Life Hacks

12 mind-body tips to relieve stress, bloat and exhaustion during the holidays

CNN 23rd December, 2025 12:29 PM

The holidays are a time of gratitude, connection and celebration, but it can also be physically demanding and mentally draining.

Simple mind-body strategies woven throughout your day can help you avoid that fate, supporting your energy, digestion and nervous system from morning through bedtime.

The 12 tips below require no equipment and take just minutes each — but they can make the difference between ending your holiday depleted or refreshed.

Early morning: Set the foundation

Lay the groundwork with deep breathing

Before the day gets busy, spend a few minutes focused on establishing long, deep diaphragmatic breaths. You can do this before getting out of bed, seated in a chair, or lying on your back with knees bent in a breathing bridge.

Place your hands on your lower ribs to guide and monitor their movement. Inhale slowly through your nose, feeling your ribs expand outward. Then exhale fully, drawing your ribs back inward. Try to double the length of your exhale if you inhale for four counts, exhale for eight.

Deep breathing with extended exhales activates your parasympathetic nervous system—your body’s “rest and digest” mode—and sets a calm, focused tone for the hours ahead.

Hydrate strategically

Reach for a glass of water before that first cup of coffee. Your body has been fasting all night, and starting with hydration helps you recover from overnight dehydration. Research shows that proper hydration supports cognitive function and energy levels and plays an essential role in digestion.

Continue sipping water as you go about your morning tasks, especially if you’re drinking coffee or tea in large quantities, which can be dehydrating. If you plan on drinking alcohol later in the day, getting ahead on hydration early helps. Also try to drink a full glass of water for every cocktail or glass of wine you consume.

Move through a full-body mobility flow

Before you get into full swing in the kitchen, spend five minutes gently mobilising your major joints with a quick yoga flow or by doing a few circles in each direction with your ankles, hips and arms and then rotating side to side through your mid-back.

Doing so primes your nervous system and lubricates your joints for the standing, lifting and sitting ahead. Think of it as warming up for an athletic event — because in many ways, the holidays are like one.

Cooking: Avoid tension and injury in the kitchen

Built-in kitchen stretches.

Between tasks, while the potatoes boil or the pies bake, pause for 30-second stretches.

Reach both arms overhead and lean side to side. Interlace your fingers behind your back and gently lift your hands to open your chest. Take a seat and place an ankle on top of your opposite thigh in a figure-four position and lean slightly forward to stretch your hip and lower back.

Check in with your body

Every time the kitchen timer goes off, use it as a reminder to scan your body for tension, imbalance and fatigue. Ding — the casserole is done? Great, take care of the food and then notice how you’re feeling. Are your shoulders creeping toward your ears? Your weight shifted into one hip? Your jaw clenched? Feet or lower back asking for a break?

Simply becoming aware of these sensations allows you to make small adjustments — whether that’s moving and stretching, shifting your weight, or taking a seat for a moment of deep breathing — that can prevent minor discomfort from becoming major.

Mealtime: Support your digestion

Take a premeal breathing pause:

Just before eating, take five slow, intentional breaths. Follow this 5-7-3 pattern: Inhale for a count of five, exhale for a count of seven and pause for three counts after the exhale.

Again, breathing is transformative. It transitions your body into your nervous system’s parasympathetic mode, which optimizes digestive function and helps you eat more slowly and mindfully.

Eat with awareness:

Put your fork down between bites. Chew thoroughly. Notice the flavors, textures and the point at which you feel satisfied rather than stuffed. Research shows that eating slowly reduces overall intake and improves digestion, helping you avoid the post-meal discomfort that can derail your evening. And especially if you spent all morning cooking, make sure you’re savoring what you created rather than rushing through it.

Evening: Wind down with intention

Create a simple wind-down ritual:

After a day of hosting, cooking and socialising, your nervous system needs time to settle. An hour before bed, dim the lights and step away from screens. Consider a warm bath or light reading — anything that lowers stimulation and invites your nervous system to settle.

This preparation for bed is considered a sleep hygiene practice. It’s something you should do every night but particularly after such a full day.

Release accumulated tension:

Your body has been working hard all day. Practice a few bedtime yoga moves to help release any lingering discomfort and tightness in your back, hips and shoulders.

At the very least, unwind tension with a single-leg bent-knee twist on your bed: Lie on your back hugging both knees into your chest. Extend your right leg long on the bed and then take your left knee across your body to the right side, rotating from your mid-back to stack your hips. Reach your left arm out to the left to complete the twist.

Take three long, deep breaths. Then repeat on the other side.