Dealing with Holiday Stress

Stress-free holidays? For many, the holiday season is anything but relaxing, with additional cleaning, baking, shopping and entertaining. Unrealistic expectations, visits from difficult relatives, and demanding holiday preparations can exacerbate problems for those prone to depression. December is also the darkest month of the year and some experience seasonal affective disorder (SAD) due to the short days and lack of sunlight. We want to offer you some tips to enjoy the holiday season and to manage the stress that often accompanies the celebrations.

Massage is a useful tool in regulating mood and reducing the symptoms of depression. Therapeutic massage balances the blood levels of many body chemicals that facilitate the immune system and regulate mood.  The biochemical effects of massage benefit energy levels and help alleviate stress. Cortisol, the stress hormone, is reduced by massage, and the following chemicals are increased:

·         Dopamine (regulates the pleasure state and feelings of joy)
·         Serotonin (regulates mood, drive states, depression, eating disorders, and obsessive-compulsive disorders)
·         Enkephalins, endorphins, and dynorphins (mood lifters that support satiety and modulate pain)
·         Oxytocin (increases feelings of connectedness)*

It is important to take care of yourself during the holidays.  You may suffer from stress, disappointment, and financial concerns, or you may just feel there aren’t enough hours in the day.  Remember to get regular exercise and adequate sleep.  It also helps to get outside and enjoy the winter sun. Try meditation, journaling, breathing exercises, yoga, or simply sharing your feelings with a close friend. Schedule a massage. All of these things will help you maintain a healthy balance in your life.

For additional information and support, we suggest you check out this lecture offered by Advocate Community Health Beat:

Healthy Holidays: Staying Positive through the Season

Tuesday, December 10 at 7:00 p.m.
Laura Segalite, MD
Psychiatrist
Adriana de Julio, MD
Psychiatrist Resident

Advocate Lutheran General Hospital’s West End Conference Center
1775 W. Dempster St., Park Ridge, IL 60068
Free valet parking is available and refreshments will be served.

To register, call 1.800.3.ADVOCATE (1-800-323-8622) Monday - Friday 7am to 7pm or Saturday 9am to 2pm and request Class Code 8G52.

*Mosby’s Fundamentals of Therapeutic Massage, 2004, by Sandy Fritz, MS; Massage Has Positive Effects on Biochemistry, 2009 Massage Magazine

An invigorating sports massage is a great way to make sure your muscles are properly stretched before and after the race. Vive! has several runners on our staff who know how to prepare you for the big run. Be careful though, we don't recommend any deep tissue work for 5 days prior to or after the race. Deep tissue massage would work against you then.

MSW school hosted a night time 5K as a fundraiser. Over 600 people participated, either running or walking. Boy were they lucky, missing the rain by just over an hour. It was quite the party for kids of all ages. We had fun supporting the event.

We had a great time working on all the runners at this years Park Ridge Charity Classic. The weather was perfect for the runners. And of course, it supports such a great cause. See you again next year.

We certainly enjoyed performing complimentary massages at the Mary Seat of Wisdom feast day celebration in Park Ridge. It was a fun family oriented event, with food, live music, face painting for the kids and free massages from Geri and Chris.

Are you experiencing lower back pain, pain between the shoulder blades and spine, neck stiffness and upper shoulder pain? Such pain could be caused by your posture and the debilitating effects the following could have on your muscles, bones and nerves:

• Couch slouching
• Leaning forward, bending at the waist while in a chair at the desk/computer
• Forward neck protrusion while using the computer or cell phone or sitting for long periods of time
• Rounded shoulders, not standing or sitting erect
• Sleeping with arms over head or hugging a pillow.
• Looking down on your laptop or cell phone

Today we are considered a “flexion society”. As many of you have perused our hallway picture of a skeleton hunched over sitting at a computer desk, it represents what happens to the spine in an electronics-driven society. The spine takes its toll these days when poor posture is perpetrated by flexed necks and waists from such things as hovering over cell phones, tablets and computers. Such flexion can cause great stress to the spine and muscles. Today, we see more and more people having a forward neck (where the neck protrudes forward beyond the shoulder mid line), having rounded shoulders and slouched upper bodies.