Christmas and emerging risks: what patterns change this time of year and how insurers respond

There is something curious that happens every December: the world remains the same, but our way of moving through it and our behaviors change only because these important dates are approaching. We adjust schedules, make trips that we don't do all year round and connect to pages and services that we only remember when these days arrive. These changes also have a direct effect: the risks that surround us are reorganized.

At Christmas, it's not that there are “more dangers” in absolute terms, what there are are different patterns, habits that break the routine and unexpected combinations that modify our exposure to risk. And that explains why insurers study these weeks almost as if they were a separate ecosystem.

From here, the focus is different. It is necessary to understand how we experience Christmas to understand how to better protect ourselves. No drama, no commercial tones, no campaign stories. Just a realistic and curious reading of what's going on.

Mobility and travel: unusual itineraries and decisions that mix tiredness and obligation

Christmas mobility has a very different logic than the rest of the year. It's not about “going home from work”, but rather about very specific journeys: trips back to the place of origin, night commutes after long dinners, roads with variable weather and more hours behind the wheel.

The risks emerge not because of recklessness, but because of the combination of several factors such as irregular schedules, the rush to arrive, the accumulated tiredness at the end of the year or traveling roads that we are not so used to.

The response of the insurance sector at this time is clearly focused on contextual prevention, such as weather alerts, reminders about rest or planning recommendations.

Impulsive consumption and purchases: the perfect mix between urgency and emotional pressure

Christmas shopping has a very specific pattern: they tend to be quick decisions, also motivated by emotional pressure and the feeling that “there is no room to think about it much because you have to arrive on time”.

However, this pattern of behavior opens the door to two problems. First, impulsive purchases that compromise financial stability in January and, above all, become fertile ground for online fraud.

Therefore, it is important to consider the following basic risk signs:

• Identify if the website is official or of dubious origin
• Be wary of discounts that are too generous
• Ensure that online payments are made in a secure environment
• Don't rush for time and think carefully about any buying decision

On the side of the insurers, the main thing is to accompany users throughout the process, reminding them of the importance of buying wisely, despite the context that invites just the opposite.

Cybersecurity: the time of year where we let our guard down the most

December concentrates a phenomenon that experts observe every year: the average user receives more emails, more messages, more shipping notifications and more commercial communications than in any other month. In that noise, distinguishing what is legitimate from what is false becomes much more difficult than in the rest of the year.

Las scams Christmas holidays are not new, but they are more sophisticated. Its effectiveness is based on the mixture of:

• urgency (“last shipment before Christmas”)
• familiarity (“your order is on its way”)
• Information Saturation

Here, the role of insurers and digital risk entities must be educational. For example, showing real examples of phishing, teaching how to verify domains, remembering that no serious service asks for sensitive data per message and promoting pauses that, although small, exponentially reduce the likelihood of falling into a deception.

Emotional Health: The Most Invisible and Most Common Risk

Christmas can be a warm time, but it can also be a demanding one. For some people, it involves reconciliation, family responsibilities, mandatory meetings, or emotional burdens that aren't always said out loud. For others, it's a period of silence, lack of company, or grief.

It's not surprising that stress increases, that sleep is disturbed and that attention spans decrease just as more activity is around.

Insurers are beginning to integrate this dimension into their prevention strategies, not from a health approach, but from emotional education: self-care guidelines, stress management, reminders to ask for help, digital tools that make it easier to identify signs of saturation and normalization of mental health as part of comprehensive well-being.

From Santalucía Impulsa: thank you for joining us for another year

We too are living these weeks with that particular mix of enthusiasm and vertigo that December brings. And, precisely for this reason, we want to take advantage of this space to remember that talking about prevention does not go against the Christmas spirit: it is a way to accompany us better, to reach everything without wearing ourselves out and to take care of what really matters.

We know that each family and each person experiences these dates in a different way. Some with a lot of activity and others with more calm; some surrounded by people and others from a distance. For this reason, our focus is on the essential: that we can move, decide and enjoy with more awareness and less pressure, without losing sight of the small risks that sometimes go unnoticed.

And now that the year is drawing to a close, we can only thank you. Thank you for reading us, for trusting in our work and for being part of a community that believes in innovation with purpose and in the importance of anticipating ourselves in order to live better.

From Santalucía Impulsa, we wish you a quiet, bright and safe Christmas, and a 2026 full of ideas, projects and moments that deserve to be protected.