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Seasonal Stress Relievers
How to Relax and Enjoy the Holidays With Your Partner By Carma Haley Shoemaker
The holiday season is known for bringing people together – friends, family, loved ones. But the stress that often accompanies the holidays can drive a wedge between happy couples quicker than you can say "yuletide cheer."
According to the Stress Education Center, stress is a combination of demands placed on a person's money, time, emotions and energy and the body's response to those demands. And if stress is not properly dealt with, it can cause the body to become overly tense, leading to headaches, a stiff neck, high blood pressure, an upset stomach or a variety of other minor and major illnesses and conditions.
How much stress comes with the holidays? Dateline NBC and Prevention Magazine conducted a scientific poll to find out. The results? Forty-one percent of those polled said they find Christmas and Hanukkah stressful, rating it right up there with asking the boss for a raise.
Janet Schmidt, a homemaker from Belleville, Ill., says that much of the holiday time with her husband was spent talking and listening to each other or music while traveling in the car. "When we get really stressed out, we get in the car and go driving," she says. "It's something we do where we don't need a sitter, the kids enjoy the music and it takes us back to a time when we didn't have responsibilities or expectations."