{"id":124751,"date":"2022-11-09T11:40:12","date_gmt":"2022-11-09T16:40:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/cehs\/?p=124751"},"modified":"2022-11-09T11:40:12","modified_gmt":"2022-11-09T16:40:12","slug":"how-to-stay-healthy-during-the-holidays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/cehs\/2022\/11\/09\/how-to-stay-healthy-during-the-holidays\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Stay Healthy During the Holidays"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>All those articles and advice you may see this holiday season about burning off Thanksgiving dinner?<\/p>\n<p>Ignore them \u2013 regular overindulgence over a period of weeks or months can indeed affect weight and body fat, but\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/experts\/dr-evan-matthews\/?\">Evan Matthews<\/a>, associate professor of Exercise Science and Physical Education, says overeating during a single meal won\u2019t impact your body in a significant way.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, make a plan to stay active throughout the winter \u2013 not just when you feel \u201cguilty\u201d for having a few too many glasses of eggnog. Here, Matthews shares tips on maintaining consistent physical activity during the colder months to balance out the big dinners, toasts and holiday treats.<\/p>\n<h2>How to exercise safely during winter<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Safety first! When exercising outside, be sure to dress in layers. Remove one layer at a time as you feel hot \u2013 the goal is to be warm, but to avoid excessive sweating, which can increase the likelihood of hypothermia.<\/li>\n<li>Avoid early morning or late evening workouts on cold days. This will allow you to exercise when the temperature is near the highest it will be during the day. Also attempt to avoid inclement weather like rain, snow and strong wind.<\/li>\n<li>Follow safety protocols. Consider local and current COVID-19 guidelines before deciding to exercise indoors around other people.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Simple ways to exercise<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Work out at home. Investing in at-home exercise equipment will reduce the barriers to exercise associated with the \u201cneed to go to the gym\u201d mentality.<\/li>\n<li>No equipment? No problem. Cardiorespiratory and resistance exercise can include walking, running and bodyweight calisthenics.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Customize your workout plan<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Find an exercise buddy. Develop in-person or virtual social relationships around your exercise habits to promote exercise adherence.<\/li>\n<li>Schedule it into your existing routine instead of rearranging your entire life around exercise. Adults should accumulate 150 minutes of moderate intensity or 75 minutes of vigorous intensity cardiorespiratory exercise per week. \u201cCardiorespiratory exercise can be broken up throughout the day into 10-minute chunks rather than all at once,\u201d says Matthews. \u201cThis makes it easier to get your walking and other forms of exercise in during short breaks throughout the day.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Focus on the benefits of exercise to stay motivated<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Good for the body\u2026 \u201cExercise is well known to improve physical health outcomes, including reducing blood pressure, cholesterol, body fat and insulin resistance. These all decrease the likelihood or severity of many cardiometabolic diseases,\u201d says Matthews.<\/li>\n<li>\u2026and the mind. Studies strongly suggest that exercise can \u201creduce anxiety and depression in everyone regardless of the severity of your symptoms,\u201d he says. \u201cIn fact, cardiorespiratory exercise has proven to be as effective as psychotherapy or pharmacotherapy in treating depression. Exercise can also be used in conjunction with other mental health treatments to improve anxiety and depression, including conditions like seasonal affective disorder.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Make exercise a year-round activity<\/h2>\n<div class=\"prpl-row\">\n<div class=\"prpl-column one-fourth\">\n<figure class=\"responsive-image-holder wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/responsive-media\/cache\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2018\/02\/Evan-Matthews.jpg.0.1x.generic.jpg\" alt=\"Evan Matthews\" data-original-image=\"\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2018\/02\/Evan-Matthews.jpg\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Evan Matthews<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"prpl-column three-fourths\">Matthews\u2019 tips for creating an active routine of cardiorespiratory and resistance exercise can be maintained all year long. \u201cThe positive impacts on physical and mental health are greatest with long term exercise adoption,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd some of the most basic forms of exercise can not only help you during the holidays, but help you throughout the year.\u201dTo interview Evan Matthews,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/contact-media-relations?\">please contact the Media Relations team<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dr. Evan Matthews: Exercising can fight stress and balance holiday excess<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":124752,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-124751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-23_college-news-and-events","category-espe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/cehs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/cehs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/cehs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/cehs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/cehs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124751"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/cehs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124751\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":124753,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/cehs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124751\/revisions\/124753"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/cehs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/cehs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/cehs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/cehs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}