Despite the general warm fuzzy feeling we all experience during the holiday season, it is often accompanied by an overwhelming sense of doom associated with finding the perfect gift, making the perfect dish and hosting the perfect party - but only after taking all those exams and making the necessary grades. For being known as the most wonderful time of the year, December sure is a stressful month!
A natural instinct when feeling overwhelmed and overscheduled - with both fun and work activities - is to exert control over our own lives by cutting out parts of our daily routines. The first to go for most people, myself especially, is exercise. It's devastatingly difficult to pull oneself away from those freshly baked cookies, warm fires and social events to strap on some running shoes and pound the pavement in the bitter cold.
As a result, most of us feel like we've spent the past few weeks like a bear preparing to hibernate and we now begin to feel guilty that our jeans are just the slightest bit snug. Immediately, remorse sets in for those days spent sipping peppermint schnapps-spiked hot chocolate by the fire instead of guzzling Powerade-spiked cold water at the gym. I'm here to tell you: Regret no more! In fact, we should relish the opportunity to relax, refresh and refocus granted by the holiday season.
Relax: It's not news that most Americans suffer from some degree of sleep deprivation, and college students are some of the worst offenders when it comes to not getting adequate snooze-time. Thus, the holiday season and time away from classes and exams is the ideal opportunity to catch up on all that sleep lost to all-nighters - studying or otherwise. Additionally, even too much exercise is too much of a good thing. Overtraining is a significant risk factor for injuries that can require weeks away from workouts to heal, rather than a few days. The body requires time - anywhere from one day to a full week - to heal the small tears in muscle fibers that develop during a weightlifting routine and to allow the muscles to grow and become stronger and more toned.
Refresh: As creatures of habit and routine, it's no mystery why workouts become routines, as well. Though it is comforting to have a set schedule of activities at the gym - not to mention you can get the timing down to the minute and plan time for everything else you'd like to do - it also can become boring. Monotony detracts from the excitement of making that trip to the gym, which can lead to less enthusiasm during the actual workout and can lead to a sort of "workout burn out" that can eventually lead to giving up all together. With that in mind, it is good to take the opportunity during the holidays to discover new gym activities that can reignite the enthusiasm you have for sweating. It can range from working out the same muscles with a new type of exercise to taking up a new type of exercise all together. According to Michael Phelps, swimming is a great full-body workout.
Refocus: Like most things in life, exercise is mental. A break might be just what your mind needs to unwind and get out of an exercise rut, as well as review your goals for working out in the first place - you might find that they have changed with time as you reach certain goals. I find that the time after waking up from the uniquely restorative sleep of food coma is a grand opportunity to come up with new workout goals and figure out which ones have already been met. Perhaps you could set a goal to run a 5K or work on getting a six pack - of abs, NOT beer. Refocusing is also a time to consider your lifelong fitness goals, which can include staving off obesity and associated complications, being able to run a marathon when you're in your 60s or just maintaining a "hot" body well beyond your 20s. Whatever your motivations, a break might just be what your brain needs to get enthusiastic about working out again.
In conclusion, there's no need to feel guilty about the break you took from your otherwise stringent - or not so stringent - workout regimen, because it just might have provided the spark you need to re-start your workouts with renewed vigor in the new year. Just remember that taking a day or two off every so often will contribute to your health, as well, because it will allow your muscles to heal, decrease your risk of injury and prevent you from falling into an exercise rut. Thus, do not resolve to do something crazy this January (almost February). Just resolve to relax, refresh and refocus to truly get the most of your time spent at the gym - or in front of your new Wii.
Katie McBeth is a University Medical student. She can be reached at k.mcbeth@cavalierdaily.com.
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