Sappy Hallmark holiday movies can be good for your mental health

Come the holidays, I look forward to the texts my daughters and I trade as we rate romantic holiday movies – the Hallmark-style ones where the frazzled heroine (or hero) moves back to The Old Hometown only to discover happiness in running the family fudge business and tossing over the slick city suitor in favor of the rugged neighbor in the flannel shirt.

Cue snowflakes, ice skating and – we can only hope –a horse-drawn sleigh ride, followed by our own smiles, laughter, and, OK I admit it, an occasional tear.

There’s no question these cornball plots are diverting during the holidays. But could a sappy holiday movie like those inspired by the sentimental Hallmark Channel releases actually be good for us?

Absolutely, says Kimberly Crocker Crowther, PhD, APRN, BC, FNP, a family nurse practitioner who is a psychiatric provider with Cape Cod Human Services, the outpatient arm of Cape Cod Healthcare Centers for Behavioral Health.

“The human brain really likes things that are patterned and are predictable,” she said. “So, these plots where the genre’s really well defined and you know the predictability of the plot, and you know it’s going to have a happy ending, that’s very pleasing to the human brain.”

Not only that, going on an emotionally pleasing journey with the characters in the movie releases your own emotions and helps decrease holiday stress, she said.

“We know most people aren’t going to meet their prince or princess and get swept off their feet,” Crocker Crowther said. “But what the movies represent for most people is this connection to other humans. And they have these themes of community and caring and hope and forgiveness, and all of those themes are actually very central to mental health care.”

Behavioral Health Studies

A holiday movie might even help you cool holiday stress by connecting you to your own emotions and shifting your holiday attitude, she said. “For example, it might help you think about the true meaning of the holidays rather than how to make a perfect holiday.”

Crocker Crowther admits that, although she has friends who are Hallmark movie fans, her taste runs more to darker comedies like “A Bad Moms Christmas” (Spoiler alert: decidedly not a sweet romantic movie). But my questions inspired her to explore the research into holiday movies.

“I was actually really intrigued by what I discovered because there have been studies about this in behavioral health, which surprised me,” she said. One finding: Apparently mine isn’t the only family for whom the movies are a holiday ritual.

“The number one positive is that it seems to be quite a family tradition for a lot of people to sit down and watch these, much like people watch ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ or ‘Frosty the Snowman,’” she said.

Don’t Overdo It

Of course, just like the bad urban boyfriend in a Hallmark story, holiday movies can turn dark, such as when your weekend binge drifts into Monday.

“The idea about binge watching them is if it feels good to you, go ahead and do it,” Crocker Crowther said. “But if 10 of them in a row is stressing you out, then moderation – just like your mother told you – is good.”

And remember that the relationships in holiday movies are not real, she said.

“There are people who get so invested in movies that they don’t understand or appreciate that not every relationship is like those. As long as you have that healthy sense that not every relationship is peachy keen every day, all day, then it’s OK.”

Her research led Crocker Crowther to be more open toward holiday movies – or at least more understanding of her friends who love them. So, keep them in your anti-holiday-stress arsenal, she said, along with:

• Deep breathing,
• Exercise,
• Sleep, and
• Gathering small moments of gratitude.

For one, I will be grateful for my daughters’ goofy texts about the heroine’s Christmas sweater or her snowy hike in 4-inch heels.

“These holiday movies, while they seem a bit trite and a little bit corny in places, they actually foster really good themes of family and connections,” Crocker Crowther said, “and they do actually make people feel more positive and optimistic.”