healthy lifestyle

To Your Health! Combating Stress Before Your Wedding
Effectively combating stress during the wedding planning process is essential so that you remain healthy and keep your immune system strong.

Effectively combating stress during the wedding planning process is essential so that you remain healthy and keep your immune system strong.

Let’s face it: Wedding planning is both fun and stressful. You have budgets to follow, vendors to hire, deadlines to meet, and details to wrangle before you can pull your big day together. Illness makes achieving these goals more difficult, so it’s important to do what you can to remain healthy. Stress is often a contributing factor when we get sick, so combating stress can help you stay healthy in the months before you tie the knot.

Good or Bad Stress?

Medical professionals describe two types of stress: good stress and bad stress. The former, also called eustress, can prepare us to handle positive events and challenges. Healthline lists several examples, including starting a new job, having a child, purchasing a home, and of course, getting married. Nervous excitement is a telltale sign that you’re experiencing eustress, and the key is making it work for you. Healthline suggests getting regular exercise, trying new activities, and edging yourself out of your comfort zone. These practices can help you use the extra motivation and energy to accomplish your goals.

Stress and Your Health

When many people talk about stress and its negative impacts on health, they’re referring to distress. Canada.com’s body and health section mentions several common stress-related health issues such as sleep disturbances, fatigue, weakened immunity, mental health issues, and even heart disease. Distress also puts people at risk for gastrointestinal disorders, headaches, teeth grinding, strokes, and eating disorders.

Just like positive stress, the negative kind also manifests emotionally. It usually kicks in when we perceive that the demands on us are greater than our ability to handle them. We experience symptoms such as a faster heart rate and rapid breathing, but Mayo Clinic describes other physical responses such as blood sugar spikes, decreased hunger, and altered immune responses. When experienced repeatedly over a long time, it increases the probability of getting sick.

Tips for Combating Stress

Bad stress can come from many sources. Global News’ Meghan Collie reveals that workplace-related stress is so common that the World Health Organization considers job burnout as an official medical diagnosis. Planning a wedding can feel like a full-time job, especially with so many to-dos and deadlines. It, too, can lead to burnout for the same reason: the demands placed on us appearing greater than what we can handle.

Brides writer Stefania Sainato offers several useful suggestions for combating stress related to your nuptials. First, you and your partner should decide on the three most important aspects of your event and tackle those first. Deadlines are another stress-inducing detail, so set reasonable ones for completing items on your wedding to-do list. That means including some extra time for emergencies or other unexpected events. Getting assistance from friends, family, and wedding party members helps you feel less overwhelmed. Finally, consider hiring professional help if you’ve got room for it in your budget. A professional planner or day-of coordinator can also ease your load and accomplish some of your planning tasks.

Self-Care in Stressful Times

While you’re taking steps for better wedding planning and combating stress, don’t forget about helpful self-care practices. Sainato stresses the importance of taking a break. Stepping away from planning lets you clear your mind and enjoy some well-deserved downtime with friends, family, and your partner. Exercise can help you release some of your pent-up anxiety, so choose fun activities that match your physical abilities. In the meantime, be sure to get plenty of sleep and eat a well-balanced diet with a wide range of nutritious food.

Whether good or bad, planning a wedding can increase your stress levels. There’s no shame in feeling overwhelmed, but you do have ways of fighting back. Recognizing when you’re stressed out and taking steps to mitigate it will help you stay healthy before and after the big day.

Tackle Healthy Eating as a Couple
Committing to and making a plan for healthy eating with your partner can increase the chance of success and help you stick to your goals.

Committing to and making a plan for healthy eating with your partner can increase the chance of success and help you stick to your goals.

Living a healthy lifestyle is easier said than done. While most people understand the importance of a balanced diet and regular exercise, having the motivation to commit to these choices when faced with financial constraints and fatigue from work can be difficult. Luckily, it is far more likely for you to stick with healthy changes to your routine if you have someone by your side during the journey. By committing to healthy eating with your significant other, for example, you might be able to make the changes you desire. Consider these tactics and discover the most appropriate methods for reaching your goals.

Create a Healthy Eating Plan

First, you need to formulate a plan together. The goal of “healthy eating” is too vague and ill-defined to be a practical objective. Instead, approach the task from a pragmatic perspective. What do you hope to get from this experience? Perhaps you learned recently that your blood pressure is higher than it should be. This could be reason enough to adjust your diet and begin cutting out salty foods. Create a framework for your plan, and it will give you useful parameters to work within moving forward.

Shop Smart

After you develop a plan for how you’d like to prep meals, you need to make a list and hit the grocery store. One of the biggest challenges of healthy eating is going to the store without coming home with a bunch of junk food or items you don’t need. This is where you can use your partner to your advantage. If one of you has a stronger constitution when it comes to avoiding temptation, this should be the person tasked with shopping. When you both are bad at exercising restraint, go to the store together to remain focused.

Look at Better Options

Transitioning to healthy eating can be difficult for people who really enjoy specific, unhealthy foods. Cutting bacon out of your diet, for example, can be healthy for your heart. Sadly, bacon is really hard for people to say goodbye to. Instead of cutting it out completely, look into healthier alternatives. From turkey bacon to vegetarian strips, there are several ways to get the smoky, crisp experience of bacon without resorting to unhealthy habits. There are several fantastic resources for this online, so conduct a little research to find some healthier options.

Start the Day Together

One way to commit to a healthier routine is by eating breakfast together. Considered the most important meal of the day, what you eat in the morning sets the pace for what you consume later. If you eat a breakfast that does not satisfy you, then you might snack on empty carbs until lunch. Get the day started with a nourishing breakfast, and you can lay the groundwork you need to tackle whatever challenges await during your day.

Stay Strong

The whole point of getting into healthy eating habits with your partner is having someone you can turn to when you are having a low moment. After a particularly difficult day with a lot of strong emotions, you might feel tempted to break from your healthier habits. Instead of caving in, you can turn to your significant other for positive encouragement. Of course, you’ll also need to provide this support as well. As long as you know how to lean on each other, it can do wonders for your success.

There are countless reasons to think about living a healthier lifestyle, including healthy eating. Whether you’re trying to feel better, lose weight, or make more sensible decisions for your future, the trouble most people face is committing to the decision. By working with your partner on these wellness goals, you will increase your odds of success and commit to a rewarding challenge together.