Christmas is one of those times of year when people are put under pressure to indulge. Between work nights out, family gatherings, and the sheer amount of junk food that is on display in stores, it becomes easy for people to subsist on a diet that is high in artificial colors, preservatives and flavourings, and full of sugar and simple carbohydrates. Add alcohol into the mix, and you have a diet that is not conducive to health. It’s easy to end up feeling hung over, tired, run down and constantly hungry.

This is one time of year when homeopathic remedies and a focus on a natural lifestyle can be quite invaluable for preserving your health. If you’re experiencing stomach pain because of over-eating, then a drink of chamomile or peppermint tea can help to make you feel much better. If a natural remedy like that isn’t helping, then turn to something like Nux Vomica, which can have a soothing effect on those who are feeling the effects of having over-indulged.

There’s not always much need to turn to full-on homeopathic treatments, either. Sometimes, simply taking a more naturopathic approach is all that it takes. Instead of drinking fizzy drinks, or alcohol, for example, it makes more sense to try plain water, or diluted fruit juices. Yes, fruit juices are high in sugar themselves, but as long as it’s fruit sugar instead of added cane sugar, you should be better off, and if the juices are slightly diluted then you will be in a much better position too. Herbal teas can be a good option for giving your taste buds the treat that they crave, without putting you on an insulin roller coaster.

It pays to get outside for a little bit every now and then too. Spending all of Christmas Day and Boxing Day indoors is enough to send even the most level headed of adults climbing the walls, so imagine what it’s doing to your kids, who are always balls of energy. It costs nothing to go for a quick walk, and it will stretch out the muscles, give the lungs some fresh air, and give your skin a blast of sunlight and some much needed Vitamin D. At this time of year, we need as much of that as we can get.

Homeopathic remedies can help with pain, fatigue, and the general run-down feeling that people get in the winter. They can soothe teething problems in babies, and help people to cope with the challenges that life is throwing at them. Western medicine disputes the mechanism by which homeopathic remedies work – it could well be that the thing that makes them work is the placebo effect, combined with the positive impact of making changes to your lifestyle that usually occurs when someone starts using homeopathy to take responsibility for their health. Even if that is the case, it is still having a positive impact, and it can do so at a far lower cost than many other treatments.