Healthy habits and the holiday season: Tips for families to navigate eating, physical activity and sleep

The holiday season is a time of exciting activities, family get-togethers and a time away from the normal work and school routine. As a result, your family, like many others, may feel like your usual routines are lost in the holiday hustle. Possible disruptions that can affect well-being and cause household stress include irregular meals, more snacking and screen time and later bedtimes.

The good news is, integrating simple, healthy household habits over the holidays can help your family maintain healthy eating, sleep and activity behaviours to feel your best during this busy holiday season.

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As registered dietitians and family health researchers, we have conducted studies on family health and learned a number of effective strategies that can help your family create healthy habits. Here are our three top tips to help your family maintain healthy eating, physical activity and sleep habits while still enjoying everything this special season has to offer.

1. Make meals a family affair

Hectic schedules during the holidays can make it feel almost impossible to find time to cook and sit down for a family meal. However, during the holiday season, when there are many chances to snack on cookies and candies, making time to sit down for at least one family meal a day is key. This simple habit helps your family maintain healthier eating patterns and gives everyone a valuable chance to connect.

Remember, the family meal doesn’t have to happen at dinner time. Work around your holiday schedule; if breakfast together works best, that’s great.

Involve the whole family, including young children, in food preparation. This can include holiday baking, cooking a family meal or making a dish for a holiday get-together. Involving children in meal preparation, such as stirring food, measuring ingredients or even helping with grocery shopping, can improve their likelihood of trying the food they create and may reduce picky eating.

For ideas on simple, family-friendly recipes with tips for involving kids, check out the series of free cookbooks developed by researchers at the Guelph Family Health Study.

2. Find moments to move, play and unplug

Get outside! Children who spend more time outside are more physically active. Spending time in nature also supports brain development and helps kids relax.

Plan a family hike, go skating and sledding; walk to nearby events and through your neighbourhood to enjoy holiday lights. These brief opportunities for movement add up!

When it’s time to come inside to warm up, have a plan for screen time. Children spend less time in front of screens when their parents set screen time limits. While this may sound like a tough feat during the school break, setting specific screen-time limits for the holiday season can help kids know what to expect, which may reduce day-to-day arguments about screens.

Keep meals screen-free. Turn off the TV and put phones and tablets in a designated place away from where you eat.

Setting screen limits doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy your favourite holiday movies. Purposeful, time-limited screen use has its benefits. In fact, co-viewing movies or TV together has been associated with many cognitive benefits for kids. Asking content-related “what if” and “why” questions can help develop vocabulary and critical thinking.

3. Balance festivities with family sleep routines

A good night’s sleep can help everyone, parents included, make the most of the holiday season. Children with sufficient sleep report less stress and hyperactivity, and better physical and mental health. Depending on their age, children and adolescents need between eight and 17 hours of sleep per day, while adults need seven to nine hours of sleep. Research shows that one in four children are not getting enough sleep.

Between festivities, keeping a consistent bedtime routine can help your children get enough sleep. Make time to unwind from a busy day with calm, screen-free activities such as reading a book before going to bed.

Maintaining a consistent bedtime routine can also help children fall asleep when sleeping away from home. Giving children a “few-minutes warning” can help them navigate their emotions when it’s time to stop a fun activity to get ready for bed. Children who are more sensitive to change may need extra closeness with their parents to feel safe and fall asleep in a new environment.

We hope these simple routines can help your family connect, slow down and find joy even during the busiest days of the holidays.