with vitamins and minerals you have missed over the break.
Many people also find that during the holidays they overeat. One way to help mitigate this is to eat mindfully. As you are eating focus on what you are eating and avoid multi-tasking. Check-in on yourself throughout the meal or snack, ask yourself ‘do I like what I am eating?’ ‘am I feeling full?’. If you are unsure wait a few minutes before continuing to eat and check-in with yourself again. I also highly recommend having a drink, such as a glass of water nearby and drink it throughout the meal. Once you have finished your meal take sometime before getting seconds. Allow your meal to settle and again check-in with how you feel and if you are still hungry. This will help you take a moment to connect your brain and body and decide if you would like something else to eat.
Socialize with Supportive and Enjoyable People
We see so many people during the holiday season. Many of us enjoy the people we spend time with, but sometimes we are in the company of people we may not agree with, like, or know that well. We also frequently spend time in groups that may cause you to have similar conversations with multiple people as you update them on your life and you listen to them update you on theirs. This can be hard and tiring. Take the time, no matter how much or how little, to connect with the people who’s company you enjoy and who you can a conversation with that’s more than surface level. This might be chatting with your favourite colleague in the staff room, taking time to see a friend and hear about their holidays and share your own experiences or just hanging out with your partner or best friend quietly. Taking quality time with those you like will help you feel connected while returning to ‘normal’, but also allow you to have time to ‘socially detox’.
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