Festive Survival Guide part 1: Support your nervous system through festive food, alcohol & sleep.

As we move through December, changes in routine, heavier food, alcohol, late nights and constant social demands can create a physiological load that even a well-regulated system finds challenging. 

This article is the first in a three-part Festive Survival Guide, designed to help you stay grounded and compassionate with yourself during a season that can otherwise feel overwhelming. 

Throughout December we will explore:

• Part 1: Using your vagal brake when food, alcohol and routine changes impact your nervous system

• Part 2: Parts work and self compassion for when family dynamics activate old patterns
• Part 3: Somatic boundaries for managing festive overwhelm

Each piece offers gentle, body-based support rooted in polyvagal theory and the Somatic Self Healing approach. Today, in Part 1, we begin with the physiological side of the festive season and what happens when your nervous system is under pressure from food, alcohol and late nights.

Why the festive season challenges your nervous system

Your autonomic nervous system (ANS) is the part of your body that manages your automatic rhythms and responses. It governs your stress and relaxation responses, as well as essential functions such as heart rate, breathing rhythms, digestion, and blood pressure.

The ANS is always working to keep you alive. It constantly scans for cues of safety or threat and adjusts your physiology accordingly. When life feels predictable, supportive or calm, the ANS can soften. When life becomes demanding, overwhelming or unfamiliar, it mobilises energy to protect you.

Within the ANS, the parasympathetic system plays a central role in restoring balance after stress. One of its key pathways is the vagus nerve, which carries signals from the body to the brain indicating whether you are safe enough to settle. When this system is available, digestion improves, heart rate steadies and your capacity to connect or think clearly increases.

A part of this system is known as your vagal brake. The vagal brake is the ventral vagal mechanism that helps you slow down sympathetic activation and return to grounded presence. As Deb Dana describes, it allows you to “apply the brakes” when life speeds up, supporting flexibility rather than overwhelm.

During the festive season, your nervous system might need to work harder than usual as the predictable routines our nervous system loves, can go out of the window.  Shifts in food, alcohol, sleep, stimulation and routine all influence the ANS, making the vagal brake more difficult to access.

How festive food and blood sugar influence your nervous system

Digestion and nervous-system regulation are deeply interconnected. Around 80 percent of vagus nerve fibres send information upward from body to brain, meaning shifts in blood sugar, digestion and gut state directly influence your stress responses and perception of safety (Porges, 2011).

Blood sugar spikes and dips can mimic anxiety because sugary or refined foods can trigger:

• rapid glucose spikes
• steep blood sugar drops
• compensatory cortisol and adrenaline release

This can feel like shakiness, anxiety, irritability or emotional volatility. I often ask clients struggling with anxiety what they have for breakfast for this reason – low blood sugar or blood sugar spikes in the morning can make us feel more anxious and jittery. That’s why a protein rich breakfasts are a good idea to sustain you longer and level out that jittery spike.

Heavier festive meals can deplete our internal resources:

Another influencing factor when it comes to festive foods are the big, rich & heavy meals that  slow our digestion down; this might make us feel heavy, lethargic, and feel like we have less resources available for self-regulation. This can leave us feeling more sensitive to stress, or finding it harder to maintain our boundaries and self-care when our energy is diverted to processing the extra food.  

Restrict–binge cycles

This is when we try to compensate after over-eating by restricting food the following day….

As someone who survived sixteen years of restrict-binge cycles when I had an eating disorder, I feel qualified to shout from the rooftops “it doesn’t work!”

Restriction after overeating creates internal unpredictability, which the nervous system experiences as a threat cue. This can put your body into a state of survival, assuming we are in a famine…so when the next meal (or box of celebrations) comes along, the sympathetic activation kicks in to panic eat as much as we can in case of another “famine” around the corner. This not only causes those huge blood sugar spikes but in a body in survival mode we are likely to experience a narrower window of tolerance – the space in which we can respond effectively to stress. We might experience heightened emotional reactivity, guilt-shame cycles and anxiety around food.

A somatic approach to festive food:

Now, I'm never going to tell you not to indulge over Christmas! But a little mindfulness can go a long way to helping you indulge whilst at the same time staying regulated. A somatic approach looks for steadiness rather than rules: small stabilising choices that your nervous system can rely on and (importantly) your body can learn to trust as safe. This might look like:

• making sure to have a protein rich breakfast
• balanced regular meals throughout the day to keep blood sugars level
• using regulation tools (see the practices below) when anxiety spikes
• practicing somatic awareness (noticing the feelings inside your body) to tune into hunger and satiety cues.
• and if you do over-indulge…(it’s Christmas!) - try to practice self-compassion over punishment.

How alcohol impacts your vagus nerve (and why the next day feels harder)

Alcohol can create short-term ease, warmth or sociability by altering our brain chemicals to release GABA & dopamine (the feel good stuff). However, research suggests that once metabolised alcohol can reduce our vagal tone (that is the tone or strength of our vagus nerve), reduce our heart rate variability (HRV – that is an indicator of our nervous system health), disrupts our REM sleep (in which we process emotions), disrupts our blood sugar levels and increases our cortisol (stress hormone) (Reed et Al, 1999). That’s what’s really going on when you have a hangover.

The decrease in vagal tone and Heart Rate Variability means your nervous system has less access to its braking mechanism, making you more prone to anxiety, overwhelm or irritability the next day. This can make self-regulation, self-care, relationships and sustaining boundaries even harder during the festive season.

If its your thing, you can still enjoy a festive tipple whilst at the same time supporting your vagus nerve health, some choices include:

• alternating drinks with water
• eating before or while drinking
• choosing lower-alcohol options
• stopping earlier in the evening

If you do happen to find yourself in that hangover hell, like feeling on edge or your mood drops the day after drinking, try to follow these basic nervous system principles to help ease your vagus nerve back online and help you back to balance:

• Create safety for your body by practicing orienting to your environment – looking around for safety cues. You can make these for yourself by surrounding yourself with soft, comfortable fabrics, cuddling a pet or cushion, listing to soothing music or using essential oils.
• If you feel anxiety or the dreaded beer-fear rising, practice deep slow belly breaths to help relax your diaphragm and activate your vagus nerve. Placing a hand on your belly and watching it gently rise and fall as you breathe in and out can also help bring your awareness back from your thoughts down into your body.
• Focus on good nutrition and hydration. Your vagus nerve culminates in your gut and will notice when you are properly nourished and hydrated again. Follow the ‘somatic approach to festive food’ principles to rebalance your blood sugar, focus on fruit, vegetables and fermented foods to re-nourish your gut.

Why disrupted sleep reduces your nervous system capacity

Getting a good night’s sleep is one of your strongest nervous system regulators. & it also can go  out of the window at Christmas with all the late nights, socialising and festive parties!

Sleep deprivation leads to a hyperactive amygdala (the brain's fear center), altering our neuroception (how our nervous system perceives safety &/or danger) and reduced connectivity with the prefrontal cortex (responsible for emotional control) (Boonstra, 2007). When we don’t get enough good quality sleep we can find our bodies in the wired-tired state of freeze; when we are simultaneously exhausted and on edge. This can profoundly disrupt our ability to socially connect, to make helpful decisions, and can lead to doom-scrolling, emotional reactivity, over-eating or numbing out.

In this state, it is harder for our nervous system to harness the regulating power of the vagus nerve to help being us back to a feeling of balanced energy.

Some gentle adjustments through the somatic lens can help you through the wired-tired feeling, and get you ready for a better night’s sleep:

• listening to what your body is telling you – if you notice the wired-tired feeling in the day time, you might need to adjust your night time plans to prioritise a good night’s sleep.
• Try to reduce stimulation before bed – avoid caffeine, alcohol, screens and loud music. Opt for low natural light (get those Christmassy candles out), soothing herbal teas and soft nervous-system-nourishing sounds.
• Try softening around the jaw and shoulders to help release the sympathetic activation held in the body. Some gentle jaw massage and shoulder rolls combined with deep slow breaths help relax the body ready for rest.
• If you find it hard to get to sleep or stay asleep, try Yoga Nidra (or Non-Sleep Deep Rest) practice. You will find a short Yoga Nidra audio on Day 5 of my free somatic practice journey here as well as a full 30 minute practice available when you buy my Somatic Micro-practices here.

Somatic practices to support your vagus nerve this Christmas

If all goes out the window and you over-indulge in food, alcohol and late nights (it's Christmas, and you're only human!) and feel you need a reset to re-balance your energy, not all is lost. One of the most incredible things about the nervous system is it’s flexibility to adapt and restore through neuroplasticity.

Whether you need a reset or you want to invite some nervous system nourishment to help support you through the festive season, these practices will help:

Drawn from Somatic Self Healing and the regulation principles in Modules 1-3, these practices support your system in small, compassionate ways.

The Basic Exercise for vagus nerve activation:

The Basic Exercise, developed by Stanley Rosenberg (2017), uses gentle eye movements to help release tension in the suboccipital muscle; small muscles at the base of the skull that have a close relationship with the vagus nerve.

 Please read through the instructions first before beginning.

• Lie down comfortably on your back, somewhere quiet and supported; like on a yoga mat or bed. Place your arms by your sides, legs relaxed.
• Interlace your fingers and place your hands gently behind your head, so they’re cradling the base of your skull. Let your elbows rest on the floor or surface beside you.
• Keeping your head still, slowly and gently move just your eyes to look to the right. Keep your gaze there, without straining, for about 30–60 seconds, or until you notice a subtle shift like a sigh, swallow, yawn, or softening in the body. These are signs your nervous system is relaxing.
• Gently bring your eyes back to centre.
• Now, slowly move your eyes to look to the left, and hold your gaze there for another 30–60 seconds, again noticing any signs of release.
• Return your gaze to centre, and gently bring your hands back down by your sides when you’re ready.

Take your time as you come back to sitting or standing as this practice can sometimes lead to a drop in blood pressure if you shift into a deeper parasympathetic state, so it’s important to move slowly to avoid feeling light-headed. After the practice, give yourself a few moments to rest and notice how you feel.

Butterfly Taps for self regulation

Butterfly Taps is a gentle self-soothing technique that combines bilateral stimulation, eye movement, rhythmic tapping, and a self-hold to support nervous system regulation. Alternating taps left and right while holding yourself in a butterfly-like position helps integrate both brain hemispheres, calm the amygdala, and activate the prefrontal cortex; supporting emotional balance. The rhythmic movement and comforting self-touch signal safety to the vagus nerve, helping to shift the body out of survival mode and into the ventral vagal state.

• Find a comfortable position, you can do this sitting, lying or standing.
• Cross your arms over your chest. Place your hands just below your collarbones, so each hand rests on the opposite upper arm or shoulder, like giving yourself a gentle hug. Your fingers can rest lightly or wrap around your shoulders.
• Begin gentle, alternating taps side to side in a steady rhythm.
• Once you are in a steady rhythm you can add eye movement by looking left for a count of 4 taps, and then right for a count of four taps. Keep the movements gentle and don’t strain your eyes.
• Keep tapping for a few minutes or as long as it feels helpful. You can adjust the pace to what feels most soothing to your body.
• After your practice, take a few moments to notice, with your curiosity, how you feel after your practice. You might get curious about:
• Your breath and posture
• Any sense of grounding or calm
• Noticing any yawn, sigh, or spontaneous deeper breath; these are all signs of nervous system regulation

Harness your vagal break to re-balance your energy

The natural rhythm of the nervous system can be harnessed through intentional movement. Upward, energising movements paired with the inhale, and downward, grounding movements paired with the exhale, allow us to work with the vagal brake; supporting energy regulation and increasing vagal tone.

If you’ve been practising with me on the Somatic Yoga Journey, you may have already noticed how we synchronise breath with movement in this way: breathing in with upward gestures, and breathing out with downward ones. This helps to engage the vagal brake and tone the vagus nerve.

Having a personal vagal brake practice can be a powerful resource for shifting your state, either up the energy scale when you feel flat, or down when you feel overstimulated. Below are some practices to explore:

Here are some examples you can try:

• Raising the arms on the inhale, lowering them on the exhale
• Lifting the chest and lengthening the spine as you inhale, softening the chest and rounding the spine as you exhale.
• Pressing the hands down (like applying a brake pedal) as you breathe out, and releasing them upward on the inhale
• Closing the hands around an imaginary bicycle brake as you exhale, and opening or expanding the hands as you inhale

Wrapping it up: a compassionate approach to festive physiology

Remember: you and your body are not misbehaving if you feel more reactive this this month. It is your nervous system responding to a combination of:

disrupted routines, heavy meals, altered sleep, alcohol, constant social demand and family dynamic (we’ll cover this in part 2!)

A somatic approach does not ask you to “try harder”. It asks: What would make things easier for my nervous system right now? Gently noticing your patterns, inviting self-compassion and small, steady adjustments help your nervous system back to balance again will help you through this season with balance.

What’s coming next in the Festive Survival Guide

Over December, we’ll explore two more pillars of somatic support for the festive season:

• Part 2: Parts work and self compassion for when family dynamics activate old patterns
• Part 3: Somatic boundaries for managing festive overwhelm

Each part will offer simple practices to support your nervous system through a season that can be both meaningful and activating. Keep your eye on your inbox and on @thesomaticproject for their release!

References

Boonstra, T.W., Stins, J.F., Daffertshofer, A. and Beek, P.J. (2007) ‘Effects of sleep deprivation on neural functioning: An integrative review’, Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences, 64(7–8), p. 934.

Brown, R. P. and Gerbarg, P. L. (2005) ‘Sudarshan Kriya yogic breathing in the treatment of stress, anxiety, and depression: Part I neurophysiologic model’, Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 11(1), pp. 189–201.

Dana, D. (2018) The Polyvagal Theory in Therapy: Engaging the Rhythm of Regulation. New York: W. W. Norton.

Levine, P. A. (2010) In an Unspoken Voice: How the Body Releases Trauma and Restores Goodness. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books.

Maté, G. (2003) When the Body Says No: The Cost of Hidden Stress. Toronto: Vintage Canada.

Porges, S. W. (2011) The Polyvagal Theory: Neurophysiological Foundations of Emotions, Attachment, Communication, and Self-Regulation. New York: W. W. Norton.

Reed, S.F., Porges, S.W. and Newlin, D.B. (1999) ‘Effect of alcohol on vagal regulation of cardiovascular function: Contributions of the polyvagal theory to the psychophysiology of alcohol’, Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 23(1), pp. 123–130.

Siegel, D. J. (2012) The Developing Mind: How Relationships and the Brain Interact to Shape Who We Are. 2nd edn. New York: Guilford Press.

van der Kolk, B. A. (2015) The Body Keeps the Score. New York: Viking.