Christmas can be good for you!

1. Shopping – I had to think about the positives of this one, I don’t like shopping. I get less worn out running a half marathon than I do when I go shopping but… it is exercise. Walking around the shops counts as physical activity. We should all walk more, at least 30 minutes a day to keep bones healthy, the cardio vascular system pumping blood around our body and if you include carrying bags it keeps muscles strong. Try to avoid the busiest times to avoid stress and plan what you need to buy in advance.
2. Parties! – Everyone enjoys a Christmas party! Being social helps lift our mood and strutting your stuff on the dance floor counts as a workout! Laughter is great for us too, so watching people strutting their stuff can improve our own health! Word of warning, don’t make a complete fool of yourself at the works Christmas do, you have to see these people again! If you fancy a work colleague but they have made it clear that they don’t feel the same what makes you think that they will change their mind when you declare your undying love for them under the influence of a bucket full of alcohol with your eyes rolling round your head? Trust me, you’ll regret it! On the same note; don’t tell your manager what you really think of them…
3. Carol singing – We all know the classic Carols from school and what better way to make us feel Christmassy but a good ol’ sing song! Research has shown that singing improves mental health that is unless you have a voice like mine, I feel fine when I sing, it’s everyone else around me who suffers!
4. Christmas films – Watching cheesy Christmas films with the family snuggled around the Christmas tree is a fantastic way to get us all together and enjoying each other’s company without the kids fighting and/or stuck with their heads in their phones for a couple of hours.
5. School Nativity Plays – You get a bit of everything from these; a sing song, family time and humour. At local Primary School Teacher Jennifer Harber’s recent nativity play, the Angle Gabriel announced that the new baby Jesus was ‘bored…’
6. Eating! – We love an excuse to eat food and not feel guilty, ‘oh, go on then, it’s Christmas after all…’ Yes, it is for three days, not 31! December isn’t an excuse to stuff your face non-stop. Be sensible, if you’re out for a Christmas lunch you don’t need to eat a big dinner again in the evening. Keep up the exercise. A walk after Christmas dinner will help digest food and keep stress levels down! It will give you time to escape that relative who, if you have to be with them for five more minutes will have the trifle bowl over their head…
7. Presents! – We all love giving and receiving presents, well at least I thought we did. Listening to colleagues talking today I now doubt this. Some were saying they’d rather not get anything, it’s a waste of money blah blah blah but, it doesn’t have to be expensive, receiving a gift makes us feel good, someone has thought about us and taken the trouble to buy and wrap a present. We can all remember horrendous presents we’ve received in the past, but that’s all part of Christmas!
8. Panto – Christmas isn’t Christmas without going to a traditional Panto. The Gordon Craig Theatre never fails to put on a fantastic performance for the whole family to enjoy, ‘We’d better see it again then, won’t we? Woo!!’ (you’ll only get that if you’ve seen the Panto!).
9. Alcohol –‘Tis the season to be merry’. Merry being the operative word not mullered! Enjoy a drink, have fun but don’t put yourself or others at risk. DON’T be tempted to drive, even if you think you’re fine, you’re not. Make alternative arrangements to get home, especially women, don’t walk on your own.
10. People are more friendly – If you go shopping January to mid- December people scurry around the shops in their own little world, oblivious to those around them. During the last few weeks before Christmas however people speak to each other. Humans are weird; if we share an experience we will acknowledge the existence of other people, if you’re out walking in the countryside we will offer a courteous ‘mornin’ / afternoon’, we also do this when we’re walking the dog , but take the dog and countryside out of the situation and we ignore the person walking towards us. Christmas offers this licence to be sociable… It’s like we all have a shared sympathy, we empathise with the task of choosing presents and food shopping, we actually speak to strangers and sometimes we even wish people we’ve never met before a Merry Christmas!

So, for the Humbugs amongst us, these are good reasons to enjoy the festivities of the season; if you still don’t agree at least you’ll get some time off of work!

Have a fabulously Happy Christmas everyone x

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