Biofeedback Solutions

For people who have headaches, the holidays can be particularly difficult. Learning to take care of yourself when there are so many demands on your time can help you prevent headaches before they start. Even if you don’t have headaches, dialing down the stress dial can make the season a lot more fun.
• There are a lot of expectations about how the holidays SHOULD be. The advertisements portray these happy families getting together in the spirit of love, and friendship. In reality, bringing together family members during the holidays can be less than perfect. Take some time to do a reality check to avoid some of the disappointment that everyone will magically turn into “someone else” during the holiday celebrations.

• Make a commitment to enjoy the holidays not be a slave to them.

• Traditions are hard to change, particularly if not having _________(fill in the blank) will upset someone. Ask the person who would be disappointed if that special thing was missing to provide it for a change or eliminate it altogether.

• Many of the situations families have to deal with were not so prevalent a generation ago. Blended, step and non-traditional family groups were the exception. Now, it seems to be more the norm. So, family groups often must split their holiday time between several pairs of grandparents, parents, friends and other relatives. Be aware of this difficulty. Make your wishes known, but acknowledge the emotions that come into play when trying to satisfy a lot of different people.

• Take time for yourself. If you are the primary planner and doer be sure to schedule “down” time. Spending 10-15 minutes a day on you will pay off later.

• Most headache sufferers I know are very goal oriented, have high expectations and are the people who often take charge to get things done. This year spend some time figuring out how you could pare down you “things to do list”. Ask yourself how important is this thing if doing it will be a detriment to you. See if you can ask someone else to pitch in or be in charge. It may not be done exactly the way you would do it but it could make someone else feel included and give you a break.

• Don’t be a martyr to the holidays or the expectations of others. Take out all of the have to, should, ought to, need to’s on your list. Or just one if that is all you can tolerate!!

• Scale down your holiday spending. Review your financial situation. Make sure you can afford what you are spending so you don’t suffer from paying off all those credit cards next year.

• Draw names for gift giving if you have a lot of people you will be sharing the holidays with. After all, being with the people you care about is more important than how much you spend on them. One suggestion is have everyone buy gifts for the children and draw names for the adults. See what you can come up with.

• If you find yourself continually bothered by the stress in your life, you might consider a biofeedback device for home use that can help.