Back to School Stress and Nutrition

As the school year kicks off, many changes take place in families. New routines, classmates, schools, classes, bus rides and so forth can be a lot to adjust to for everyone. With those changes comes stress for parents, but especially for kids. Acting out, melt downs, depression or anxiety may be symptoms of the overload. Helping your child, no matter what age, cope with stressors is essential to help them with the transitions and challenges of life. Growing and developing strong minds and bodies requires good nutrition to manage these increased demands. Stress of All Types It’s not just the start of the school year that stress levels increase in kids. Children of all ages are vulnerable to the stressors that affect you as an adult. Natural disasters and current social events affect kids. Social stressors can take an enormous toll with bullying, cultural pressure, peer pressure, along with academic and extracurricular requirements and expectations. Add in family instability, financial stress, or traumas. Stressors come from being too busy, pressure to be the best, or not enough “free or play time”. Being constantly plugged into technology and screen time without physical activity, verbal conversations, creativity, and time together with family takes a toll on the mental and physical health of children, teenagers, and adults too. In addition, chemicals from the school environment like floor wax, new paints and carpet glues, formaldehydes from particle board, fire retardants, Round-up sprayed on the school playground, dust from electronics, blue light/LED light or other concerns bombard the central nervous system and rest of the body. These stressors challenge your body often in silent or subtle ways. Preschoolers all the way up to college age students experience stress. The stress of going back to school tests many individuals and may manifest itself in several […]

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