Two things you need this holiday: Sleep and water

The holidays are always a welcome time of the year. It is a time to celebrate with family and friends, enjoy special parties and gathering and deviate from your normal schedule of eat, sleep, work, repeat. To accommodate the many celebrations and special family time, it is easy to try to cram in as many activities into your schedule as possible. In addition to a busy schedule, you also deal with the stress of holiday preparation, travel and organization.

It is so easy to get off track from your daily healthy habits to accommodate your holiday schedule and traditions.  A couple holidays parties during the week, an extra cocktail or two,  a few too  many pieces of fudge and skipping that gym session to stand in line at the post office to ship holidays package...does this sound familiar? During the year we work very hard to implement healthy habits and behaviors but the holidays seem to easily knock those off track.  Before you know it, a very joyous time of the year can turn into the time of the year when you are sick and worn out. And who wants to celebrate the new year with a nasty cold?!

The holiday season only comes once a year, so you should certainly treat yourself to things that help you celebrate and make special memories, but do not completely abandon your healthy habits during the holiday season. You are putting a lot of demands on your body this month (hello airplane full of germs!), so you need the strength to pull through and stay healthy!

Our advice to you: Pick two healthy habits you will keep during the holiday season. 

We know it may not be possible to get in 6 days of exercise, avoid grains, avoid processed sugar treats, drink 8 glasses of water a day, get 8 hours of sleep, etc during the holiday season...so pick a couple of habits and vow to yourself that you will keep those habits during the holiday season. Write these 2 habits down, stick them where you will see them every day and make it a gift to yourself to stick to those 2 habits as much as possible.

Having trouble deciding which two? (we know you have many!)
Pick sleep and water. 

These two things seem to get compromised during the holiday season and have the greatest impact on your health.

We all love our cozy bed and those long hours under the blankets, but we sacrifice our sleep to get in as many holiday activities as possible.  When we are sleep deprived, we risk a few things:

• Impaired memory
• Lapse in attention
• Weight gain
• Irritability 
• Hypertension
• Decreased immune functions
• ...and just not a pleasant person to be around... 

Remember, adults need 8 hours of sleep a night!

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And water is just as important! Drinking water is essential to your health. 

• Drinking water helps maintain the balance of body fluids
• Water can help control calorie intake (think your are hungry? chances are you are really just thirsty)
• Water helps energize muscles
• Water keeps skin healthy and looking good 
• Water helps your kidney's rid your body of toxins
• and we have to say it...water helps you keep normal bowl movements!

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So do yourself (and those that will be around you this holiday season) a big favor by keeping up those healthy habits of drinking lots of water and getting lots of sleep.  Get the most out of the holidays by staying healthy and strong and start 2014 feeling ready to tackle a new year and new goals. 

Stay healthy and happy!

Namaste