5 Tips To Support Joint Health Over the Holidays

4 min readDec 29, 2021

Your joints are responsible for keeping you moving and the holiday season is not the ideal time to be slowed down by joint pain. A healthy routine with balanced nutrition, regular exercise, and stress management helps promote long-term joint health.

But this isn’t always easy to maintain because overindulgence, stress, and less motivation to exercise are the three major ingredients that make up the recipe for poor joint health during the holiday season. Luckily, these tips will help you maintain healthy joints without missing out on the magic of the season.

Holiday Eating

We all indulge a bit over the holidays, and that’s not a problem, as long as you strive for balance. One of the most common culprits of joint pain is sodium, so you need to watch salt intake. Sodium may cause you to retain water, increasing pressure on your joints, contributing to inflammation and joint pain.

You also want to limit processed sugars and saturated fats, which can be a difficult task with all the holiday desserts. You can still dig in, but go with smaller portions, and choose fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds for snacks. If you are grabbing a few extra treats each week, just add a few extra minutes to your exercise routine that week.

Monitor Alcohol Intake

The holidays offer delicious treats and sweets around every corner and are often a time when people consume more alcohol. Over time, excessive alcohol intake can lead to dehydration which can reduce the natural lubrication of your joints, causing stiffness and soreness.

Many holiday beverages, such as eggnog, punch, wine, mixed drinks, and ciders are also high in sugar, which disrupts microbial balance on the gut, leading to inflammation through the body. This inflammation can target healthy joint tissues, increasing pain and mobility. But, don’t worry. You can still participate in the festivities with a small glass of wine with dinner or festive non-alcoholic beverages such as hot apple cider, cinnamon tea, peppermint tea, tea lattes, and hot cocoa.

Keep Moving

It is easy for our routines to get disrupted over the holidays, but if there is any way to maintain your exercise routine, it can be good for your joints. All you need is a quick 5 to 10-minute home exercise each day to help support and maintain flexibility and mobility.

Low impact exercises such as stretching and yoga, swimming, elliptical machines, and exercise bikes can all help to promote joint health and reduce occasional joint discomfort. Walking is arguably one of the best exercises for your joints, so take the dog for a walk after a big holiday meal or enlist your family to go for walks to enjoy the lights and decorations in the neighborhood.

Travel Wisely

If traveling is on the itinerary for the holiday season, be sure to take care of your joints while you’re on the road. Plan your trips and incorporate these tips into your plans to make the journey as comfortable as possible.

If you are driving:

plan to take regular breaks to get out and stretch
share driving time if others are with you so everyone has time to relax
stay hydrated
bring healthy snacks like nuts and seeds to keep you nourished

If you are traveling on a plane:

pack light and only bring the essentials,
make sure you have plenty of water and healthy snacks
wear compression stockings to promote proper circulation
use a rolling suitcase
plan to walk around the airport to keep moving and on longer flights

Stay Warm

Depending on where you live, your holiday season may include cold weather, which can wreak havoc on your joints. It is important to stay warm so your joints stay flexible. Wear layers, including long underwear, sweaters and jackets, hats, scarves, gloves, and winter boots if you are headed outdoors. When indoors, keep your socks or slipper on and set your household thermostat to a comfortable temperature.

Something Extra for the Holidays

Treat yourself to comprehensive joint health this holiday season and for the rest of your life. 1MD Nutrition offers two powerful formulas designed to promote joint mobility and flexibility and help stop everyday aches from slowing you down.

MoveMD® is a comprehensive formula to support joint health, with clinically-studied ApresFlex ®Boswellia Serrata to support flexibility and mobility and the powerful antioxidant properties of Zanthin® Natural Astaxanthin to help occasional joint discomfort. The addition of advanced collagen and hyaluronic acid support cartilage synthesis and joint fluid viscosity for optimal mobility.
CurcuminMD® Plus helps relieve occasional sore, stiff joints by combining Longvida® Optimized Curcumin, which is absorbed up to 285 times more efficiently than standard turmeric, with Boswellia Serrata.

Final Thoughts

Even though you have great intentions, it can be to overeat, and forget exercise. ’Tis the season for healthy joints, so, give your joints the gift of care this season with these simple tips and the comprehensive support of 1MD Nutrition’s joint-health supplements.