It's officially mid-August which means last-minute family vacations, back-to-school shopping, school orientations, and school sports season. For many families, it also means lots of stress, anxiety, and chaos. All too often, good-habits and routines go "out the window" as days become filled with endless shopping, chauffeuring, school prep, and rowdy kids, anxious about the upcoming school year. This rampant stress can wreak havoc on the minds and bodies of everyone in the family and result in neck pain, headaches, digestive issues, poor sleep, and a feeling of being overwhelmed. Luckily, it doesn't have to be this way. Below are 5 empowering tips to manage and overcome back-to-school stress.
1.) Visit your Chiropractor
Chiropractic adjustments rebalance the nervous system which can help take your body out of "fight-or-flight" mode and into rest, relax, and heal mode. How fast your nervous system rebalances depends on how often you are currently getting adjusted. If you have never seen a chiropractor before or it's been awhile, it will take a series of adjustments to transition your nervous system into a more relaxed tone.
2.) Stay Active
Studies have shown again and again that as little as 15-minutes of exercise a day can result in increased feelings of happiness, calm, and focus and decreased feelings of stress, anxiety, and depression. Whether it's going for a walk, hopping on a bike, or lifting some weights, take a few minutes to get moving.
3.) Commit to a Healthy Diet and Good Nutrition
When our minds are stressed, our bodies are stressed. This extra stress uses-up more vitamins and minerals. As a result, people generally feel more hungry and crave high calorie foods with a lot of bad fats and sugars. Coupled with a lack of time, people grab for the nachos, chocolate, and frozen pizzas which only add more stress to the body's systems. Instead, take the time to run to the grocery store and commit to buying ONLY healthy foods such as leafy greens (eg: kale, spinach, broccoli), nuts (eg: almonds, walnuts, Brazil nuts), colorful vegetables (eg: sweet potatoes, peppers), and high-quality fats (eg: fish, coconut oil, olive oil). Additional nutritional support from whole-food supplements
4.) Practice Mindfulness
Meditating, praying, yoga, being grateful, counting your blessings, sending love, whatever recharges your mind and spirit. Find what works and jives with you. The days you have the least amount of time are the days you probably most need to practice mindfulness. Here are some Meditation Apps to get you started.
5.) Drink Lots (of Water!)
The amount of water we require is dependent on our activity, metabolism, toxic load, diet, and stress-level. A couple notes on water: 1) make sure you're drinking filtered water (helps to reduce chemicals added to sanitize water and heavy metals from pipes and sediment), 2) sipping is better than chugging, 3) let your body tell you when enough is enough... aim for peeing 1x/hour throughout the entire day.
Don't Forget About the Kids!
Tune into your kids and pay attention... they are probably displaying signs of anxiety about the new school year. Perhaps they even make comments about not knowing the teacher or not having any friends in their class. Kids especially may not have the presence or the knowledge of how to handle or channel that stress so have a conversation, change their habits, and schedule a chiropractic appointment. Back-to-school is stressful for the whole family and everyone could benefit from these 5-tips.