Shy bladder is linked to stress and anxiety, and, as you may have guessed, stress and anxiety are linked to the holiday season. Whether it’s the months leading up to the holly jolly holidays or the weeks that follow the festivities, you can bet anxiety and stress may very well be at an annual high.
Several factors feed into the phenomenon, according to an article in The New York Times, one of the foremost of which is expectations.
The article explains:
“Science shows … that high expectations are frequently both erroneous and toxic. Toxic because they may lead to letdown and even depression. Erroneous because we focus too much on the salient high points (the vacation or the family feast) and too little on the quotidian chores, uplifts and hassles (the long flight, the hours spent toiling in the kitchen) that are what influence our happiness the most. Researchers have found that everyday annoyances can be harder on us than calamities and that daily delights have a bigger impact on our well-being than more than major events.”
In other words, the holiday season and its January recovery period don’t give us all the holly jolly and nothing else. It gives us all the holly, jolly and hassle of the holidays on top of the daily routine. Such a combination seems like surefire way to kick shy bladder into high gear.
Perhaps knowing you’re not the only one who suffers from heightened paruresis symptoms and increase anxiety during the winter months is a start to feeling better. And that start can always be helped with meditation, frequent naps and some time to unwind, decompress and relax.
Read the full article: http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/12/23/why-arent-people-happier-during-the-holidays
