After the Thanksgiving weekend, people usually sprint into high gear getting ready for December’s year end celebrations – Hanukkah’s Festival of Lights and the culmination of Advent with the Holy Night of Christmas.

Unfortunately, 2020 seems to be living up to its designated moniker as “Annus Horribilis.” Moreover, Dr. Seuss would have a difficult time deciding who would be the worst Grinch, too many candidates to list, stealing Christmas from families everywhere this year.

Even in normal times, the holiday blues contributes to a medical condition referred to as Broken Heart Syndrome which is also called Takotusubo cardiomyopathy and stress-induced cardiomyopathy, meaning that stress has caused dysfunction or failure of the heart muscle.

What are the Symptoms of Broken Heart Syndrome?

Symptoms may occur within minutes after a stressful situation and are similar to those of a heart attack.

• Low blood pressure
• Fainting
• Shortness of breath
• Angina (sudden, severe chest pain)
• Arrhythmia
• Cardiogenic shock
• Heart Failure

What causes Broken Heart Syndrome?

The cause of broken heart syndrome is not fully understood. However, in most cases, symptoms are brought on by extreme emotional or physical stress such as:

• Death of a loved one
• Divorce
• Breakup of a romantic relationship
• Exhausting physical event
• Unexpected Surprise
• Holiday Blues

A person’s reaction to such events causes a release of stress hormones (catecholamines) that temporarily reduce the effectiveness of the heart’s pumping action, or cause it to contract too forcefully or wildly instead of in a steady pattern.

What are the stress triggers that cause the Holiday Season Blues?

• Being away from family & friends
• Financial worries
• Over Commitments
• Unrealistic Expectations
• Too much commercialization
• Breaking Healthy Habits
• Exhaustion

Suggestions to Ease the Holiday Blues?

No matter what recommendations you might receive on how to handle the triggers above from 2 – 7, your reaction will probably be:

• “You don’t understand.”
• “ Are you kidding me?”
• “ I can’t do that.”

BUT… in regards to Being away from Family and Friends, because of COVID-19, we believe most people will agree we can and should help those in our families who are the most vulnerable to Broken Heart Syndrome.

ZOOM is not the Answer for Many!

Most of the population is accustomed to using technology for reaching out to our elders in nursing homes or those isolated because of the travel ban and shelter in place restrictions.

Unfortunately, it can also be the cause of even more stress and heartache for our elderly loved ones. How many of you have experienced a zoom call with your multigenerational families that broke up early because of audio or technical problems? Most often the ones who are the most frustrated are the loved ones the call was meant to reach out to. Here is our suggestion:

Create Your Own Family Blog!

Your basic blog contents can include:

• Welcome Page
• Your scrapbook
• Your journal of family stories
• Your contact page for participating family & friends

Family members can call their isolated loved one either one on one or as a group and talk story about pictures in the scrapbook or an item in the journal. There is no stress waiting for people to zoom in or connect within a definite time period.

Great way to include pictures and articles about special events such as weddings, graduations and Christmas letters.