There’s a huge bug going around. It started for me just hours after I wrapped the January 8th wedding, and peaked 2 days ago. That’s like a 10-day cold.
After some early-to-beds and popping the Tylenol Cold, I’m a lot better. But if you’re a bride, you definitely don’t want to get any sort of illness during your wedding. I walked away from my wedding reception with a sore throat – like the SECOND the wedding was over. I was well enough to handle a honeymoon in Hawaii (medicine in itself), but it’s true – your body waits to breakdown during a stressful period. Once the stressful period ends (i.e., wedding planning) all hell – immune system wise – breaks loose.
There are ways to prevent this. I think my reaction to wedding-planning stress – sipping gin and tonics while watching 1930s pirate movies – was probably not too effective and no doubt the reason I got sick. What I should have done was this:
- Breathe. Schedule in yoga classes to work out your kinks and get your breath going. Yoga reduces all sorts of disease and illness and deep breathing can slow down the nervous system and reduce stress on your cardiovascular system. It also centers you and keeps you from reacting too strongly to, er, certain issues (Grandma hates where she’s sitting at the wedding and is putting up a fit, for example). You gain perspective and your body relaxes, and this puts you in a better position to fight illness.
Spend time outside. Studies are showing that spending time outdoors has a relaxing, healing effect. Private Malibu estate, 12/2010.
- “Superfoods” is a catch-all term for all sorts of fruits, veggies, and nuts, and it behooves the bride to eat smartly and healthily (around all those cake and food tastings, of course). Lately I’ve been managing to eat one or two recipes a week with greens – they’re tough and bitter before cooking, but you can do a lot with them, like chop finely and add to pasta sauce (best lasagna ever, according to the hubs) or making snacks out of them. Kale chips are great, I swear!
Another on-the-job stress reliever: Scouting the Enchanted Sea Cottage, 9/2010
- Laugh and relax. See funny movies, kick back one night a week with your fiance, sleep in. Don’t get so caught up in the planning that you run yourself ragged- the whole point is to have fun and enjoy the process. Keeping perspective may be the ultimate immunity tool, actually. Use it wisely – and often!