Managing Stress Around the Holidays to Promote a Healthy Pelvic Floor
It’s December! Which means we’re smack in the middle of holiday season. There are several holidays taking place during this month, outside of the main ones advertised throughout US marketing (Hannukah and Christmas), and Thanksgiving just passed. With all of the holidays come the stress from getting it all together, the shopping, meal prepping, family outings, gatherings, sales, decorating, and more. There is this constant whirlwind of something to do, and being amongst the land of the living, interacting with family because you want to, or you feel obligated to. Stress doesn’t mean that the trigger is a bad thing, good times bring on stress as well, but our bodies do not interpret them differently.
To our body, stress is stress, and leads to the activation of our sympathetic nervous system, the increase of cortisol in our bodies, and the increase in tension throughout the muscles, including our pelvic floor muscles. Activating our sympathetic nervous system, decreases our parasympathetic nervous system, which slows down our digestive tract, increasing our chances of becoming constipated. Throw in tension in the muscles, it makes it more difficult to allow our pelvic floor to relax to release stool. Also, eating lots of carbs and foods that “stick to your ribs” can slow down digestive as well. All of this causes constipation, pain, discomfort, and an unhappy pelvic floor.
Muscle Tension and decreased parasympathetic activity can also lead to decreased sexual arousal, pain with vaginal penetration, and difficulty with orgasm. So yes! Stress, can jack up your sex life as well, which may lead to more stress.
So what do we do about it? How do we manage stress, so that we can help prevent the rude side effects to our pelvic floor?
1. Boundaries: If you don’t want to hug someone, or allow your kids to do so, don’t. If you want to be called Mohammed Ali, even though your momma named you Cassius, don’t allow people to call you Cassius. If you don’t want people to hold your baby, say that, and maybe wear your baby so it makes it more difficult to allow people to hold them. If you can only spend 1 hour tops with your in-laws, set a timer, and make sure your spouse knows when it goes off, y’all need to haul tail! The point is boundaries can help you decrease stress levels, because you’re not allowing the holiday to be an excuse for people to treat you in ways that are triggering.
2. Daily Movement: If you normally get up and go to the gym, try to keep up that routine even throughout the holidays. That is your body’s way of managing cortisol, and if you have that routine, keeping your routine will help to mitigate stress levels as well. With increased food, drinks, and time with family, it is also a good idea to take a daily walk after heavy meals. The walk will help decrease cortisol levels, activate the parasympathetic system, and create blood flow to the pelvic floor.
3. Rest: Doing a million things nonstop is a sure way to send your body into overload. Take time to rest, take a nap, go to bed before midnight, lay on the couch for an hour or so to help slow things down and allow your body to recover.
Hopefully these tips are simple enough for you to incorporate into your holiday season, and that it helps you enjoy a happier pelvic floor! Happy Holidays!
