While most of us look forward to the festive season with excitement, there’s often the slight concern about how we are going to ensure our health and wellbeing doesn’t suffer with all the excesses that the silly season normally brings.
As the days get shorter and the weather colder, we’re often less inspired to get outside and be active and more inclined to snuggle up on the sofa with comfort food that isn’t always the healthiest option.
For organisations, this can mean increased sickness and reduced productivity as staff succumb to colds and flus, start to burn the candle at both ends with social activities and struggle with low mood brought on by the winter season.
Here are some tips to help staff navigate aspects of the festive season to stay healthy and engaged:
- Spend your social battery wisely
The festive season usually brings an increasing number of social events, making time for exercise and food preparation more limited. Use this time for in real life socialising to reduce the time on digital socialising on social media. Swap the time you would normally spend scrolling Instagram and replying to WhatsApp messages to exercise.
If you find yourself idly reaching for your phone, get up and go outside for a walk or resolve to climb up and down the stairs for five minutes. Listen to a podcast, phone a friend or take a meeting on the phone while out for a walk. Even better, aim for a face-to-face walking meeting at least three times a week during this time.
- Vary the activities you do together
People always want to catch up before Christmas. Instead of meeting friends in a bar or restaurant, suggest booking a class or activity together. Try something new: padel, salsa dancing, yoga — or treat yourselves to a facial or massage as a way of spending time together.
- Find comfort in routine
Set your alarm clock for the same time each day. It’s tempting when we’ve had a late night to sleep in the next day, but the evidence shows that we have a better sleep pattern overall if we have a regular waking time. If you get the opportunity for an early night, but don’t feel sleepy, take the opportunity to have a warm bath, go to bed with a good book or do a gentle stretch session to unwind. Whatever you do, don’t be tempted to take your phone to bed.
- Adopt the 1:1 ratio
If you’re out at a social function, try to go glass for glass: drinking a glass of water alternately with each alcoholic drink. Or swap to non-alcoholic drinks after your first couple of glasses. Just be careful about your choices, as many non-alcoholic drinks contain high levels of sugar and calories. Alternating these with water is still a good idea.
- Snack wisely
Manage what you can with your diet and nutrition during this time. There are lots of delicious and nutritious foods you can eat that help balance the canapes and cocktails. Asian-inspired soups and broths usually contain lots of ginger and other spices that are known to boost the immune system.
Bean salads and warming casseroles have lots of fibre that aid digestion and manage the transfer of sugars through our gut and into our bloodstream. Eating snacks like apple and peanut butter or plain Greek yogurt with a handful of nuts not only fill us up before a party but also help avoid spikes in our blood sugars that alcoholic drinks produce.
- Choose baked over fried
Canapes and bar snacks can be a challenge. Try to avoid the crisps and crackers, swapping them for olives and nuts. Avoid bread where possible and focus on the protein component of the canapes.
Eat the meat out of the slider or burger, take the smoked salmon off the blini and avoid fried chicken and fish, aiming for baked or steamed snacks. If you’re organising a function, speak with the caterers to see if you can create a menu that includes lots of vegetable crudités, lettuce cups and cucumber slices as alternatives to crackers.
- Bring the sun to you: take a Vit D supplement
Vitamin D is a hormone that is essential for healthy bones and joints. Figures from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence suggest that between 30-40% of adults are Vitamin D deficient during the winter months. The government recommendation is for adults to take a 10mg supplement during the winter months. Some people may need more, especially if you have dark skin or a poor diet. Don’t be tempted to take a higher dose without consulting your GP.
Vitamin D is fat-soluble, meaning you need to take it with some kind of food containing fat. It could be a glass of milk, your breakfast yogurt pot or a handful of nuts. Also consider a B complex multivitamin. These vitamins play a role in energy production, brain function and cell metabolism. If you start to feel tired and lethargic during the festive and winter months, when our sleep and diet often suffer, a supplement can be useful in supporting our health and wellbeing.
Research evidence suggests that supplements should rarely be taken on an ongoing basis, as a replacement for a balanced diet, but they can be a useful addition to our health when our lifestyles and the weather provide a challenge. If you feel the need to take a supplement constantly, it is worth consulting a registered dietitian or nutritionist for a review of your diet and lifestyle, who can advise if personalised testing or supplement prescription is required.
- Be kind to yourself
Most importantly, if you find yourself overindulging or burning the candle at both ends, don’t beat yourself up. While the aim is to try and maintain some sort of balance, it’s not the end of the world if life becomes a bit “all or nothing”. Remember that tomorrow is another day – and life is an infinite game.
So by making a few simple adjustments this winter, you can support your wellbeing, stave off exhaustion or burnout and make the most of everything that makes this season special.
Claire Small
Claire is a Consultant Physiotherapist and the Chief Clinical Officer and co-founder of Pure Sports Medicine. As co-founder she has been with Pure Sports Medicine since its beginning in 2003, delivering outstanding clinical care for over 20 years.
Claire’s clinical specialities include issues of the spine, hip, groin and pelvis including persistent problems, pregnancy-related complaints and movement dysfunction. She has a specific interest in helping women manage the symptoms associated with menopause and metabolic syndrome.
As an accomplished and well-established clinician, speaker and researcher, Claire is also an Honorary Lecturer and Examiner at Queen Mary University of London and the University of Hertfordshire, an invited Lecturer at UCL, Kings College, London & University of Bath and a Journal Reviewer for Manual Therapy and Physical Therapy in Sport & the British Journal of Sport Medicine. She was made a Fellow of the Musculoskeletal Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in 2016.
In 2015 she was named Australian Businesswoman of the Year in the UK for her work in healthcare.