By Eric Levine, Ed.D., with Becky Shipkosky

We’re sensitive organisms, far more than we may realize. And the holidays can be a mini-trauma for the body and mind. We all have different traditions, but let’s imagine a fairly typical holiday: a long drive or a day spent in air-travel purgatory, followed by cookies, the world’s saltiest gravy, and drinks out with the old crew. Or maybe your evening is more focused on reminding the kids that Grandma’s porcelain clown collection is not toys while you sip rosé from a box, prep potatoes, and consume 30 or 40 black olives.

When it’s time to turn in, your accommodation is some version of a sleeper sofa, air mattress, or your childhood bed. Was it always this lumpy? You toss and turn all night, wake up unrested, and consider a hotel, ultimately choosing family togetherness over sound sleep. It's no wonder the holidays are exhausting, and January feels like it’s 17 weeks long.

So, what’s happening under the hood, and what can we do to come through it a little better this year? We dug into the research and found five main categories of neurobiological effects that negatively impact your mood when you start packing in the charcuterie and champagne. We’ll dig a little into each of them, and we’ll go over some strategies for coming out of the holiday season on a sunnier note.

Note: Naturally, how we eat is always influencing our mental health, but the assumption here is that your January-through-October diet is different and more balanced than what you’re consuming between Thanksgiving and New Year’s.

It’s no secret that our blood sugar spikes when we eat sweets. What happens from there is more complex and varies from person to person. The body, seeking to compensate for a sudden increase in blood glucose, may overproduce insulin, which causes blood sugar to drop below baseline (Altuntaş, 2019). This is called reactive hypoglycemia, and a significant minority of people experience some amount of it.

The glucose rollercoaster isn’t the worst part, though. Our bodies sense an emergency when blood sugar drops, which initiates a stress response. Cortisol, adrenaline, and other counter-regulatory

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