Reset Holiday Stress With This 10-Minute Ritual
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Reset Holiday Stress With This 10-Minute Ritual
Christmas looks cozy on the outside… but inside, your body might be running like it’s on a red alert: social plans, family dynamics, shopping, deadlines, travel.
Your nervous system is like a snow globe. All day, life shakes it—emails, noise, crowds, worries. If you never pause, the “snow” (stress signals) never settles.
Calming music is one of the fastest ways to let that snow drift back down.
Slow, soothing music sends a clear message through your ears to your brain and body:
“Relax, you can turn the volume down.”
Heart rate eases, breathing slows, muscles loosen. And it shows up in data.
A large meta-analysis of music therapy for stress found that, across many trials, music-based sessions reliably reduced psychological stress and improved physiological signs (like heart rate and blood pressure) compared with usual care or no music.¹
Another meta-analysis in people with hypertension showed that adding music therapy to usual treatment lowered blood pressure, reduced anxiety and depression scores, and improved sleep quality versus standard care alone.²
And pooled data from randomized trials on anxiety show that structured music interventions produce small-to-moderate reductions in anxiety, meaningfully better than control conditions like quiet rest or standard care.³
Your 10-Minute Holiday Reset
Today (or tonight), give yourself one 10 minute “music break”:
Choose slow, calming music you genuinely like (instrumental, soft jazz, classical, ambient, gentle Christmas music).
Sit or lie down, close your eyes or soften your gaze.
Put your phone on “Do Not Disturb.”
Breathe slowly and let your attention rest on the sound—when your mind wanders, gently bring it back to the music.
You can also:
Play this kind of music during your commute,
Or put it on before a stressful family event, while you’re getting ready.
Think of it as plugging your nervous system into a charger for 10 minutes.
If you want to try this right now, here are the 3 tracks I come back to when my nervous system feels shaken like a snow globe:
The one often called “one of the most relaxing songs”:
My favorite song (the one that reliably softens my shoulders):
My 3 favorite Ludovico Einaudi tracks:
See you tomorrow for your full-length post.
To your zenith within,
Sara Redondo, MD, MS
References:
de Witte M, Pinho ADS, Stams GJ, Moonen X, Bos AER, van Hooren S. Music therapy for stress reduction: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Health Psychol Rev. 2022 Mar;16(1):134-159. doi: 10.1080/17437199.2020.1846580.
Cao M, Zhang Z. Adjuvant music therapy for patients with hypertension: a meta-analysis and systematic review. BMC Complement Med Ther. 2023 Apr 6;23(1):110. doi: 10.1186/s12906-023-03929-6.
Lu G, Jia R, Liang D, Yu J, Wu Z, Chen C. Effects of music therapy on anxiety: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Psychiatry Res. 2021 Oct;304:114137. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2021.114137.