The Christmas period is a time of high emotions, good or bad. Quickly, excitement and stimulation make way for a sharp comedown. During this period, many people suffer from post-Christmas blues, which impacts their mental health as they experience loneliness, emptiness, stress, and a sense of loss.
Post-Christmas blues occur for many reasons, including lack of sleep and the changing of the clocks. Most people experience it (roughly 64% of us experience post-Christmas blues), and it also comes out of them quickly. But for others, it can stick around. It’s important to know that these feelings are normal and that overcoming holiday sadness is possible with these seven tips.
1. Understand Why You’re Feeling This Way
Post-holiday mental health takes a hit in most people due to an adrenaline comedown. Over Christmas, you can be very busy, living in a state of high expectations and anticipation. Suddenly, it’s all over, and your body needs time to adjust to the new reality.
Other factors contribute to post-Christmas blues, including:
- Financial strain: Christmas can be a time of year when more money is going out than coming in, which can cause you great distress, even though you are spending money on the people you love.
- Loneliness: during this time, you may be surrounded by people, and then everyone leaves. Loneliness can cause darker feelings to creep in and stay.
- Disrupted routines: Christmas throws routines out the door. You’re drinking and partying more than you would, eating chocolate for breakfast and going all over to visit people. This disruption can have you feeling a bit lost at sea when it’s all over.
The first step to coping after Christmas is acknowledging your feelings and reflecting on why you are feeling these emotions. If you accept you are suffering, then you can begin to take steps to get better.
2. Get Back into a Healthy Routine
If you don’t make changes and allow the depression and anxiety you’re feeling to linger, the problem will only get worse. Getting back into a steady and healthy routine goes a long way in banishing those post-Christmas blues.
Now, adopting a healthy routine doesn’t mean making a load of lifestyle changes immediately. You can start small – take short walks, go to bed at the same time every night and plan more balanced meals.
Having a routine and putting structure into your life has many mental health benefits. It’s proven to reduce stress, lead to better sleep, give you more time for things you enjoy and leave you feeling physically healthier.
3. Set Positive Goals for the New Year
Approaching the New Year can be a time to look forward. You can create excitement for the next year and become determined by setting some achievable and meaningful goals.
There are many goals you could set for yourself. You may have drunk too much over Christmas and want to cut down on your alcohol consumption; you might want to get physically fitter, learn a new skill or practise more gratitude and show more appreciation to others.
Many people set New Year’s Resolutions and drop them pretty quickly. You can avoid feeling overwhelmed and keep your motivation up by breaking down your goals into manageable steps.
4. Stay Connected With Loved Ones
During Christmas, you may be surrounded by people, and then afterwards, you are alone. To stop this loneliness from morphing into more serious depression, you need to socialise.
Connection is one of the greatest weapons against post-Christmas blues. Reaching out to friends and family for a coffee meet or video call will help break you out of feeling down. If you can, try to have face-to-face interactions, but sometimes phone calls might not be enough.
If you are feeling down, you should be open about your feelings to people you trust. Other people can be a great source of emotional and practical support, helping you see that you are not an isolated figure.
5. Limit Social Media Use
While social media can be good for spreading Christmas joy and connecting with distant friends and relatives, it also has its downsides.
Social media can lead you to fixate on how other people are living, and in the post-Christmas period, you can find yourself comparing your situation to other people. You may start to think that people are having more fun than you, enjoying their life and you start to feel inadequate. This can create deep sadness and worsen feelings of loneliness.
Limiting social media is an effective way of managing holiday stress. You could set app limits on your phone and track your time to see how much time you are spending on social media. You could also schedule tech-free periods, stepping away from your phone to do something else like exercise or spend time with others.
6. Take Time to Reflect and Practise Gratitude
As well as being a chance to look ahead, post-Christmas time can be the moment to reflect. What you need to do, though, is reflect on the positive aspects of the holidays, and methods such as journaling and mindfulness can help you do this.
You could write a gratitude list to help you concentrate on what is fulfilling in your life rather than what is absent. You can even practise gratitude by expressing it to other people.
Gratitude is beneficial to your mental health, boosting your mood and reducing stress due to the release of serotonin and dopamine. Long-term practising of gratitude can lead to higher self-esteem, better sleep, and improved focus.
7. Seek Professional Support if Needed
Sometimes, overcoming holiday sadness can be too difficult alone. If your negative feelings persist or worsen, then it is okay to seek professional help.
You can reach out to your GP and get access to NHS mental health services. You might engage in therapy, finding ways to cope better with DBT and CBT sessions. There are helplines such as Samaritans and CALM, which are great resources for providing mental health support.
Support groups, both online and local, can also be helpful, and you can gain access to a support network of people who understand what you are going through.
What is most important is that you take proactive steps and reach out for help sooner rather than later. Without intervention, your mental well-being will worsen.
Get Help from Action Rehab Today
If you want to improve your post-holiday mental health, implementing these tips into your life will go a long way to helping you regain some balance and move forward positively.
At Action Rehab, we help people not only find a rehab but also get support for those with mental health needs. To learn more, call us now at 0151 268 6992.
Posted on Friday, December 27th, 2024 at 2:59 pm in Latest News.
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