It’s the most wonderful time of the year…

Christmas is just around the corner and the event that is dubbed “the most wonderful time of the year” often isn’t. The stresses of Christmas are real, and this year may bring on more stress than usual.

We wanted to ask you, the general public what you were most stressed about this year in the lead up to Christmas and in doing so, we hope we can help you have a stress-free and relaxing Christmas.

WHAT WE FOUND

We surveyed 562 people from the UK to find out what they were worried about this Christmas, and the results were both sad, but also not surprising. Take a look below at our Christmas stress statistics.

Of the 562 people, we surveyed 46% were extremely concerned about the impact coronavirus may have on their Christmas celebrations. This could be to do with anything from not being able to go on holiday or being stopped from seeing close relatives, which is what 5% of the people who were concerned about coronavirus were worried about. With one of the people who participated in the survey writing “Being prevented from seeing family at Christmas”.

The usual Christmas dinner where you would spend time with family and friends, some of which you may only ever see over the Christmas period is unlikely to happen this year, so it came as no shock that this is what people were most worried about. We all have loved ones who may live alone and the thought of them being alone on Christmas Day is certainly upsetting. Keep reading as further down we give you a few tips that might make your Christmas Day a little more enjoyable.

27% of our participants said they were simply tense about the ‘general uncertainty’ of the world and everything that is going on at the moment. This is hardly a surprise to any of us. With the constant changes to the places we live, being restricted on our movement and the worry about the coronavirus a lot of us are already stressed, and with Christmas, on the horizon, it really isn’t the time for celebrations.

Christmas is usually a time for buying presents and the overall cost of Christmas was a concern to just 10% of the people we surveyed. With people losing jobs due to the ongoing coronavirus situation this again is hardly surprising. What is a surprise is that according to a survey conducted by Nutri Advanced as many as 48% of people were concerned about the cost of Christmas, a huge difference to just the 10% of people who were concerned within our findings. The survey from Nutri Advanced was conducted over a year ago, showing the stark differences in our concerns due to the UK lockdown.

HOW TO COPE WITH STRESS

Our Christmas stress relief tips below cover all of the points raised by our participants to help our readers with the stresses of Christmas.

CORONAVIRUS STRESS TIPS FOR CHRISTMAS

With you only being able to spend Christmas Day with your household you’ll need some innovative ways of speaking to family friends you don’t live with!

Organise a group call with all of your family on Zoom or any other video call applications and play games or host a Christmas Quiz that everyone can get involved in. You could even unwrap all of your presents while you speak to distant relatives on a video call, so they can see your reactions when you open up your gifts.

It’s these little things that will really make Christmas this year as ‘normal’ as possible and will hopefully relieve some of your stresses.

COST OF CHRISTMAS STRESS RELIEF TIPS

The cost of Christmas is certainly a worry for people. Firstly, you need to remember that Christmas will never be ‘perfect’. The more you strive for perfection the more stress you will put yourself in.

We can also suggest that you budget your money as best as possible if you’re wanting to buy presents for loved ones, check out Black Friday deals online and you’ll hopefully find the latest technology at a discounted price.

To help deal with the stresses of Christmas check out Minds ‘10 Commandments to Reduce Stress’ which gives you a personal mantra to help deal with the stresses of Christmas.