Dr. Gelane Gemechisa
For many people, the holidays can be a swirl of joy, nostalgia, overwhelm, pressure, connection, and overstimulation. It’s beautiful and meaningful, but also… a lot. And somewhere in the middle of it all, many people quietly notice a familiar feeling:
“I don’t feel like myself during the holidays.”
Our routines tend to shift. Our boundaries can soften. Old family dynamics sneak back in. We sleep differently, eat differently, socialize differently, and our bodies react to all of it. The important truth is you aren’t doing anything wrong. The holidays simply add more physiological and emotional load than most other times of the year.
But when you support yourself through the season gently and intentionally, you can create the capacity to enjoy it and still be present and connected to yourself. This is where the Foundations of Health come in. Not as rules, but as anchors that quietly help you feel grounded.
1. Restful Sleep: Your Quiet Reset Button
Sleep is often the first thing to change during the holidays. Late nights, alcohol, social events, travel, and stress all play a role. And when sleep shifts, much of your emotional and metabolic stability shifts with it.
The hopeful news is that you don’t need perfect sleep to feel steady. Even one night of deeper rest can reset emotional reactivity, cravings, and mood, something suggested in research showing that recovery sleep can restore the ability to regulate emotions after sleep loss. Short naps, even 15 to 20 minutes, have also been shown to reduce cortisol and improve glucose regulation. And drinking earlier in the evening helps protect REM sleep, since alcohol close to bedtime is known to disrupt both.
So instead of aiming for perfect sleep all season, you might choose one “protected” sleep night each week, allow yourself a short nap when you can, and try to wind down alcohol at least a couple of hours before bed. These small decisions go a surprisingly long way toward helping you feel like yourself.
2. Nutrition: Enjoy the Food! Just Support Your Body Along the Way
Holiday food is richer, sweeter, saltier, and more frequent. Partaking in the festivities does not mean you’re “off the wagon”; it means you’re living a human life in a celebratory season.
The goal isn’t to avoid holiday food. The goal is to make it easier for your body to handle it.
Taking a few slow breaths before eating helps switch your body into the ‘rest-and-digest’ mode, the parasympathetic state required for healthy digestion. Bitter and acidic foods like lemon water, ginger, or bitter greens have long been used in traditional systems of medicine to “wake up” digestion. Modern research supports that bitter compounds can stimulate stomach acid, bile, and pancreatic enzymes, which help your body handle heavier meals more comfortably.
And the morning after a big meal, a protein-forward breakfast can stabilize blood sugar and reduce cravings instead of swinging between “I overdid it last night” and “I have to restrict today.” Studies on people with blood sugar issues have shown that higher-protein breakfasts improve glucose control and reduce later-day snacking.
So you can fully enjoy the special foods while also giving your digestion and blood sugar a bit of quiet backup.
3. Movement: Keep Things Flowing Without Overthinking It
Movement during the holidays is not about “making up” for anything. What it is about is helping your body process the season e.g., the richer foods, the alcohol, the stress, the travel, the excitement, etc.
The part that may be surprising is that tiny movements make a huge difference. Studies show that just a few minutes of light movement every half hour can reduce blood sugar spikes by up to 30 percent.
Even more reassuring is that research shows that maintaining fitness takes far less exercise than building it. When life gets busy, endurance can be preserved for months even if workouts are cut back to just two short sessions per week, as long as some intensity is maintained. The key isn’t doing more; it’s keeping a touch of intensity. This means your body can hold on to fitness in busy seasons without needing perfect consistency.
4. Stress Reduction: Small Breaks That Bring You Back to Yourself
Holiday stress isn’t only about busy schedules. It’s the emotional weight like expectations, family patterns, social pressure, financial burden, overstimulation, and the pressure to hold it all together. Your nervous system doesn’t need long meditation sessions right now if you don’t have the time for it. It needs tiny cues of safety and presence.
Slow breathing with longer exhales has been shown to reduce sympathetic activation and increase calm through vagal pathways. Even a splash of cool water on the face or wrists can activate the diving reflex, a built-in calming mechanism of the nervous system. And a short walk outdoors reduces rumination and quiets the emotional centers of the brain.
These small resets help you return to yourself when the environment feels overwhelming.
5. Meaning, Purpose & Connection: What Helps You Stay “You”
This final Foundation is the one that quietly protects your sense of self during the holidays.
Even the joyful aspects of the season can create more stimulation for the nervous system. Without moments of grounding, even joy can leave you feeling depleted. Meaningful connection, not just socializing, but connection that feels real, increases oxytocin, a hormone that counteracts stress and supports emotional and metabolic well-being. Even small, genuine moments of connection are enough to improve emotional balance.
Choosing one meaningful moment at each gathering rather than trying to be “on” the whole time helps the holiday feel more like yours.
So Here’s To a Holiday Season In Your Own Personal Way
You don’t need perfect habits during the holidays. You don’t need to earn your food or make up for anything. And you definitely don’t need to hold yourself to unrealistic standards.
What you can do is support yourself in small ways that help you stay connected to who you are. When your body feels supported, you feel more like yourself: steady, present, grounded, and able to enjoy the season without losing your center.
This year, let yourself experience the holidays fully… without losing yourself along the way.