Holiday Stress And Your Pelvic Floor: How To Relax When Things Get Hectic!

Dec 18

Why the Holidays Feel So Hard on Your Body

The holidays can be a stressful time of year! Between all of the parties, holiday parades and activities, school dress-up days, making sure you have everyone crossed off your gift list and the normal day to day activities (work, sports practices and games, etc), it's no wonder people can feel stressed! Throw in other things like illnesses, lack of sleep, traveling, and family dynamics – and you may also be feeling just a teensy bit overwhelmed. Unfortunately, stress, whether mental, emotional or physical, can cause pelvic floor symptoms to flare!

Common symptoms that flare this time of year can include:

Bladder urgency or leakage
Pelvic pain or heaviness
Constipation
Low back or hip tension

The Stress–Pelvic Floor Connection (Simple Explanation)

Stress can be a useful response for your body. If you’re in a situation where you need to run (i.e. a tiger chasing you):

your brain notices the threat
stress hormones (adrenaline and cortisol) are released
heart rate increases
breathing becomes faster and more shallow
And your muscles tighten to prepare for fight (i.e. fight or flight!)

The problem is, unfortunately, our brain and nervous system doesn’t recognize that a tiger chasing you is not the same level of threat as having 743 presents to buy and wrap, while also having to buy teacher gifts, make sure the grinch outfits are on point and worrying about whether Aunt Linda is going to be give you “helpful” parenting advice during Christmas dinner.

Some people feel this stress and tension in their shoulders and neck. However, others feel the stress and tension in their pelvic floor muscles. The pelvic floor muscles are part of our core system and if you’re holding tension in these areas to “prepare for battle”, it can cause a lot of the symptoms listed above.

Holding tension in the pelvic floor often looks like:

Clenching or gripping the glutes
Clenching or gripping the abs
Difficulty fully relaxing to pee or poop

Also, when you’re in “fight or flight” – you’re not in “rest and digest” which means it can flare constipation.

Signs Your Pelvic Floor Is Overworking During the Holidays

Increased bladder urgency or frequency
Bladder Leakage with coughing, laughing, or rushing
Pelvic or tailbone pain after long days – especially with sitting or standing for long periods
Constipation or incomplete emptying
Pain with intimacy or difficulty relaxing

Holiday Triggers That Increase Pelvic Floor Tension

Travel and disrupted routines — changes in eating and drinking habits, busy schedules, long car or plane rides all can have an impact on stress and pelvic floor tension
Long periods of sitting or standing — our body likes movement so when we’re in one position for long periods, we tend to get stiff and hold tension
Changes in diet and hydration — Cookies, cakes, pies — oh my! It feels like there are only sweet treats around during the holidays!
Holding your bladder “too long” while busy — “If I can just get these last few presents wrapped, I’ll be good”, she said while completely ignoring her very full bladder!
Emotional stress, people-pleasing, and lack of boundaries — need I say more? This may be a struggle in daily life but the Holidays can make it unbearable

For Moms, Peri/Postpartum, and Peri-Menopause Bodies – Why Does It Feel Harder Than Normal?

Hormonal shifts—like those that occur during pregnancy, postpartum, and peri-menopause—can make the nervous system more sensitive to stress. Changes in estrogen and progesterone affect how the brain regulates cortisol (the stress hormone), often lowering the threshold for a fight-or-flight response.

This means the body may react more strongly or stay activated longer, increasing muscle tension—including in the pelvic floor—even during everyday stressors. Being the primary person who is responsible for all – or most– of the things during this time of year can only amplify these symptoms.

5 Pelvic Floor–Friendly Ways to Relax During the Holidays

1. Take Some Deep Breaths

Diaphragmatic breathing helps to relax the pelvic floor in a few ways. First, diaphragmatic helps to stimulate the vagus nerve which puts us in “rest and digest”. Next, when the diaphragm lengthens, it lengthens the pelvic floor which helps to “stretch” the pelvic floor muscles naturally.
Cue: “Ribs expand (back, side and front), belly softens, pelvic floor lengthens”
When to use it: in the car, before bed, in the bathroom

2. Stop Hovering—Yes, Even at Busy Gatherings

Hovering causes you to have to hold tension in thighs, glutes, abs and pelvic floor muscles to help stabilize you– which means they can’t relax to fully empty
Instead, sit on the toilet, relax thighs, glutes and abs – take a diaphragmatic breath to length and relax the pelvic floor muscles and let your bladder completely empty before standing. You can also do a few pelvic tilts and then relax again to see if your bladder rather than pushing to get out the last few drops

3. Gentle Movement And Stretching

Sitting for long periods of time can cause decreased mobility and increased tension. Ideally, moving every 30 minutes or so can help to alleviate this. Whether that's switching positions or incorporating some of the options below.
Pelvic-floor supportive options:

Walking – can even be just a few minutes!
Yoga – poses such as deep squat, childs pose, happy baby and reclined buttery fly pose can help to relax and gentle stretch muscles
Mobility work – opening up the hips helps to relieve tightness in the pelvic floor muscles – stretches such as figure 4, reclined cow face, adductor rock

4. Create Micro-Moments of Down-Regulation

60–90 second nervous system resets
Examples:

Double inhale breaths with long exhales
Legs up the wall
Splashing cold water on your face
Rubbing your ear lobes

These activities can help to stimulate the vagus nerve and decrease stress. Even doing these for short bouts can be helpful! Consistency is more important than duration.

5. Hydration and Fiber Without the Extremes

When we’re busy and stressed, we tend to either skip eating or eat options that aren’t quite as healthy. Having some healthier options on hand makes it easier to grab and go–especially if they include fiber to keep the bowels running smoothly!

Raspberries are fiber packed! 8 grams in 1 cup!
Fiber bars are a quick option for grab and go
Veggies and hummus are a great go to snack
Adding nuts to a sweet treat helps to provide some protein and healthy fats

As for hydration, the rule of thumb is to get “half of your body weight in oz” for your total fluid intake. To reduce urgency and trips to the bathroom, try sipping it throughout the day rather than chugging it in large quantities. Having a water bottle on hand makes it easy to take it with you!

When to Seek Pelvic Floor Therapy

When symptoms linger or worsen despite rest—such as ongoing bladder urgency, leakage, pelvic pain, constipation, or difficulty emptying—it may be a sign your nervous system and pelvic floor are stuck in a high-alert state. Needing to rush to the bathroom, clenching without realizing it, or feeling tension that never fully lets go are clues that stress is impacting your body more deeply.

Pelvic floor therapy addresses how your nervous system and muscles communicate. Through education, breathing strategies, manual techniques, and gentle movement, therapy helps shift the body out of fight-or-flight and into a state where muscles can actually relax, coordinate, and function normally.

What a session focused on relaxation and down-training looks like
A relaxation-based session may include guided breathing, nervous system regulation strategies, gentle pelvic floor lengthening, posture and toileting support, and hands-on techniques to reduce muscle guarding. The goal isn’t to “work harder,” but to help your body feel safe enough to let go and reset.

If the Holidays are bringing your pelvic floor symptoms to the forefront, it may be time to give pelvic floor therapy a try! These symptoms may be common, but they are not something that you just have to deal with.

To get started with me, you can:

Book A Free Phone Consult –If you have any questions, concerns or would like to discuss your symptoms and better understand how I can help — this is for you!
Schedule an evaluation –if you’re ready to get started, you can schedule a time that works best for you

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What Does The Pelvic Floor Do?
Pelvic Floor Therapy In Lancaster, Ohio
Pelvic Floor Therapy: What To Expect