Holiday Nervous System Reset Guide: 5 Quick Practices for Overwhelmed Busy Women (2024)

The Sensitive Woman’s Guide to Holiday Wellness: 5 Nervous System-Supporting Practices

For busy professionals and women dealing with nervous system dysregulation, the holiday season can feel overwhelming rather than joyful. The good news? You can navigate this busy time while honouring your body’s needs and maintaining your well-being.

Let’s explore practical strategies that support your nervous system and help you find peace amid the holiday chaos.

Understanding Holiday Impact on Your Nervous System

The combination of social obligations, disrupted routines, and increased sensory input can quickly lead to nervous system overwhelm. However, with intentional practices and boundaries, you can maintain regulation while still participating in seasonal joy.

1. Three-Minute Nervous System Reset Practices

Your nervous system needs regular opportunities to reset and regulate. These quick practices can be done anywhere, anytime:

Essential Reset Tools:

• VOO Breathing: Make a gentle “voo” sound while exhaling, feeling the vibration in your chest
• Containment Hold: Cross arms over chest, hands under armpits, hold for 2 minutes
• Orienting Exercise: Slowly scan your environment, naming things that feel safe. See this practise here

Pro Tip: Set three daily “regulation anchors” – specific times when you’ll practice these tools for just 3 minutes.

2. Permission to Pause and Protect

Your capacity for social engagement and stimulation might be different from others, and that’s perfectly okay. December before capitalist society took over was a slow, quiet month for reflection deep rest and pause. Honor yourself and your capacity, everyone is at a different season of life, and you do not need to compare yourself to others to figure out how you want to behave or meet your needs. In today’s world, being a ‘healthy deviant’ where the norm is sickness + poor health/boundaries, takes awareness, reflection, commitment and authenticity.

Give yourself permission to do you.

Boundary-Setting Essentials:

• Remember: your “no” is a complete sentence
• Set firm exit times for events
• Listen to your body’s overwhelm signals (struggle to sleep, slow down, symptoms)
• Have a prepared “exit strategy”

Expert Insight: Create a list of gentle phrases for declining invitations or leaving early, keeping them in your phone for easy reference.

3. Strategic Hydration and Immune Support

Your nervous system functions best when your body is well-hydrated and supported. This is a very simple but such fundamental part of our health, energy and wellbeing. DRINK WATER!

Best with some electrolytes added as we need minerals and salts for optimal health. (If you want an expert suggestion for electrolytes or high grade supplements feel free to reach out).

Daily Rhythm:

• Morning: 16oz water with mineral-rich salt
• Noon: 10-minute sunshine break
• Evening: Calming herbal tea ritual

Attempt to see daylight upon rising, keep consistent bedtimes and ensure you are supporting your immune system by moving daily, eating a variety of colourful fruits + vegetables, and taking a high-quality vitamin D.

4. Create Your Sleep Sanctuary

Quality sleep becomes even more crucial during the holiday season, especially for nervous system regulation. Our sleep is so overlooked, and yet during this process our brain literally cleanses itself and cleans out all the toxins from our brain, if we consistently get poor sleep (less than 8 hours) we are inviting a build up of toxins in the brain and body, leading to more brain inflammation, leading to those fun symptoms (brain fog, fatigue, low mood, anxiety etc). PRIORITISE SLEEP

Sleep Support Protocol:

• Dim lights 2 hours before bed
• Try legs-up-the-wall pose for 5 minutes
• Use blue-light blocking glasses after sunset
• Create a 15-minute pre-sleep ritual ( I love to brain dump my thoughts + write a few things for next day)

5. Establish Your Daily Anchor Practice

Choose ONE 3-minute practice to return to consistently throughout the season:

• Hand-on-heart breathing
• Gentle humming
• Soft shoulder rolls
• Conscious belly breathing

Remember: Consistency Over Perfection

Your nervous system responds best to gentle, consistent care rather than sporadic intensive practices. Start with just one of these tools and build gradually.

Signs You’re Supporting Your Nervous System Well:

• Improved sleep quality
• Better stress resilience
• More stable energy
• Clearer boundaries
• Increased body awareness

Ready to Transform Your Relationship with Your Nervous System?

If you’re tired of feeling overwhelmed and ready to create lasting change in your nervous system health, The Nourished Woman Blueprint might be your next step. This comprehensive 1:1 program combines nervous system healing, holistic health + clinical nutrition, and cyclical living to help you move from overwhelm to embodied wellness.

Limited spots are available for 1:1 support – book your free discovery call to begin your journey home to yourself.

Stay informed with our newsletter featuring nervous system regulation, women’s health + hormones.

[Keywords: nervous system health, holiday wellness, sensitive women, nervous system regulation, holiday stress, somatic practices, women’s health, holiday self-care]