Showing posts with label holiday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label holiday. Show all posts

Friday, December 22, 2017

Not a Creature Was Stirring (Yeah. Right.)

Tis the season for friends, family and celebration... if you're an adult.

If you're a kid, it's more like the season of  uncomfortable holiday outfits, long car rides and seemingly endless family gatherings full of strange looking foods and even stranger looking people.

Compound these disruptions in routine with the decided lack of sleep that kids - much like the rest of us - experience around the holidays, it seems unfair to blame them for their inevitable meltdown, doesn't it?

The holidays are hard enough for kids. Ensuring children get the recommended amount of sleep year-round can go a long way toward ensuring a healthy, happy holiday for the whole family.

The National Sleep Foundation (NSF)  recommends the following:
  • 11-13 hours of sleep for preschoolers age 3-5
  • 10-11 hours of sleep for 5 to 12 year olds
  • 9 hours or more for teens

Here are some tips for helping your little ones get enough sleep:
  • Make sure the room is quiet, dark, cool, and uncluttered.
    Bold colors and flashy décor might be a great fashion statement but you want a serene sanctuary.
  • Remove all electronics from the room. 
    Electronic devices are designed to keep the brain engaged, making it more difficult to get to sleep at night. In addition, the light emitted from these devices limits the body’s release of melatonin, which helps us transition into our nighttime sleep cycle.
  • Establish a nighttime reading routine.
    NSF has found that children who read as part of their bedtime routine are more likely to get healthy amounts of sleep.


Friday, November 24, 2017

Rest Up and Stress-Proof Your Holiday Schedule


Marygrace Zetkulic, M.D.
Hackensack University Medical Center
Thanksgiving is behind us, and with just over a month until Christmas, the "most wonderful" (and "most nerve racking")  time of year is in full swing. 

Family. Finances. A tree in your house.

Our holiday to-do list can feel immense when it seems to hit us all at once, and it's commonplace to simply accept our anxieties keeping us awake at night. 

As routine as it may seem, however, losing sleep to stress is unhealthy and counterproductive.

Lack of sleep can contribute to numerous health issues, including higher prevalence of chronic pain, high blood pressure, obesity, Type 2 diabetes, heart disease and premature aging. In addition to restoring the immune system, adequate sleep  is central to maintaining energy and focus, which are essential for keeping a cool head when confronting holiday stress.

In this time of giving, make sure to give yourself what you need to keep from feeling overwhelmed and stay well rested into the new year.

Here are some tips from Marygrace Zetkulic, M.D., director of Medical Education in the Department of Medicine at Hackensack University Medical Center, to cope with and avoid holiday stress:
  • Discuss plans in advance. If you can’t be with one branch of the family for the holidays, breaking the news early can prevent hurt feelings. If you have a child returning from college, don’t focus entirely on his or her visit. This can help prevent the January letdown.
  • Don’t feel you have to perform every holiday activity. Give yourself permission to let some things slide, like that seven-step holiday recipe. Feeling hassled by housework? Ask a friend to help you bake or decorate, then return the favor.
  • Don’t budge on your budget. Small, thoughtful gifts can bring great delights and prevent post-holiday financial woes.
  • Don’t do all your heavy lifting at the mall. Try to move your body every day. Give yourself the gift of a yoga class or exercise video.
  • Have a strategy for handling family get-togethers. For example, plan your polite-but-firm response to that nosy relative with the knack for asking uncomfortable questions.
  • Find a volunteer opportunity or reach out to a relative or neighbor who needs assistance.
“Even if only for a few hours, volunteering can take the focus off your own holiday tasks and remind you how good it feels to help others,” adds Dr. Zetkulic.