How to Protect Your Energy and Wellness During the Holiday Season
The holidays are supposed to be fun, but they can also leave you feeling totally worn out.
Travel, late nights, packed schedules, stress, disrupted meals, and more time around other people can all leave you drained. By the time January arrives, it is not unusual to feel tired, sluggish, or like you are fighting off one cold after another.
Instead of waiting until you feel depleted, a few simple habits can help support your energy, immune health, and overall well-being throughout the season, so when January comes around, you are ready to kick off the new year with energy.
Do not let stress take over
Holiday stress can come from many directions, including travel, finances, family obligations, work deadlines, and the pressure to make everything feel perfect. Occasional stress is normal, but prolonged stress can affect sleep, energy, appetite, and immune function.
Try to protect small pockets of downtime. A short walk, a few minutes of quiet breathing, exercise, or simply saying no to one more obligation can help give your body a chance to recover.
Protect your sleep when schedules get busy
Sleep is often one of the first things to disappear when holiday schedules fill up. You may stay up later wrapping gifts, attend evening parties, travel across time zones, or sleep in unfamiliar places. Even a few nights of poor sleep can affect energy, concentration, mood, and immune function.
Aim to keep your sleep and wake times reasonably consistent, even when your routine changes. If you are traveling, natural light exposure during the day can also help your internal clock adjust.
If the holidays tend to disrupt your sleep, these tips for managing holiday sleep and stress can help you build a more consistent routine.
Keep your nutrition simple
Holiday meals do not need to be perfectly balanced, but relying entirely on cookies, party appetizers, restaurant meals, and airport snacks can leave you feeling drained once the holidays are over.
There is no need to avoid holiday foods you love, but instead focus on adding nutrient-dense options whenever you can. Pair fruits and vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds, and other minimally processed foods with holiday favorites to strike a balance in your diet.
When your diet is less consistent than usual, a multivitamin may help fill some nutritional gaps. We offer a variety of whole-food multivitamins formulated for different ages and life stages to support your nutrition.*
And don’t forget about hydration; it is just as important as a balanced diet. Even mild dehydration can contribute to fatigue, headaches, and difficulty concentrating. Carry a reusable water bottle when you travel, drink regularly throughout the day, and pay extra attention to hydration if you are drinking alcohol or eating more salty foods than usual.
Keep moving, even if workouts look different
Your usual exercise routine may not survive December, and that is okay.
Instead of giving up on movement altogether, lower the bar. Walk through the airport instead of sitting at the gate, take a family walk after dinner, do a short strength workout at home, or fit in 10 minutes of movement when you can. Regular activity supports cardiovascular health, sleep, stress management, and overall well-being.
Support your routine, not perfection
Holiday wellness does not require avoiding every treat, sticking to your normal workout schedule, or never staying up late. The goal is to maintain enough of your usual habits that you still feel like yourself. Prioritize sleep when you can, eat nutrient-dense foods regularly, stay hydrated, move your body, and give yourself time to recover from busy days.
For additional seasonal support, explore our Holiday Essentials collection for supplements designed to support wellness throughout the holidays.*