The Root Cause of Holiday Health Struggles.
You work hard all year to feel like someone you can be proud of. You finally start eating cleaner. You stay consistent in the gym. You feel your confidence coming back. You feel in control again.
And then the holidays hit… everything starts slipping through your fingers.
Your eating goes off the rails one bite at a time. Your routine falls apart. You don’t sleep well. Your body feels less capable. You start avoiding mirrors.
This season is supposed to be joyful, but instead it feels like you’re quietly coming undone.
And the worst part?
It happens the same way every year, and there’s nothing you can do to stop it.
I want to help you explore to root causes everyone over looks when it comes to holiday health struggles.
The Primitive Wiring That Makes This Season Harder Than It Should Be
Humans are wired to gather and store resources.
Food. Shelter. Tools. Things that help the tribe survive the winter.
Today, the “resources” look different. They’re Amazon boxes, Target carts, and last-minute gift hauls.
But your brain doesn’t know that.
To your ancient wiring, December feels like a survival month:
Gather more.
Make sure everyone has enough.
Don’t be the one who falls short.
The problem? We’re not gathering food. We’re gathering stuff. And it’s choking us.
Dr. John Delony says: “We’re drowning in things, and the weight of all that stuff is making us anxious.”
We don’t notice it consciously, but our nervous system feels it. Too many decisions. Too many things. Too many obligations. And then comes the financial pressure.
Overspending Doesn’t Just Hit Your Wallet — It Hits Your Nervous System
When you swipe your card for gifts you didn’t plan for, or when you tell yourself “I’ll deal with it in January,” your body keeps track.
You don’t feel the threat like a tiger. You feel it as background noise:
Shorter fuse
Trouble sleeping
Random guilt
That dread that feels like a notification you can’t find but know is there
This is why people say they’re “stressed for no reason.” There is a reason — they just haven’t slowed down enough to notice it.
Going into debt over gifts doesn’t end when the holiday ends. Your mind remembers. Your body remembers. And like an app running in the background, it drains your battery every single day until it’s resolved.
The Loop We Get Stuck In
Here’s the cycle most people never name:
Pressure to give & impress
Overbuying to reduce guilt or avoid judgment
Shame or anxiety about debt and money
Numbing behaviors (food, scrolling, skipping workouts)
More anxiety that locks us into the loop
Suddenly you wake up in January feeling behind on your health, behind on your finances, and behind on life.
“If I only had more discipline and willpower” we say. Willpower is a fools game. We’re humans not robots. The problem isn’t willpower, it’s our biology misaligned with a modern world.
What Actually Helps (And Why It Works)
Becoming frugal or anti-gift isn’t the solution. Ive want to regulate your nervous system during a season built to overstimulate it. Here’s what moves the needle:
1. Cut your gift list by 30%. Immediately.
Most people don’t notice. Your anxiety will. More stuff, more gifts, won’t change the quality of our relationships and relationships are the real currency of life.
2. Set a “non-negotiable ceiling” for spending.
Not a flexible budget. A ceiling. Don’t go through it. The most important part? Be HONEST. If we can’t afford extravagant gifts guess what, our family and friends will probably feel relief that you shared without shame or guilt.
3. Replace “stuff giving” with shared experiences.
Take someone to coffee. Plan a game night. Write a memory in a card. People remember experiences more than items and this builds true relationships. The value is in the person not some gift we get them that acts as a weird relic (that will probably end up in the landfill anyways).
4. Build one reliable health anchor.
Not a whole routine. If you’re like me you want to do ALL of everything every day. One anchor that keeps your body out of panic mode that you do every single day:
Morning walk
20-minute lift or bodyweight workout
Hydration every day
Protein forward breakfast
5. Tell the truth instead of pretending.
The stress comes from performing. Say something simple:
“I’m keeping things simple this year — I need the season to be peaceful, not chaotic.”
A Different Kind of Holiday Season
Stop letting a cultural snowball crush your nervous system every December and build a mountain to climb come January.
Holiday stress isn’t inevitable. Financial chaos isn’t inevitable. Feeling behind on health isn’t inevitable.
This year can feel different — calmer, clearer, lighter — if you decide to stop overloading yourself in the name of tradition.
I’m striving for a version of the holidays that doesn’t require recovery.
(P.S. Part of our “health curriculum” for clients is learning about “backstops” for stress mitigation. If you’re familiar, those are incredibly helpful and essential! If you’re not, now is the time to reach out to learn our patented system for stress management that works for anyone in any situation.)