Daily Health Center

Don't Sing the Holiday Blues

With the holiday season ahead of us, it's not unusual for many of us to feel the "holiday blues" as we become overwhelmed with commitments and all of the commercial hype. Unfortunately, melancholy moods are very common this time of year.

I'd like to tell you how to keep up your spirits by simply reconnecting with yourself. It's not a new trick. It's called relaxation and, yes, it can be learned.

Relaxation Enhances Healing

Relaxation can calm the sympathetic nervous system and return your body to a more normalized, less stressed state. You can achieve the best relaxation through imagery, visualization, deep breathing, prayer, mediation, T'ai Chi, Qigong (chee-gong), massage, or music. You can also try positive affirmations like: "This is going to be a good day," "I am a good person," "My life will continue to bring good things to me."

I try to relax at the end of each day, which is one of the reasons I believe I don't have health problems. I do one or more of the following: cook, sit by a fire, pray, massage my dogs, and listen to soothing music.

The research on relaxation shows that it can temper over-secretion of the stress hormones, adrenaline and cortisol, which contribute to emotional and physical distress. Over time, stress can weaken your immune system and make you vulnerable to illness.

How Relaxation Helps

Relaxation helps tune up your immune system before you get sick. It has also been known to enhance memory, improve blood pressure, optimize respiration, boost blood flow to muscles, and reduce both muscle tension and adrenaline secretion. And that's just the stuff researchers have checked into so far. You might even think of other health benefits that come from focusing on relaxation techniques.

An additional relaxation benefit that comes to my mind is overcoming "burnout." A little relaxation can go a long way toward helping restore energy and enthusiasm for daily routines and tasks that can seem more difficult when you're stressed!

Relaxation Methods That Are Easy to Do

Relaxation skills are helpful for all of us. The good news is you don't have to sign up for expensive programs or scout around for helpful tools. Below are a few of my favorite ways to get on the road to relaxation.

Abdominal Breathing

Put your hand on your belly, take a deep breath through your nose and feel your hand rise on your abdomen. Exhale through your mouth. Do this 15 to 20 times at least once a day while either lying down or sitting. If trying to relax in a lying or sitting position doesn't work for you, try this exercise while walking.

Mental Imaging

I use mental imaging, sometimes known as guided imagery or visualization, with my patients, and I teach them how to use it. Basically, you imagine you are experiencing something, and your body reacts as if it's actually happening. For instance, if you create a strong mental image of relaxing at your favorite vacation spot—say the beach or hiking in the mountains, whatever is truly enjoyable to you—then your body will respond to that mental image.

Focus your imagination on reliving personal experiences that were highly enjoyable and/or comforting. Your body will appreciate your imaginative trip down memory lane.

The Healing Power of Music

Listening to certain kinds of music—particularly classical and baroque—have been shown to enhance relaxation. The melody, pitch, timing, and beat of such music can alter your state of being by quieting your mind and allowing you to enter its spiritual recesses. I recommend "Pachelbel's Canon" and other baroque classics as well as "Chant" by the Benedictine Monks of Santo Domingo de Silos.

When it's resting, the human heart beats approximately 50 to 80 times per minute, so soothing scores in this range may be the best for inducing a sense of tranquilty. It may be, too, that the thumping rhythm of this range unconsciously takes us back to the safety of the womb. The following pieces of classical and baroque music—all of which approximate the thumping of the human heart—may help reduce anxiety and stress.

• Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 4, second movement
• Bach: Orchestral Suite No. 2, Sarabande
• Gustav Holst: The Planets, "Venus"
• Ravel: Mother Goose Suite, first movement

Music can transport you because it doesn't involve a logical thought process. When listening to music, you use the right brain, which thinks in images. This is the creative, intuitive half of your brain that's responsible for dreams and expressive art forms like music and painting.

For those of you who wish to pursue music therapy in more depth, call the American Music Therapy Association, 301-589-3300. And if you'd like further insight into the power of music, rent the movie Immortal Beloved.

Meditation and Prayer

Meditation is a great way to put the brakes on stress hormones naturally. There are many forms of meditation—including prayer, which is a form of meditation that can soothe your spirit as well as your mind. Additionally, yoga and T'ai Chi are effective physical exercises that have a meditative aspect. To get the most of your meditation, find a quiet place where you can be alone, get away from phones and other disturbances, and get comfortable. Then, do the following:

1. Focus on Abdominal Breathing: Sit in a relaxed, comfortable position and simply breathe in the manner I described earlier.
2. Relax Your Muscles: Working from your head to your toes, relax each muscle group in turn.
3. Focus on a Word or Recite a Prayer: Repeat something soothing to yourself. It can be anything—a sound, a single word, or a phrase. If you're religious, you may want to repeat a phrase like, "the Lord is my shepherd." If you're not religious, you may want to focus on a happy childhood memory and say a word that comes to mind. Repeat it slowly, over and over, and relax to the repetitive rhythm.

Additionally, be sure to have any negative thoughts that creep into your mind while meditating simply pass through. Don't let them linger. Stay focused on your meditation and/or prayer.

Remember, the holiday season is a time to focus on the joy of life and the company of loved ones. It's not supposed to be about enduring stressful situations and a sense of melancholy. If you're feeling overwhelmed, put the commercial hype out of your mind by turning off the television and focusing on the affirmations of Thanksgiving and the religious holidays of the winter season.

Also, don't allow expectations on your time drain you of your energy and enthusiasm. If you feel the need, stop what you're doing and use one or more of the relaxation tips I've mentioned. You'll be jazzing up your energy levels instead of singing the holiday blues.

To learn more about Dr. Sinatra's top recommendation for daily health, click here.

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