Holidays & Health

With MHIKNET staff contemplating a well-deserved holiday break, we thought you’d be interested in a few web sites and articles on health and the holidays. Most of the sites are from the Government of Canada’s Healthy Canadians web site and might be good for your patients and family. The Statistics Canada page is a wealth of information and facts that will stagger and amaze you. Definitely worth the long read. We’ve also selected articles on a variety of topics from the health effects of holidays; toxic holiday plants; energy expenditure; a holiday wish for Canadian children and an interesting case of Christmas giving a small population Hay Fever! Hope you enjoy reading them as much as we enjoyed selecting them!

Web sites

• Stress, depression and the holidays: Tips for coping [Mayo Clinic]
• Healthy Holiday Eating [Healthy Canadians; 2013]
• Holiday food safety [Healthy Canadians; 2013]
• Toy safety during the holidays [Healthy Canadians; 2013]
• Holiday Safety [Healthy Canadians; 2013]

Statistics Canada

Christmas… by the numbers 2013 [Statistics Canada]
You’ll be amazed!

Articles [freely available]

1. Cook CM, Subar AF, Troiano RP, Schoeller DA. Relation between holiday weight
   gain and total energy expenditure among 40- to 69-y-old men and women (OPEN study). Am J Clin Nutr. 2012 Mar;95(3):726-31.
2. de Bloom J, Kompier M, Geurts S, de Weerth C, Taris T, Sonnentag S. Do we recover from vacation? Meta-analysis of vacation effects on health and well-being. J Occup Health. 2009;51(1):13-25.
3. Eagle K. Hypothesis: holiday sudden cardiac death: food and alcohol inhibition of SULT1A enzymes as a precipitant. J Appl Toxicol. 2012 Oct;32(10):751-5.
4. Evens ZN, Stellpflug SJ. Holiday plants with toxic misconceptions. West J Emerg Med. 2012 Dec;13(6):538-42.
5. Gassner M, Gehrig R, Schmid-Grendelmeier P. Hay fever as a Christmas gift. N Engl J Med. 2013 Jan 24;368(4):393-4.
6. Sansone RA, Sansone LA. The christmas effect on psychopathology. Innov Clin Neurosci. 2011 Dec;8(12):10-3.
7.  Tonelo D, Providência R, Gonçalves L. Holiday heart syndrome revisited after 34 years. Arq Bras Cardiol. 2013 Aug;101(2):183-9.
8. Trepanowski JF, Bloomer RJ. The impact of religious fasting on human health. Nutr J. 2010 Nov 22;9:57. doi: 10.1186/1475-2891-9-57.
9. Williams R, Goel V. A holiday wish list for Canada’s Early Years System. Paediatr Child Health. 2012 Dec;17(10):541-543.