I love Christmas. Its literally my favourite time of the year. I love everything about it – the decorations, the countdown to the big day, the hustle and bustle, the shopping, the wrapping, the excitement of it all. What I don’t love at this time of year is all the sickness that seems to rear its head and spoil everything. The colds and coughs, the chest infections, the winter sickness bugs…yuck!

So why do we all seem to become magnets for these horrible bugs at this particular time of year? Is it because everywhere we turn there are people coughing and sneezing and polluting the air we breathe? Is it because we touch door handles and hand rails that are covered in germs and bacteria? Is it because we have the heating whacked up to the highest setting and don’t get out in the fresh air as much as we should? Its actually none of these things – the answer is much more simple.

The fact is that we start to catch these bugs because we are so busy enjoying ourselves that we forget to take care of the power-house that is our body. The human body has the innate ability to heal itself as long as it has the correct fuel and is treated with care.

When we’re rushing around the shops buying last minute gifts we don’t have time for sitting down to a nutritious dinner packed with energy and vitamins. We eat on the go. We nip into the nearest Greggs and stuff a hot sausage roll and wash it down with a can of something fizzy and full of sugar. Just what we need to power us through the rest of the shopping trip right? Wrong!!

Apart from the festive preparations that we have to get on with, we also have the celebrations to look forward to. We work hard all week, we exist on junk food because we’re too busy to eat properly and then it comes to the weekend and we’re ready for the office party. Lots of lovely nibbles – pastries, cakes, sandwiches…and copious amounts of booze!! And the morning after, we wake up full of beans and ready to face another day of shopping, visiting relatives and running round like headless turkeys – right? Wrong!!

So, when we look at it like this it makes sense that with all of the stress we put our selves through at this time of year – eventually we reach a point were our body simply says enough is enough. It ceases to function properly because we overload it to the point were it can no longer fight off the bugs that are attacking its weakened defences.

Ive been guilty of all of the above this month already and I have paid the price this week with a hacking cough and generally feeling grotty. I’ve been eating rubbish, stressing out and not getting to the gym. At first I blamed the kids for bringing bugs home from school, when in actual fact it was my own fault for not taking care of myself properly.

It’s the same priniciple as looking after a car. You put the wrong fuel in – it stops working. You overload it – it doesn’t perform as well.  So when you’re busy trying to create the perfect Christmas this year, remember to take some time out for yourself. Eat well, sleep well, plan ahead, de-stress – and enjoy a sickness free holiday this year.