GP Mark Rowe, the author of The Vitality Mark, discusses how to keep well in body and mind over the hectic Christmas period. Listen back above.
As well as being a holiday filled with carols, mince pies, and fairy lights, Christmas is a time when financial pressures, relationship issues, loneliness, and grief can all be brought to the forefront.
Speaking on the importance of minding your mental health during stressful periods, Dr. Rowe says we must treat ourselves with self-compassion while we get through the holidays.
"To treat yourself as you would your own best friend, to be an encourager - I love that word, encouragement - to support yourself, to find the best in others and to find the best in yourself."
Once we get through the busy days of Christmas and St Stephens's Day, ticking off traditions and eating our weight in turkey sandwiches as we go, many of us are left feeling a little aimless without our day-to-day routines while we wait for the New Year.
Dr. Rowe suggests that we use this time to reflect on the year gone by and start making plans for the future. Rather than thinking of these plans as transformative resolutions, though, he suggests taking baby steps with small but manageable changes.
"I think a long to-do list is inevitably going to end in failure and guilt," he says. "I'm not really a fan of resolutions, but I love that idea that at any day at any moment in time we can choose to do things a little bit differently."
According to Dr. Rowe, habits can be changed with persistent "micro-movements". For example, if you're at the very beginning of a fitness journey, rather than signing up for daily spin classes in the new year, you could make an effort to take the stairs at work every day.
"We can't really think ourselves into a new way of being, but we can move ourselves into a new way of being."
As we leave the fairy lights of Christmas behind us and attempt to get back to our normal routines in January, Dr. Rowe says that many of us will have an "all or nothing mentality" that will likely lead to feelings of guilt and inadequacy.
He suggests framing things positively and focusing on how we can be kinder to ourselves in the new year or committing to manageable habits such as going on a ten-minute walk or keeping a gratitude journal.
"What you express on paper will be written in your mind and in your heart. It's a great way to reframe, it's a great way to have a brain dump on paper. Write down all the things you're worried and stressed about."
To listen to Dr. Rowe's interview on RTÉ Radio 1, click on the audio at the top of the page.
