Post Festival Depression and Ways to Cope with

The holiday season is both joyful and stressful at once.  There is family to get along with, gifts to buy and return, people to visit, activities to throw yourself into, plenty of festive food to eat, sales to rush to, and parties to plan and attend.  And after spending a wonderful holiday over the series of festival period, some people feel blue and find that it's difficult to function normally in their daily rhythm.  Actually, this is a commonly occurring phenomenon when one deals with daily life stress and change, termed as post festival depression.

Some suggested self-help tips to get rid of your post festive season holiday blues:

• Take a break from the monotony and indulge in a hobby
• Exercise to work off tension
• Relaxation techniques like meditation, yoga and chanting are beneficial
• Eat a healthy diet, with plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables
• See a physician, especially if physical complaints persist
• Do things that give you cause to look forward to something
• Choose activities that meet your budget and interests, and that you know will give you a thrill
• Eat away your blues; eat foods that boost your serotonin neurotransmitters like foods containing bananas, poultry, dairy products, and peas
• Keep exercising;  it will give you the mood-boost you need and gets you moving again
• Trying to keep a positive frame of mind and planning for interesting events throughout the year is a good way to calm your current blues

---Dr. Jitendra Nagpal, Consultant, Psychiatry, Moolchand Medcity, New Delhi

Read more articles on Festival Fever