Strategies to Reduce Stress and Stay Healthy This Holiday Season

‘Tis the season for joy, togetherness, and celebration - but also stress. Despite the festive, happy images we are bombarded with in the media, many people find the holidays a difficult time. Financial pressures, loneliness, shorter and darker days are just some of the factors that contribute to a rise in depression and anxiety during the holidays. Plus, this year may be particularly challenging as we continue to wrestle with the stresses of the pandemic. To make matters worse, those negative feelings are often exacerbated by the unhealthy habits so common during the holidays, like increased alcohol consumption, poor food choices, and overscheduling.

Make this Holiday Season Different

Start taking steps now to prevent holiday stress by prioritizing your health and well-being.  Eating well, enjoying the company of friends and loved ones, and practicing self-care strategies that work for you can all help bring the holiday season back to its true meaning: a time of joy.

Here are some of my top strategies to enjoy a happy, healthy and stress-free holiday season this year:

1 - Delegate and be selective with activities.

It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that you have to do everything on your own for a picture-perfect holiday season. Letting go of that expectation can actually lead to greater enjoyment and less stress, so don’t be afraid to ask others to contribute to big meals, encourage a healthy potluck style dinner, and turn down a social invitation that doesn’t excite you. Setting healthy boundaries with your time and energy is important!

2 - Shop wisely.

Financial pressure is one of the top stressors at this time of year. Making a budget at the onset can help keep spending in check. Always remember that personal, meaningful gifts don’t have to be pricey - and are often more appreciated!

WIth supply chain difficulties and many shortages of goods predicted for this winter, shopping locally can also alleviate stress. Plus, you’ll have the satisfaction of supporting a small business owner.  

3 - Stick to your sleep schedule.

The relationship between stress and sleep goes two ways. When you’re stressed, it’s more difficult to sleep, and when you’re not getting enough sleep, you’re more likely to feel stressed. When we’re staying up later or missing sleep, we are not at our best - studies show it takes up to four days to recover from just one hour of missed sleep! Practice good sleep hygiene, including keeping regular hours, staying away from screens before bedtime, sleeping in a cooler room and limiting alcohol consumption to at least 2 hours before heading to bed.

4 - Build movement into your schedule.

Exercise is a proven way to reduce the harmful effects of stress on your body, but when you’re busy and stressed, it can be hard to fit it in. If exercise is part of your daily routine, don’t let the busy-ness of the holiday season get in the way!

Consciously blocking out time for fitness regardless of what you have to do that day, and prioritizing that time helps. So does combining movement with holiday social events, whether that means going for a walk together, planning a snowshoe party, or heading to a skating rink. 

5 - Include nutrient dense foods and practice mindful eating.

It’s not surprising that studies find that many adults gain weight over the holidays, but you might be surprised to learn that even adults who plan to lose weight often end up gaining instead. Keep your expectations realistic and focus on eating mindfully, enjoying everything in moderation. Here are some tips for eating more mindfully:

• People often skip meals over the holidays, thinking that they’re compensating for indulging later, however, they end up eating more during their holiday events. A better strategy is to have healthy, satisfying food with plenty of protein, healthy fats and fibre before an event to stay on a regular eating schedule and prevent over-indulging.

• Throughout your meals, allow some time between bites so your brain can more accurately measure when you’re full.

• When you are faced with a lot of treats, retain a mindful approach. Choose the treats you really enjoy, and savour them slowly.

Making smart food choices during the holiday season with plenty of nutrient-dense foods can also support your immune system to help prevent illness (and nobody wants to be sick right now!) Fresh produce, particularly brightly coloured vegetables and citrus fruits, are high in vitamin C, which supports immunity. And foods high in antioxidants reduce inflammation, so focus on fruits, vegetables, nuts, and legumes. 

6 - Don’t forget to take care of your gut health.

The stress, potential depression, and sugary diets that many people face at this time of the year create an unfortunate trifecta leading to poor gut health. To protect your gut microbiome, focus on a wide variety of natural foods high in fibre. Fermented foods and drinks like yogurt, sauerkraut, kefir, and kombucha also help maintain a beneficial balance of bacteria because they are high in the beneficial bacteria lactobacilli.

7 - Limit alcohol.

Another factor affecting gut health and immune health is alcohol. Studies show that alcohol consumption doubles during the holidays. Bear in mind that binge drinking carries many health risks, even if you’re not a heavy drinker over the rest of the year. Plus, excess alcohol consumption can sap your energy and contribute to depression. Raise a glass for special occasions, but be mindful of what you drink. Kombucha, mocktails and sparkling water with fruit are excellent festive substitutes. 

8 - Practice gratitude and focus on the good.

Sometimes, we all need to slow down and recognize the good in our lives. Practicing gratitude is a proven way to improve your mental well-being, and can be as easy as taking a moment to thank people for simple acts. Some studies have connected a “gratitude journal,” in which participants recorded the things they were grateful for, with improved mental health and reduced depression. As this becomes a habit, you’ll start to notice the good around you more often, in essence shifting the way you view the world for the better. 

Make this holiday season the best ever - we all deserve it! Reach out if you’d like to learn more about creating healthy habits for the holidays.

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Are You Suffering from Hormonal Imbalance? Top 10 Signs

Hormones affect every aspect of your wellbeing, from your appetite to your zest for life. Despite their large impact on overall health, hormonal imbalances can be frustratingly difficult to recognize. That’s partly because our hormones must maintain a delicate balance and even a slight shift can have negative repercussions.

Key Players in Hormone Balance

Think of your hormones as messengers delivering instructions to the rest of your body in order to regulate many things, including mood, appetite, stress levels, metabolism, sleep, sexual functions, blood sugar and more!

Many organs are involved in maintaining hormone balance. The hypothalamus, a small region in your brain, sends signals to your endocrine system, which controls the secretion of hormones. The endocrine system contains the adrenals, hypothalamus, ovaries, testes, parathyroid, pineal and pituitary glands.

When these glands receive a signal from the hypothalamus, they react by releasing hormones. For example, if your brain perceives a threat, your hypothalamus tells your adrenal and pituitary glands to secrete the “stress hormones” adrenaline and cortisol. This dynamic is sometimes called the HPA axis and it has far-reaching effects on your body. Those hormones tell your heart to speed up, your muscles to tense, your breathing to quicken, and your liver to release more glucose for extra energy. Those responses likely served us well way back in history, when we were more likely to be under an actual attack, because they primed our “flight or fight” response. Today, however, stress is often more chronic, and we’re not typically able to flee or fight the stressors. Instead, the long-term effects continue to take a toll. 

Who Is at Risk and Why?

We all experience some hormonal imbalances over the course of a lifetime, but certain developmental stages raise the risk. Puberty is one obvious stage when hormones are sometimes wildly out of balance because the ovaries and testes receive signals to start producing more hormones like testosterone, estrogen, and growth hormone. Middle age ushers in a new era of hormonal changes. For women, the production of estrogen starts to slow down with the transition to menopause. For many women, however, this isn’t a smooth decrease in hormone production, but rather, something that occurs in fits and starts, which can make symptoms harder to manage. 

Men aren’t immune from midlife hormone imbalances. Around the age of 40, men’s level of androgens (“male” hormones like testosterone) starts to decline by about one percent a year. 

Outside of age-related hormonal changes, other factors can lead to hormone imbalance, including stress, disordered eating, nutritional deficiencies, medication, exposure to toxins, birth control pills, and many medical conditions. 

Top 10 Signs of Hormone Imbalance

1- Bad PMS

Wild mood swings. Unexplained sadness. Disabling irritability. Premenstrual syndrome, or PMS, isn’t much fun, and hormones are to blame. PMS is caused by the drop in estrogen and progesterone that occurs in the second half of the menstrual cycle. Low estrogen and progesterone levels can lead to a decrease in the production of serotonin, a neurotransmitter that plays a vital role in mood stabilization. 

2 - Mood swings

Many hormones influence our moods, including norepinephrine and epinephrine, testosterone, and oxytocin, so it is not surprising that fluctuating hormones can lead to an emotional rollercoaster, for all genders. 

3 - Fatigue

Hormones play an important role in energy levels, so an imbalance often leads to unexplained fatigue. A decrease in thyroid hormone in particular can lead to extreme tiredness. And decreases in another hormone, progesterone, can make it more difficult to fall asleep. 

4 - Low sex drive

Lower levels of estrogen in women and testosterone in men often lead to a loss of libido. 

5 - Irregular periods

Low levels of estrogen and difficulties with thyroid hormone levels can lead to periods that don’t follow a regular 28-day cycle. As women enter the perimenopause stage, this often becomes more pronounced, and the timing of their periods becomes difficult to predict. 

6 - Weight fluctuations

Anyone who struggles to control their weight, despite conscientious exercise and careful calorie control, should have their hormone levels checked.The impact of hormones on weight is complex, and can involve ghrelin, cortisol, insulin, thyroid hormone, and leptin. Imbalances with just one of these can easily derail weight-control.  

7 - Food cravings

Studies (and plenty of anecdotal evidence) suggest that hormonal fluctuations, particularly those tied to the menstrual cycle, lead to cravings for sweet and high-carb foods. Stress hormones can also play a role, as they send signals to your body that it needs more energy to fight the perceived stress. The “pleasure” hormones like dopamine can also contribute, as your body seeks to repeat the temporary feelings of satisfaction from eating certain foods. 

8 - Brain fog

That feeling of not being able to think clearly can be influenced by many hormones, including cortisol, insulin, estrogen and testosterone. 

9 - Headaches

For women, low levels of estrogen can lead to an increase in headaches. Imbalances in other hormones, such as cortisol and thyroid hormone, can also contribute.

10 - Sleep problems

Disruptions in levels of the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin lead to issues with your circadian rhythm, but other hormones also play a role in a good night of sleep.

Restoring Balance

As you can see from the above list, hormonal imbalances can lead to many health issues. It’s important to note their connectivity: Hormones influence each other in a complex chain. For example, a disruption in melatonin levels can lead to less sleep. In turn, not getting enough sleep can inhibit testosterone production, even in young men. It’s all connected!

These intertwined relationships point to the importance of taking a holistic approach to hormonal balance. Here are just some proven strategies that I use in my practice:

Maintain a healthy body weight.

Yes, this can feel like a Catch-22 when your hormones aren’t cooperating. Focus on whole, natural foods, centred around organic produce and high-quality protein sources, healthy fats, and whole grains. Avoid drastically reducing calories, as that can be counterproductive. Eliminate, or reduce, alcohol, and processed foods.

Practice stress reduction.

Stress reduction helps stabilize hormones by minimizing the flight or fight response and its impact on hormones. Studies point to the success of meditation and other stress-reduction activities such as yoga or tai chi. 

Incorporate exercise into your life.

Even simple walking can regulate hormone levels. Work with a knowledgeable professional to figure out what’s the best approach for you.  

Minimize the use of hormone disruptors.

We’re growing increasingly aware of the impact of certain chemicals on our hormones. Some chemicals, for example, “mimic” certain hormones, which confuses the body’s response. Others change the way we process hormones, or change our sensitivity to them. These chemicals can be found in pesticides, many kinds of packaging, household cleaners, cosmetics and toiletry items, and more. It all points to the importance of becoming an informed consumer. 

Get tested and get balanced.

Your hormones have a profound impact on your health. Maintaining balanced hormone levels is one of the most important things you can do to enjoy a healthy life. If you’d like more information on testing and a tailored health plan to gain control of your hormones, reach out to me-I would love to help!

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Thyroid Problems are Hard to Diagnose: Here’s Why.

Your thyroid is a small organ with a huge impact on all aspects of your health. Thyroid hormone impacts every cell in your body, so even a small disturbance in thyroid hormone levels affects your digestive tract, brain, heart, metabolism, glucose and cholesterol levels, and much more.

Yet, despite its importance, thyroid problems are one of the most under-diagnosed conditions in the world. As many as 60% of people with thyroid problems aren’t aware. By some estimates, up to one in 10 North Americans have a thyroid problem, and that number rises to one in eight for women. That’s a lot of people experiencing unnecessary health issues!

For many people, thyroid issues are the result of low levels of thyroid hormone, a condition referred to as hypothyroidism. Some of the symptoms of hypothyroidism include:

• Weight gain

• Fuzzy thinking

• Depression

• Constipation

• Chronic fatigue

• Always feeling cold

• Infertility

• Dry skin

To further complicate matters, many thyroid treatments fall spectacularly short when it comes to improving a patient’s quality of life. At the root of the problem lie inadequate diagnostic tools. Traditionally, conventional medical practitioners run one or two tests for thyroid hormone levels: one for thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) levels and one for the hormone thyroxine (T4). If TSH levels come back abnormal, they place patients on thyroid hormones in hopes of restoring balance. Prescribing thyroid hormone without a full investigation, in effect, is a Band-Aid solution that often doesn't get to the root of the problem.

When blood tests show a dip in thyroid hormone levels, thyroid hormone replacement therapy drugs such as levothyroxine, are very commonly prescribed.

Those that have clear low thyroid levels (hypothyroidism) benefit from this medical treatment, however the problem may lie in those who may have only a few, mild symptoms of hypothyroidism and come back with borderline test results, known as subclinical hypothyroidism. Often, these patients suffer with hypothyroid symptoms but because their lab work has come back “normal” they are left untreated.

Why traditional approaches sometimes fall short.

Focusing solely on levels of TSH and T4, and then applying a quick fix, doesn’t address the fact that the most common cause of hypothyroidism is actually an autoimmune disease called Hashimoto’s. When someone experiences Hashimoto’s, their white blood cells and antibodies mistakenly attack the thyroid, leading to a reduction in thyroid hormone secretion. 

We haven’t yet determined the cause of autoimmune diseases, although evidence suggests genetic factors, inflammation, certain medications, and stress can all contribute. As well, studies have found possible connections between “leaky gut” syndrome, or increased permeability, and autoimmune conditions.

Because of the vague causes for autoimmune disorders, traditional medicine tends to focus on treating symptoms, without taking a holistic approach to address overall health. This is particularly true for Hashimoto’s, which is problematic. Without proper treatment, the immune system will continue to attack the thyroid gland, making it increasingly difficult to treat without addressing the autoimmune response. 

The problem with traditional lab tests

As you can see, thyroid problems and treatments are more complex than simply trying to fix a shortage of hormones as determined from testing TSH and T4. For better results, and a more holistic treatment plan, patients need more comprehensive assessments. Below are five causes of thyroid problems that won’t be detected by standard tests. 

Pituitary problems.

The production of thyroid hormone is controlled by a gland at the base of the brain called the pituitary gland, which releases TSH. Elevated cortisol levels can damage the pituitary gland, which in turn reduces the amount of TSH, and consequently the amount of thyroid hormone. 

Inefficient conversion of T4 to T3.

In order to be used by your body, T4 must be converted to another hormone, triiodothyronine, more commonly called T3. If this process doesn’t run smoothly, your body won’t have its optimum amount of T3, even if your T4 test results look good. An excess of the stress hormone cortisol in your body can impact this process. 

High TBG levels.

Thyroid hormone travels through the bloodstream thanks to a protein called thyroid binding globulin (TBG). High TBG levels can lower the amount of active thyroid hormone, since it is inactive when bound to TBG. Excess estrogen can result in elevated TBG levels, which can lead to hypothyroidism, even if the results of the traditional tests are within normal range. 

Low TBG levels.

Paradoxically, low TBG levels can also lead to hypothyroidism. That’s because low levels result in an excess of free thyroid hormone in the blood, which causes cells to develop resistance. The result is hypothyroidism, since although there is enough thyroid hormone in the blood, the body’s cells aren’t receptive to it. Common causes of low TBG levels include high testosterone levels and insulin resistance.

Thyroid resistance.

The receptors in your cells can be damaged by high levels of T4 or T3, or high levels of cortisol. As well, chronic stress can lead to adrenal fatigue, which is also harmful. 

Optimum thyroid performance depends on a tightly woven interplay of processes, and, as shown above, just one imbalance can throw the whole thing off.

Traditional tests aren’t always going to recognize the various factors that contribute to thyroid problems. Thankfully, naturopathic doctors can order a full panel of thyroid blood tests (including antibodies) that will give us more clarity on your thyroid function. If you are curious about your thyroid and want to take a deeper dive into your thyroid health, give my office a call. I would love to help!

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