CRI听力: Tackling Holiday Disorders

With the holiday party season now in full swing, doctors are reminding us that it's important to watch what we eat. As our Li Dong reports, the medical community is advising us to watch our salt intake and try to reduce our overall stress levels to avoid holiday health problems.




During the holiday season the number of heart-related deaths usually goes up. That's because people are eating larger meals and getting stressed out from making preparations for New Year celebrations.

Doctors say some people also forget to take their medicine and don't want to disrupt the festivities with any health complaints.

Travis Stork is an accident and emergency doctor, he says:

"A lot of the processed foods we eat over the holidays are loaded with sodium, but we don't realize it because we don't taste the salt. But it's in there. Over the holidays I see people ingesting twice their normal amount of salt, or sodium, but they just have no idea because they're not even thinking about it."

Doctors urge everyone to check food nutrition labels and eat three to five servings of vegetables and two to four servings of fruit each day.

Certified pediatrician Dr. Jim Sears says the holidays are the best time to consider making life-changing improvements.

"Why is that important? Because sodium overload lead to hypertension, high blood pressure. And we call that the silent killer because you don't know what the symptoms of high blood pressure are. There aren't any symptoms. It just leads to a heart attack or a stroke or kidney damage, and that's a big, big problem. Fifty million Americans [and] 600 million (people) worldwide have high blood pressure."

Clinical psychologist Melody Levian says overindulging during the holidays doesn't occur with food.

"The holidays bring up a lot of feelings for many people, including familial stressors. A lot of people are triggered by lost loved ones, family conflict, and also there is this incredible pressure to overindulge—overindulgence in gifts, in food, and that brings up a lot of stress. A study survey done by Mental Health America indicates that during the holidays there is 50 percent increase in the amount of stress that individuals experience. And following the holidays, January 1st is actually the most significant increase in depression amongst individuals."

Doctors suggest that if people are feeling uneasy, stressed out or lonely they should try to have regular schedules and do exercises. They also say it's important to get an adequate amount of sleep and make sure there is someone to reach out to for support, especially following the holidays.

For CRI, I am Li Dong.