Why You SHOULD Exercise During the Holiday Season!
The holidays will soon be here, which for many means getting together with friends and family, attending holiday events, and dining out often. However, they can also bring extra stress, a sleigh’s worth of excess calories, and numerous disruptions to your schedule. How can you make it through the holidays stronger and better than ever? One way to accomplish this feat (no holiday miracles necessary) is to maintain physical activity during the holidays. Exercise is a great remedy for stress. Counterbalance the eggnog and fatigue that often accompany a day of frantic shopping. Following a few exercise tips during the holidays can add a little extra cheer into your holiday season.
EXERCISE HELPS YOU MANAGE EXCESS CALORIES
The holidays go hand-in-hand with excess eating and drinking. Between sneaking extra candy bars from your kid’s Halloween bucket to sitting down for a massive Thanksgiving feast and grabbing an extra serving or two of eggnog at the office holiday party, it’s easy to load up on calories. Even when you aren’t chowing down at Thanksgiving (3,000 calories on average) many sweater-weather days are filled with celebrations and family meals so it’s easy to drink more alcohol (120 – 300 calories per drink) or grab an extra serving of dessert (400 – 800 calories per serving).
While exercise may not be able to burn away all the extra calories you eat during the holidays, it can help you manage the fallout and even check some of your guilt. One of the biggest benefits of exercise during the holidays is that you can let yourself indulge a bit without seeing all that indulgence bog you down from reaching your overall health goals.
Exercise Tips During the Holidays: Short on time but want to burn a lot of calories? Try a high-intensity interval training or HIIT class. Many HIIT workouts can be done either in the gym or at home, so you can squeeze in a sweat no matter where you’re celebrating.
EXERCISE CAN HELP YOU COMBAT HOLIDAY STRESS
Beyond the good cheer of the holiday season is a lot of stress. You may need to fly across the country to see your family or spend your nights shuttling your kids to their holiday recitals. Then there are multiple shopping trips spent picking up those few last-minute presents your favorite online retailers can’t fulfill in time.
Managing holiday stress is difficult. An APA survey found 61% of respondents reported feeling stressed sometimes or often during the holidays. This stress, according to the survey, falls disproportionately on women who “take charge of planning many holiday celebrations, particularly the tasks related to preparing meals and decorating the home.”
While burning calories at the gym is all well and good for fitting into your favorite ugly holiday sweater, the real importance of exercise during the holidays may be what it can do for your emotional and mental health. According to the Mayo Clinic, virtually any form of exercise, from aerobics to Pilates to yoga, can act as a stress reliever. Moving helps release endorphins (a.k.a. feel-good neurotransmitters) in your brain and helps protect you against the negative effects of stress, which can cause cardio, digestive, and immune problems.
Come to ChaiseFitness This Holiday Season
At ChaiseFitness, we believe that anyone can be fit—no matter what skill level or body type. This belief inspired the creation of our patented Reinvention Method, which is for everyone—the athlete, the dancer, the beginner, the advanced, the rebuilder. We blend Pilates, ballet, and strength training and equip you with a chair and overhead bungees so that you work out all your muscles every time. We are located in the Upper East Side in Manhattan. For more information, you can contact us at (973)996-2063, or visit our website.
