Three tech solutions to help take the stress out of Christmas

We’re used to relying on the latest tech to keep us busy — from arranging catch-ups with friends on our smartphone to flocking to websites and apps like ASOS and Amazon to buy our favourite items.

But what if we could use tech to do the opposite and help us to relax and unwind over the most stressful season in the calendar?

Here are some of my favourite tech to help you relax this holiday season:

Amazon Alexa

Take away the stress of festive food preparation with a little help from Alexa; simply ask your Alexa for recipes by ingredient, dish name or cooking method, and get instant access to some of the world’s top recipes.

You don’t even have to touch the Alexa with your grubby, chocolate-covered fingers — use your voice to cue the next steps, or even set timers.

And while the turkey is cooking, ask Alexa to conduct a "Christmas movie quiz" to keep you and your family and friends entertained.

Pzizz

From buying and wrapping presents to ensuring there’s enough food in the cupboard to last you to 1st January, it can be hard to have a peaceful night’s sleep without waking up in a sweat wondering what you have forgotten.

The Pzizz app helps you to quickly calm your mind, fall asleep fast, stay asleep, and wake up refreshed. Using "dreamscapes" — a mix of music, voiceovers and sound effects, designed using the latest clinical research — Pzizz helps quiet the mind and calm the body into deep rest.

Used as a morning alarm, Pzizz spends three minutes bringing you gently out of sleep with personalised wake-up audio, so you wake up peacefully.

Roomba

Christmas is often a time of reunions — catch-ups with friends you may not have seen since last Christmas and days spent welcoming an ambush of relatives into your home. So the pressure is on to keep your house spick and span throughout the entire month of December.

But who wants to spend their days off work hoovering every inch of their house?

That’s where Roomba comes in. This handy little robot vacuum cleaner does all the heavy lifting so you can spend more quality time with friends and family, without worrying about the state of your house.

Connected to your Wi-Fi network, the Roomba app can be used to turn the robot on or off, set a cleaning schedule, or check if it's time to replace the filters or clean the sensors — all without you even having to get up off the sofa.