4 Reasons Kids Get Sick in the Fall and Winter
As we enter into any winter holiday season (i.e. stressed-out family season), there seem to be four things that our kids and families experience that tend to collide all at once and result in stressed kids and families!
This causes our kids, ourselves, and our nervous systems to get completely overwhelmed and stressed out. When we get worn out, we get sick, anxious, emotional, and worn down. All of this is very biological, physiological, and neurological. I promise when we get done ripping through these four things, we will get to the most important thing which is what you can do to get out of it, ahead of it and through it. Yes – get through winter – still happy, smiling, and healthy.
Your tan may fade, but your health doesn’t need to.
THE NUMBER ONE THING THAT GOES SIDEWAYS WHEN WE HIT THIS SEASON IS OUR SLEEP
We all know if you’re a parent, of young kids especially, that daylight savings happens as we shift into the winter months. The world is wildly intelligent. We are actually supposed to slow down and to take it easier in the winter months, which includes getting more sleep. But what happens is because other things start to show up (school and social activities; sports; parties; sugar), we start to get less sleep. Now, many kids are going to enter this season already not getting enough sleep, so when that issue becomes magnified with daylight savings, less waking hours, we really get into trouble with that.
The flip side of sleep challenges, you could also attribute them to not getting outside, or getting as much vitamin D and sunlight. You’re simply not getting as much outdoor energizing, stress-busting, immune system building activity and exercise outside. Here are some natural sleep remedies to help with this challenge.
NUMBER TWO IS DUE TO THE SHIFT OF SEASONS
The truth of the matter is that our central and autonomic nervous system regulates our body’s temperature and pressure sensors. So as we go through all these seasonal changes, spring and fall are the big ones, we really stress out our nervous system because it’s preoccupied. It’s busy regulating temperature, our immune system, and all these changes that are happening. When our immune and nervous systems get sort of sidetracked, that can cause our emotions, sleep, and health to start to go sideways too.
NUMBER THREE IS THAT SCHOOL IS REALLY WHERE SOCIAL AND SPORTS ALL INTERWEAVE TOGETHER FOR OUR KIDS
School is really busy at that time and sports tend to pick up. Your kids probably have projects, tests, exams, grades, and so the pressure is elevated. There’s a lot more stuff coming at our kids. We could have really just called this “schedules max out” time of year. Not to mention the holiday parties that pop up on the schedule.
NUMBER FOUR IS STRAIGHT-UP SUGAR
You may not know how much I despise Halloween. Yes. I said it. Pediatric chiropractor guy, who loves to have fun in life and has four beautiful kids…I can’t stand Halloween. Now I am not an over-the-top parent who never allows my kids to have sugar. We go trick-or-treating, but let’s not kid ourselves, there is a reason for cold and flu season, and it’s because of all the things mentioned above.
Then we put kerosene on the campfire and go from Halloween to Thanksgiving, to Christmas and are full-throttle into a sugar-filled, stress-filled season. All of that adds up to a stressed-out, wound-up nervous system. Our nervous system can only stay stressed out and try to keep up for so long before it wears out and runs out of gas.
Our adrenals and immune system tap out, and our digestive system goes sideways. The moment those key systems in the body get worn out, our physical systems, and so does our brain. Our brain in today’s conversation is emotions, behavior, focus, and concentration. So if you’re seeing your kids’ sensory, emotional, and/or behavioral challenges really come to a head and get worse that time of year, it’s the system that regulates the body that you’ve got to take care of the most.
SO WHAT ARE THE NEXT STEPS TO HELP?
The number one thing you’ve got to do is find out how far into it you are. There is a phenomenal type of technology out there in healthcare and you’re going to find it in a neurologically focused pediatric and family chiropractor office because our specialty is measuring, finding, and improving the stress on the nervous system. Right now is the time to find out if your kid’s nervous system, immune system and digestive system are exhausted, out of balance and completely wound up and stressed out.
Those are the scans that we run in our office. They’re called Insight neurological or INSiGHT Scans. They take 15 minutes to get done. So if you’re reading this and this sounds like your kid – they’re stressed, wound up, worn out – and you know that all of those S’s are a part of your life and you can’t just magically snap your fingers and have them go away. We can help you overcome them. You can get chiropractic care to improve the function of your nervous system to make it more resilient, adaptable and to improve how it copes with stress. When you get your nervous system working better, you get your immune, emotional, and physical systems all working better. So give us a call to learn more about the scans. Or if you aren’t in the San Diego area, you can check the PX Directory to find a PX Doc located near you!
This article appeared on PX Docs.