Often we may feel we have to brave through stress and worry, and that this is the only way to tackle the holiday: by grinning and bearing it. While this may seem like the best option in the short-term, when you add up the holidays each year and multiple by the many years you may manage holiday stress, this can seem overwhelming. The holidays are not a mental health sprint, but a marathon thus why not strategize on how to make the most of the holidays. Read below for some tips and tricks to manage stress during the holiday season.

As autumn approaches, the colder weather, shorter days, and busier schedules leave us feeling as though we have less time to accomplish what we want. Additionally, the holidays come closer with the many tasks to prepare as well. Stress comes with the changes the fall brings; it is a natural part of life to experience stress, however we can engage in activities to relieve that to some extent. Self-care can help us reduce the effects stress may have on ourselves. Without self-care, stress builds leaving us overwhelmed, fatigued, down, and physically sick. Self-care is any activity that is healthy and supports emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being.

Dating during the pandemic? What are the rules? Is there an etiquette to it? While we currently live in an ever-changing world as social distancing remains at the forefront of much of what we do there are still ways to determine how to date safely and form connections with others, while still practicing social distancing. What are the fears around dating during the time of COVID?

It’s fall, that means it’s pumpkin spice time! It’s everywhere! Coffee creamer, cereal, ice cream, pop tarts, granola bars and more, we see pumpkin spice as an ingredient in almost every item you could imagine. Do you know there is even pumpkin-spice flavored spam? While some may sound more delicious than others, either way pumpkin spice is good for you. There are health benefits to this that we often don’t talk about as we are indulging in some pumpkin spice cinnamon rolls. And while the baked goods may not be the healthiest, pumpkin spice itself has some major benefits.

As the days get shorter, temperatures drop, and we recognize those days of sitting by the pool, or going for a swim are ending, we can sometimes find ourselves feeling anxious. Autumn anxiety has been defined as, “The tendency for people to suffer from low mood or anxiety during the fall months.”. Typically autumn anxiety is triggered by the seasonal changes and occurs annually for those that experience this.

National Pumpkin Day is October 26th, however we seem to celebrate the joys of pumpkin throughout the fall, particularly in October. Whether it be a pumpkin spiced-latte, pumpkin pie, pumpkin ice cream, there are so many options on the market throughout the fall. While we eat these because they taste good, and bring back positive feelings of fall, there are other benefits to eating pumpkin as well. Read about the amazing health benefits of pumpkin!

We’ve all experienced the negative effects of social media at some point in time and we have either all taken a break or have had our friends and family take social media breaks for a time. We know that taking a break can help reduce our stress levels. Research is limited, however has revealed that a little break from social media can relieve physiological symptoms of stress, at least in the short-term.

Zoom calls have taken over. A few meetings in the morning, virtual learning, seminars over Zoom, a doctor’s visit over Doxy.me and FaceTime dates with family and friends. As social distancing continues, people move from video platform to video platform throughout the day. The unintended impact of this on mental health may be what’s being referred to as “Zoom fatigue” or the “feeling of tiredness, anxiousness, or worry from one video call to the next”.

With juggling many responsibilities including work, family, friends, and other responsibilities, it is easy to feel fatigued and overwhelmed. We know practicing self-care is important however at times can be difficult when having so much to do. One of the ways to cope with stress and anxiety is through our diet, via healthy eating. When stressed or anxious we are often consuming a lot of quick, unhealthy foods that only make us feel worse. We often feel these foods make us feel better, however stress-eating has been shown to be an ineffective coping strategy that can actually cause us to feel more anxious, moody and fatigued.

With so much content across social media around the pandemic and ongoing protests as well as outcries amongst systemic racism and police brutality, it’s important to understand the impact this has on one another and how this may exacerbate ongoing trauma responses.