Anxious? Stressed?

 

Anxious? Stressed? How can you help yourself to relax, reset and renew?

 With light of recent events most people are anxious, stressed wired and tired. Many people are looking for ways to cope with the new stressors in society. This has also shown up in our children. Many parents are reporting higher anxiety, stress and poor coping skills.

Here are a few ways you can help alleviate anxiety and feel better so you can focus and reset.

1.      Breathe! A simple way to relax your mind and brain is to focus on breathing. An easy exercise is box breathing. You will breath in for 4 counts, hold for 4 counts, breath out for 4 counts and hold for 4 counts. With children do counts of 3.

2.      Meditate, there are many apps such as CALM that will help teach and guide you to slow your mind down and reset

3.      Sleep. Are you sleeping well? 8-9 hours a night? Have you set up good sleeping hygiene with a cool, dark room with no phones or EMF devices in it? Do you have a regular sleeping schedule?

4.      Eating well. Are you eating on the run or taking time to eat and enjoy and chew your food with no distractions? Are you chewing your food for proper digestion? Taking a digestive enzyme, digestive bitters or lemon water after a few bites of your meal with greatly enhance your absorption of key nutrients such as iron, magnesium and zinc which are often depleted in many children and adults. Eat whole foods and refrain from packaged chemical ingredients. JUST EAT REAL FOOD! Avoid sugar and processed foods.

5.      Water intake. Many people are not consuming enough water, out bodes need 3-4 liters per day for healthy cells. Low water intake will make you tired, sore, foggy brained and constipated.

6.      Bowel movements. Are you regular? Meaning 2-3 bowel movements per day within 8 hours after a meal? Refer to the Bristol poop chart to see if your bowel movements are healthy. Many people are depleted in magnesium and other key nutrients and probiotics that affect bowel movements and gut health.

7.      Move your body. Start with a 10 min walk or some form of exercise, put it in your calendar and make it an appointment and build to 30 min per day. Chiropractic care can help you to move your body and help you feel better physically and emotionally. Many patients state they feel emotionally better after an adjustment.

Dr. Joelle Johnson BSc, DC, FICPA is currently talking her certification in childhood and adolescent neurodevelopment and is located at Family First Chiropractic and Wellness, 142 Erickson Drive, Red Deer. T4R2C3 403-347-3261 www.family1stchiro.ca

 

How to have fun with your Child's Physical and Emotional development

Parenting is hard and so much fun. Learning and exploring with your child at any age is rewarding and exciting as you see and feel new experiences with your children. Here are a few ideas from a chiropractor to enhance spinal health, emotional health, and physical health and development.

1.      REDUCE SCREEN TIME- we are all over ‘screened' and we all need to take a break, unplug and explore the world.

2.      Exercise. Get moving- being upright and physical using the upper and lower limbs in sports and activities- go to the park and get those kids active

3.      Sensory exploration. Explore all the sense with your child Touch, visual, hearing and taste. Go for a walk and get your child to close their eyes and listen to the sounds, crunchy leaves, snap twigs and let them tell you what they hear.

4.      Sensory. Do a sensory walk or path with bare feet (make sure it is safe). We do a lot of hand sensory bins for our children for the hands and eyes, now try for the feet.

5.      Balancing. Work on balancing with feet together eyes closed, try the tree pose on both legs. While doing these try to play catch or get them to read out loud. Exercises like these can be fun but challenging.

6.      Breathing. Teach your child breathing exercises, blowing through a straw, blowing a pinwheel, sniffing flowers, blowing bubbles or whistling.

7.      Gargling. Gargling helps give your nervous system tone. Get your child to start gargling 1-2 times a day.

These are some of the ideas and exercises I encourage the children in my practice, try them with your child and see the surprising results as they learn, develop and grow.

Dr. Joelle Johnson practices at Family First Chiropractic and Wellness, 142 Erickson Drive, Red Deer, T4R2C3 www.family1stchiro.ca 403-347-3261.

Breathing

Now that the Christmas season has past and we are getting back to our regular schedules we need to remember something we probably rarely think about. Our breathing.

Breath is essential to life. It is the first thing we do when we are born and the last thing we do when we leave. What we may not realize is that the mind, body, and breath are intimately connected and can influence each other. Our breathing is influenced by our thoughts, and our thoughts and physiology can be influenced by our breath.

There are many benefits to a regular practice of simple deep breathing. Reduced anxiety and depression, lower/stabilized blood pressure, increased energy levels, muscle relaxation, and decreased feelings of stress, to name a few.

Breathing exercises can be as simple as sitting on a chair with our feet on the ground and noticing our breath. Just becoming aware of how we breathe can have an impact on it. We can sit for a few minutes or longer. The body will benefit from any time spend consciously breathing.

So take some time and sit and breath. Your body will thank you for it.

Jeannette Raskin practices at Family First Chiropractic, 142 Erickson Drive, Red Deer, Alberta.  403-347-3261. www.family1stchiro.ca.