The Holidays are Coming don't Stress- Here are a few tips to keep you from falling apart

Holiday shopping is stressful to your body and your wallet. Bundled in a sweater and winter coat, you drive from store to store, getting in and out of the car, lugging packages. Six, eight or 10 hours later, you arrive home exhausted, only to realize that 15 or 20 gifts must be carried from the car into the house. Meanwhile, the rain has turned to sleet, and the sleet to snow. Travel by car and foot are treacherous. You are slipping and sliding all the way. The shopping bags get wet and tear. You stumble into the house, crash onto the couch, and eventually fall asleep slouched and slumped in an overstuffed pillow chair. Hours later you wake up with a stiff neck and lower-back pain. You wonder what happened. What could you have done differently? Here are some suggestions: • Rest well • Lack of sleep and stress can cause your muscles to tighten up and spasm. To avoid this: • Try to get a good night's sleep before a day of shopping. • Lessen the stress by preparing a shopping list, organizing a sequence to visit stores in a logical order. • Try not to "do it all" in one shopping day. Travel tips Prolonged sitting and driving, especially with poor posture, is very stressful to the neck and back. So is getting in and out of the car, twisting and turning over and over again, especially with bulky clothing. • Use a lumbar roll when sitting in the car. • Sit up straight and adjust your seat closer to the steering wheel, and limit reaching with the arms and slouching. • Use the headrest for your neck on the highway. • Get out of the car and stretch backward to extend your neck and back every 45-60 minutes. Carrying packages • Make a few extra trips to the car to drop off packages before they accumulate. • Multiple packages of different sizes and shapes, especially with torn bags or without handles, make your neck and back vulnerable. • Bending over to browse through or pay for items, especially while holding your purse or other packages, strains your neck and back. • Bending over and twisting to put items in the car and trunk makes you vulnerable to back pain. • Use good-quality shopping bags and a cart when possible. • Put down items when browsing or paying. • Do stretching exercises, bending your neck backward, extending your lower back and pinching your shoulder blades together 10 times every 30 minutes. • Use a lightweight purse, or use a wallet and leave the purse home. Pamper yourself After all your hard work, in the spirit of the holidays, treat yourself to relaxation. Consider a full-body massage, a foot massage, a pedicure, a whirlpool bath, and some wine and cheese. Do your shopping online this year. visit adorabellabaskets.com for all your gifting needs