The holiday season places unique demands on the body.

Shorter daylight hours. Disrupted routines. More social obligations. Emotional weight. Constant stimulation.

For many people, this shows up as poor sleep, heightened anxiety, cravings, irritability, fatigue, or a persistent feeling of being “on edge.”

This isn’t a lack of discipline or resilience.
It’s physiology responding to prolonged input.

According to Stanford Medicine, stress itself isn’t always the problem — it’s how long the stress response stays turned on without enough opportunities to recover. Chronic stress without recovery increases emotional reactivity, sleep disruption, and physical symptoms over time.

The goal of holiday stress management isn’t to eliminate stress.
It’s to reduce unnecessary stress signals and give the nervous system predictable cues of safety.

Below are practical, evidence-based strategies you can actually use during the holiday season — not just in January.

1. Protect Sleep First (Your Anchor Habit)

Sleep is the foundation for stress resilience, blood sugar balance, immune function, and emotional regulation.

During the holidays, sleep is often disrupted by later nights, travel, social events, and increased screen use — all of which make the nervous system more sensitive to stress.

Instead of chasing “perfect” sleep, focus on protecting the signals that support it.

What matters most

A consistent bedtime and wake time (even within a 30–60 minute range)
A short, predictable wind-down routine (10–20 minutes)
Lower stimulation in the final hour of the day
Purposefully limiting phones and blue light before bed

Why phones and blue light matter

Evening exposure to blue light from phones, tablets, and TVs:

Suppresses melatonin
Delays the circadian rhythm
Increases alertness when the brain should be winding down
Reduces sleep quality and REM sleep
Increases next-day stress reactivity

Research shows that even typical evening screen use — not extreme use — can disrupt sleep timing and depth.

How long before bed should screens be avoided?

Evidence-based recommendations suggest:

At least 60 minutes without screens before bedtime
90 minutes is ideal, especially for individuals under high stress or already struggling with sleep

Even modest reductions in evening screen exposure have been shown to improve sleep onset and quality.

What to do instead

Replace screen time with low-stimulation cues:

Reading a paper book
Gentle stretching or slow movement
Light journaling
Calm music
Dim lighting

These cues activate the parasympathetic (“rest and restore”) nervous system and help the body downshift.

2. Use Short, Repeatable Nervous System Resets

Stress isn’t just mental — it’s neurological and physiological.
Stanford Medicine emphasizes that coping skills work best when they are **simple, repeatable, and used before stress becomes overwhelming**.
Instead of long practices that are hard to maintain, focus on short resets you can repeat daily.
What works best
Research supports brief relaxation practices performed consistently:
Slow nasal breathing
Brief guided relaxation
Mindfulness or grounding exercises
Body-based awareness practices
These activate the parasympathetic nervous system and help lower stress hormone signaling.
**Aim for:**
2 minutes
2–3 times per day
The same simple practice each time
Consistency matters more than duration or variety.

3. Use Movement to Regulate Stress (Not Burn It Off)

During high-stress seasons, more intense exercise isn’t always better.

Gentle, rhythmic movement has been shown to reduce perceived stress and support nervous system balance without adding physiological strain.

Helpful options include:

10–15 minute walks (especially after meals)
Gentle yoga or stretching
Tai chi or slow, controlled movement
Light mobility work

Think of movement as a regulatory tool, not a calorie-burning task.

4. Eat for Stability, Not Restriction

Holiday eating doesn’t need to be perfect to be supportive.
Extreme restriction increases stress hormones and often backfires. From a functional perspective, **blood sugar stability** plays a major role in emotional regulation and stress tolerance.
Support your body by:
Eating protein earlier in the day
Including fiber and healthy fats at meals
Avoiding long gaps between meals
Letting treats be intentional, not reactive
This approach reduces cravings, emotional eating, and decision fatigue — all of which worsen stress.

5. Treat Boundaries as a Health Strategy

Boundaries are not a personality trait.
They are a physiological intervention.

Overcommitment keeps the nervous system in a constant state of activation, reducing recovery time and worsening sleep, mood, and resilience.

Helpful strategies include:

Deciding ahead of time which events matter most
Avoiding back-to-back commitments
Scheduling recovery time after social gatherings
Giving yourself permission to say, “not this year”

Reducing overload reduces chronic stress signaling in the body.

6. Schedule Decompression on Purpose

Stanford Medicine highlights the importance of intentional recovery — stress relief that is planned, not accidental.

Decompression rarely happens automatically during busy seasons.

Even 10–15 minutes of quiet after stimulation can prevent the “stress hangover” many people feel after long days or social events.

Effective decompression can include:

Silence
Gentle movement
Journaling
Sitting outside
Low-sensory rest

The nervous system responds best to predictability, not intensity.

A Tiny Holiday Survival Checklist

Use this as a daily anchor — not a perfection list.

Lights dimmed in the evening
Phone off at least 60 minutes before bed
One short breathing or grounding break
Protein earlier in the day
10–15 minutes of gentle movement
One boundary honored
One quiet moment scheduled

Small, repeatable actions add up.

The Big Picture

Stress management isn’t about trying harder.

It’s about reducing unnecessary stress inputs and increasing signals of safety — especially during seasons that already demand more from you.

You don’t need a full reset in January if you protect your foundation now.

References

Stanford Medicine. Stress management: coping skills and tools. Stanford University School of Medicine. Published December 2025. Accessed December 2025. https://med.stanford.edu/news/insights/2025/12/stress-management-coping-skills-and-tools.html
National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. Stress. National Institutes of Health. Updated 2023. Accessed December 2025. https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/stress
National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. Relaxation techniques: what you need to know. National Institutes of Health. Updated 2022. Accessed December 2025. https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/relaxation-techniques-what-you-need-to-know
Chang AM, Aeschbach D, Duffy JF, Czeisler CA. Evening use of light-emitting eReaders negatively affects sleep, circadian timing, and next-morning alertness. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2015;112(4):1232-1237. doi:10.1073/pnas.1418490112
Harvard Health Publishing. Blue light has a dark side. Harvard Medical School. Updated 2020. Accessed December 2025. https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/blue-light-has-a-dark-side
American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Use of electronic devices before bedtime. Accessed December 2025. https://sleepeducation.org/sleep-health/use-of-electronic-devices-before-bedtime/
American Psychological Association. Managing holiday stress. American Psychological Association. Updated 2024. Accessed December 2025. https://www.apa.org/topics/stress/holiday
Cleveland Clinic. How to reduce holiday stress. Cleveland Clinic Health Essentials. Published December 2025. Accessed December 2025. https://health.clevelandclinic.org/holiday-stress/
Pascoe MC, Thompson DR, Jenkins ZM, Ski CF. Mindfulness mediates the physiological markers of stress: systematic review and meta-analysis. J Psychiatr Res. 2017;95:156-178. doi:10.1016/j.jpsychires.2017.08.004
(Use as representative evidence for MBSR and cortisol regulation.)
Zou L, Yeung A, Quan X, et al. Mind-body exercises for anxiety and depression: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2018;15(6):1292. doi:10.3390/ijerph15061292
(Supports yoga and tai chi for stress reduction.)
Institute for Functional Medicine. Lifestyle foundations. Institute for Functional Medicine. Accessed December 2025. https://www.ifm.org/functional-medicine/lifestyle-foundations/

The Holiday Stress Reset: Evidence-Based Ways to Stay Steady During the Busiest Season of the Year