I have never been so happy to see my own apartment as I was Sunday night. Between December 22nd and January 3rd I spent just three nights at home. Three!! The rest I was driving around the country to visit family for the holidays. I got home Sunday and refuse to leave again until March at the earliest.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the festivities and getting to see people I love, but it’s stressful! I knew it was getting bad when I developed something I’ve never had: bruxism, or nighttime teeth grinding. Needless to say, that little discovery drove me to figure out how to calm things down.

Here’s what I found:

• EXERCISE – Since we usually get that “fight or flight” response we call stress in places we can’t fight or flee, stress hormone levels stay too high for too long. Exercise (“fighting” or “fleeing”) works those hormones and neurochemicals out of your system. Even as little as one 20-minute walk a day will have a positive impact on your health.
• Get back to a comfortable routine – No, don’t schedule every second of your day hoping to avoid surprises, but do create a comfortable framework that can ease you through hectic times.
• Take a break – Spend some time doing what you want for a while and decompress. Enjoy a hobby. Take a walk. Have lunch with a friend. Do something, anything, to interrupt the stress response cycle. Uninterrupted stress is very harmful, so breaking it up will help you get those hormones back down to manageable levels.

I’m putting a few of these into practice as my new year’s resolution in hopes of post-holiday relaxation, grind-free nights and a less-stressed new year. Try it yourself and tell me what you think!

For more detailed information on stress and the body’s reaction to it, read this doctor-written-and-reviewed article and MedicineNet.com.

Tags: bruxism, health, holiday, nightguard, stress

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 5th, 2010 at 12:45 pm and is filed under Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.