The holidays are always a good time to talk about making time for self-care and stress management. More heart attacks and strokes happen between Christmas and New Years than any other week of the year. 

A year ago, I was in the midst of a demanding and ungrateful work situation. After a lifetime of pushing myself too hard in order to appear and feel successful, I hit complete burnout, because I basically hadn’t made time for self-care in like, 32 years. And it really wasn’t pretty. It lead to challenging physical, emotional, and mental health issues. So I learned the hard way, you have to have to have to make time to rest.

No matter what diet you follow, how much you exercise and what supplements you take, if you’re not managing your stress you will still be at risk for chronic health conditions like heart disease, diabetes, cancer, Alzheimer’s, hypothyroidism and autoimmunity. But as pervasive as stress is, many people don’t do anything to mitigate its harmful effects.

In this episode, we take a good look at what self-care is, why it’s so important, and how you can start incorporating self-care into your own life, today!