'Tis the season for holiday stress once again. In fact, more heart attacks take place on Christmas Day and New Years' Day than any other day of the year. To remedy the Yuletide pressure, Dr. Carol Scott offered ideas from her new book, Optimal Stress (Wiley Publishing, November) on the Montel Williams Show today. "First and foremost, give kids the gift of certainty," she said. The American Psychiatric Association recently surveyed kids between the ages of 8-18. Only 30% of parents thought their kids were stressed, but surprisingly, the survey showed that 60% of children expressed feeling stressed. On the anniversary of 9/11, children who might not even had been born at the time of the original attack, see planes flying in to buildings and experience stress. Kids who see the movie '2012' come home worried that the world is going to end. Kids all over the country are hearing their parents talk about losing their jobs and not having enough money for groceries or healthcare. "We need to let kids know that we love them and care for them and want to make the world a safer and better place for them," said Dr. Scott.

"Give yourself the gift of life," she continued. Twenty-five hundred people a day die of heart-attacks but during the Christmas season, there is a 5% excess of deaths from heart disease. "If you have hypertension, diabetes or heart issues and you are not feeling well, don't delay in getting medical care just because its a holiday. Also, we overeat and overdrink during the holidays. To prevent excess deaths, push back from the table and go to the gym to work out. Also, the H1N1 virus is causing residual lung problems and respiratory infections weaken your immune system, so stay away from smoke."

Know your stressers and triggers and take action to reduce emotional stress through meditation, yoga, spirituality and exercise, especially over the holiday season.