6 Tips to Help With Holiday Stress

We all know that the holidays can be stressful with the many demands of shopping, baking, parties and the expectation that you should be filled with cheer and goodwill. This is all daunting under the best circumstances, but if you are also losing your vision to eye diseases such as glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration or diabetic retinopathy, the depression can increase.

6 Tips to Help With Holiday Stress

holiday stress
Being realistic, planning ahead and asking for help will let you deal with the stress and depression that may come with the holidays. Here are six tips that will help you deal with the pressures of the holidays, with additional tips for those with vision loss.

  1. Begin by realizing you don’t have to be happy just because the holidays are here. You may have experienced a loss of someone close to you that makes celebrating the holidays hard.
     
    With vision loss: You may miss seeing or putting up decorations; baking for friends and family; or seeing the joy and smiles of loved ones. You can’t force yourself to be cheerful because of the time of year.

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  2. While the common reaction to depression is stay home and isolate yourself, don’t, it will only make you feel worse and dwell on things you cannot change. Join friends when they ask you out, find community events to attend or volunteer. Sharing time with others can provide a welcome distraction and lift your spirits.
     
    With vision loss: It is common to be uncomfortable with asking friends and family for a ride, but if they are attending the same party of community event, ask them if you can get a ride. They won’t mind a will be glad you are there. Worst case, call a taxi or use Uber.

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  3. Don’t expect perfection. You need to define for yourself what would make a great holiday and not let the media and retail stores tell you what the holidays should be. Also remember that your traditions will change as your family changes and grows. Look at this as an opportunity to be creative and start new traditions.
     
    With vision loss: Scale your holiday to what is comfortable to you. If fewer decorations make it safer and easier for you to navigate around your home, then reduce the number of things that go up to a few larger items you can enjoy more easily – you can even “decorate” with holiday music.

    Even traditions may need to change. Allow someone else to host the family or neighborhood celebrations. It is nice to pass the honor on and you won’t be so stressed and tired you can’t enjoy the festivities.

  4. Plan ahead so you don’t feel the pressure. This refers to budgeting both time and money.
         • Plan extra time for decorating, shopping, baking, wrapping presents, or any other activity you want to include. Rarely do things run smoothly, especially at holiday time.
        • Decide how much money you can spend, and stick to it. To make money go further, give homemade gifts, start a gift exchange instead of shopping for everyone in your family or office, or make a donation to a charity in someone’s name.

    With vision loss: The same concepts apply – you need to budget your time and money.

  5. Don’t over extend yourself and learn to say no. If you don’t you may become resentful and overwhelmed. Friends and family will understand if you can’t do everything. If your guilt gets the better of you, ask the person making the request to help with the tasks. They will gain a new appreciation of what you do.
     
    With vision loss: Don’t be afraid to let people know that you may not be able to do things as easily as you could in the past. No one, except you, know the limitations you have with your vision. It can be very uncomfortable for others if they think they are asking too much of you, and you could become resentful for being asked to do something beyond your capabilities.

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  6. Stay healthy. The best way to do this is to watch what you eat and drink, get plenty of sleep, continue any exercise routine you have and take time to relax.
         • You will be tempted with lots of sweets and snacks. Try eating something healthy like cut veggies before you go to the party to curb your appetite. Remember to limit your alcohol because of the calories and the fact that it is a depressant.
         • Sleep will keep you alert and better able to focus what you want to get done and will help keep you more positive.
         • Exercise is a great way to help relieve the stress you feel, give you an extra burst of energy and help you clear your head.
         • Taking 15-20 minutes to just listen to music, take a bath, go for a walk or read book can help you think more clearly and relax. You will actually get more done when you can “re-charge” yourself.

    With vision loss: Everything listed above is good for good eye health. A good diet of brightly colored fruits and vegetables and exercise are very important. Being tired can affect how well you see, and stress has been known to have an adverse effect on a person’s vision.

Because of the busy holiday season, this month we will only be publishing once a week, on Tuesdays.

12/8/15

Susan DeRemerSusan DeRemer, CFRE
Vice President of Development
Discovery Eye Foundation

9 Ways To Relieve Cataract Surgery Stress

It’s an extremely rare person who would not feel nervous before surgery of any kind, even if it’s an outpatient procedure that will only take a few minutes. In the case of cataract surgery, the fear can be even worse than the procedure itself.


9 Ways to Relieve Cataract Surgery Stress
People who are under intense stress can suffer a range of symptoms, including irregular or racing heartbeat, nausea, upset stomach, difficulty breathing, and an inability to sleep. It can even affect your mind, causing you to forget important details about the operation, like advice on how to get ready or what to do after you come home from surgery.

Here are 9 ways to relieve cataract surgery stress:

1.  Just Think About It – Let’s start with the first, and most difficult, suggestion—change your own mind about how you feel. Admittedly, it takes a great deal of discipline that’s hard to muster in the face of great anxiety, but try to remind yourself how your sight will be saved after a relatively short, quick, and easy procedure. What you are about to go through will prevent you from going blind.

 

2.  Learn Everything You Can – For many, it helps to learn as much as possible about the surgery before it happens. Knowing exactly what’s going to happen and how others have dealt with what you’re going through can be a great relief. Knowledge may be all you need to relieve your anxiety.

 

3.  Talk to Your Surgeon – It almost always helps to just talk to someone, and who better than your surgeon? Who else knows every detail of the procedure you’re about to undergo? It’s fairly likely that your surgeon has performed many successful surgeries of this kind before, and he or she may have some stories of encouragement for you, as well as important and comforting knowledge of his or her own personal experiences.

 

4.  Imagine the End Result – It may help if you keep focused on what happens after, as if it’s already done and you can go home, the procedure over. This takes a great deal of imagination, rather than the discipline of thinking rationally about it, but if you have that level of imagination, it’s certainly worth trying.

 

5.  Alternate Methods – This encompasses a whole range of stress-reducing tactics that are not usually under the medical umbrella. Nevertheless, they have done a great many people a lot of good. Yoga, hypnosis, massage, acupuncture, acupressure, and other treatments have allowed those suffering preoperative stress to sleep better at the least.

 

6.  Herbal Supplements – A form of alternative treatment involving traditional ingredients to produce a more restful state. The herbs are often just infused into tea and drunk. While these supplements are generally called “all natural,” you should always consult your doctor before taking them, since they can have an effect on other medications you may be taking, including the anesthetic you are given before surgery.

 

7.  Have Some Fun – Do something fun to take your mind off of what’s about to happen. Whatever that specific thing may be is up to you, since an individual’s idea of fun differs from person to person. Whatever you generally do to take your mind off of things and unwind after a hard day may be just the thing to help you out before undergoing cataract surgery.

 

8.  Treat Yourself – In the same vein has doing something fun, do something that usually relaxes you. If you like going for long walks, do that the day before the surgery. Or listen to music that fills you with peace (or joy). Take a long bath. If it makes you feel relaxed or calm, it will help you deal with your anxiety.

 

9.  Distract Yourself – Once you get to the hospital, you’ll probably be waiting around, even if you get there right on time, giving plenty of time for stress to ramp up. You’ll do better if you keep yourself entertained, but the hospital waiting room is probably one of the more boring places on earth. Fix that by bringing something along to entertain yourself, like a book or some magazines, or even stream your favorite movie or podcast. You’ll probably want to bring more than one thing to do, in case the wait is long.

 

Stress adds complication to the body’s systems, and can therefore cause some complication in the upcoming surgery. Do what you can, whether you kick back with friends or take some herbal supplements, to help yourself get into the best mind space possible. Think about the positive outcomes, and you’ll do well.