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MY WELLNESS Youthful Living
4 December 2019
Dr Arien van der Merwe is a medical doctor specialising in natural medicine, herbal remedies, stress management and holistic health counselling. Address: Arundel Medical Rooms, c/o Church & Arundel St, Hermanus. Website: www.DrArien.co.za
Tips for a stress-less holiday
By Dr Arien van der Merwe
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his time of year comes with mixed feelings, whether you’re celebrating Christmas, Kwanza, Chanukah, the Summer or Winter Solstice, a family holiday, or simply the end of another calendar year, looking forward to a well-deserved break. There are excitement and expectations galore, but certainly also some negative stress: feeling overwhelmed, pressured, dreading the pending loneliness many of us feel, experiencing a sense of obligation, anxiety about finding gifts, crowded stores, financial worry, not having enough time, family dysfunction, and so on. Our main challenge is that we sometimes have unreasonably high expectations of our holidays, especially the year-end one! This holiday has to fulfil a year’s worth of neglecting our work-life balance and be the complete rebalance, rejuvenation, rest and recovery period! We look forward to relaxing and enjoying simple pleasures, to having renewed willpower and energy to take on the New Year. Why then do we often feel tired, pressured and even exhausted after a wonderful holiday? You simply don’t have the energy to go back to work and you don’t even want to start thinking about the next 12 months! Many people experience this feeling – it is the holiday blues, a general and well-known phenomenon. You can do something to prevent this! In my experience, there are more requests for
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• Dr Arien van der Merwe is looking forward to continuing her medical practice, which specialises in natural, holistic, integrative and functional medicine, at her new premises in Hope Street, next to Fine & Country. Dr Arien, who is also an author, facilitator and public speaker, has become known as the kruiedokter (herbal doctor) of Hermanus, as she enjoys nothing more than educating people on the healing properties of herbs and spices that can improve our health and wellbeing. She calls her new rooms the ‘Green Healing Space’ from where she’ll be offering health counselling, weight control, stress management and workplace wellness. The Green Healing Space can be found at 16 Hope Street (c/o Hope & Dirkie Uys St). Contact 067 1166 111 or Hermanus@DrArien.co.za. For more info visit www.DrArien.co.za stress management consultations and workshops between January and March than any other months of the year. Stress-induced symptoms such as high blood pressure, eczema, asthma, chronic fatigue syndrome and insomnia also increase during January and February. There are various stress factors that can contribute to these symptoms: the holiday that you’d been looking forward to for so long didn’t meet your expectations, old family problems may have led to confrontations, you are under financial pressure with accounts that still need to be paid, and back at work you are greeted by administrative duties, including hundreds of emails that you need to catch up with, and
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MBChB, Dip Ophth (SA), FC Ophth (SA), M.Med Ophth (STELL)
Dr Louis Boezaart
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Tel 028 312 1344 1st Floor Hermanus Medical Village c/o Church and De Goede str Specialist eye care with state of the art technology. We specialise, diagnose and treat the following: • Cataracts • Retinal diseases • Glaucoma • Macular degeneration • Oculoplastics • Pediatric Opthamology • Diabetic related Eye Problems Contact the rooms to book your appointment Office hours Monday - Friday 08h00 -17h00
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your freedom is restricted again while your irritation with your co-workers are showing up as the mirror reflections of your suppressed and denied issues. Holidays and a new year mean change! Any change – good or bad – creates distress. The last week before your holiday is usually just a blur as you try to get everything done and organised. Stress-less tips for the holidays and the New Year • Try to eat healthy on your holiday: lots of fruits, vegetables, fresh fish, nuts and seeds, fresh water and herbal teas (steep freshly grated ginger root, chamomile, rooibos and hibiscus flowers in boiling water, let it cool down, add raw honey, mint leaves, fresh cherries or strawberries, lemon slices and lots of ice) to drink. • Most people stop taking their supplements during the holidays. Remember to take supplements like vitamin-B complex (for the nervous system), antioxidants to neutralise the holiday’s over indulgence, Gingko biloba (for concentration), valerian and chamomile tea (to help calm you down), milk thistle (for detoxification and to help the liver rejuvenate) and calcium, magnesium and essential fatty acids (for everything else!). • Make a commitment to stick to your exercise programme, adapted to the holidays: try more yoga, swimming, dancing or walking. • Enjoy ‘me’ time every day – we are human-beings and not human-doings. Give yourself some time out for introspection and being alone, especially outside in nature, to focus on your soul centre. Take these
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moments to experience the here and now (the present moment) and to appreciate it. Set your values, beliefs, goals and priorities and find out what is important to you, what makes your heart sing. Keep a dream diary next to your bed (over the holiday period and when you are back at work). Practise forgiveness, gratitude and bless all those around you, regardless of what you think or perceive they ever did, or are doing, to you. This will make you feel lighter and happier. Treat yourself to a relaxing bath (choose aromatherapy oils such as lavender, sandalwood, ylang-ylang, orange blossom, chamomile and neroli) or a deep tissue massage. Care for yourself with a natural UV-protection moisturiser or tanning lotion applied to a smooth, well-scrubbed body, deep facial cleanses and facial masks made of finely chopped cucumber, yoghurt and lemon juice. A short relaxation exercise to tune in, and become calm and peaceful, turning your attention away from outside things, people and situations that upset you: • Sit quietly in a chair, bare feet on the floor, arms and hands relaxed • Tense the muscles in your feet. Then relax them. Do the same with your lower legs, then upper legs, then buttocks, tummy, chest, hands, neck, head and face • Take your attention to your breathing. Make it deep and slow. Count to 4 or 5 as you breathe in. Hold your breath for 2 to 3 counts. Then sigh your breath out while you count for 5, 6 or 7. Carry on doing this for 2 to 3 minutes • If your mind becomes filled with thoughts, simply let the thoughts flow by like clouds in the sky, and keep on bringing your attention back to your breathing • After 2, 3 or even 5 to10 minutes, become aware of your body, slowly open your eyes, stretch and carry on with your day as usual, feeling calmer and more relaxed than before you did the exercise. Do this every the morning and evening, and whenever you feel upset, tired or stressed If your family (including the children) become too demanding, or you feel resentful about cleaning and cooking, it is time for a family pow-wow to explain gently, yet assertively, how you feel. Create a chore schedule where everybody is responsible for certain duties/tasks (making coffee in the morning, washing the dishes etc.), or taking turns with meals.
This will ensure a happy time of connecting with yourself, close and extended family, and friends. Be realistic: use the holidays to be yourself. Enjoy every day as it comes without expectations. Relax!
