Your Family Chiropractor's Guide to the Best Back to School EVER!!!

The days are getting cooler and and our families are starting to make the shift towards preparing for back to school. For lots of people that means new sneakers and backpacks, markers and pens. There are lots of ways you can start to help your little ones and big ones get ready for the first day and to make this their best school year yet. Here are my top 5 suggestions on how to help any student in your life get the most out of their school year:

1 - Start moving them towards the regular school schedule. Sleep is one of the most important parts of a growing child’s daily routine. In that time they move information from short to long term memory, their immune systems do a great deal of work to ensure their systems are ready to face the next day, and their bodies are getting some much needed rest. For back to school, that means getting to bed in time, and waking up a little earlier to have stress free mornings once the school year starts. Not only does the extra rest make them less grumpy, it actually helps them prepare to learn, retain info and make your mornings a lot less hectic!

2 - Have them eat a healthy breakfast. Many children are heading to school with Nutella on toast, or heavily sweetened cereals in their bodies. This fills them up, but it also has them keyed up on sugar (the most addictive substance on earth). They may begin their school day and have trouble sitting still, listening to directions or with challenging behaviour. Then a couple of hours later they face the sugar crash and lack energy, motivation or learning power. Do your kids and their teachers a favour and serve them low sugar, high protein breakfasts to keep them going strong all morning!

3 - Talk to them about their feelings. Many kids are PUMPED to head back to school to see their friends and get their learn on. Lots of others will have some worries. We ask a lot of them in a new school year - new classroom, new teacher, new students, new subjects, so its a good idea to get a handle on any hang ups your kids may have about going back. Try to come up with some strategies to help them get acclimatized before the big day. Play dates with school friends, reviewing some material from last year, watching some videos about subjects they may be worried about.

4 - Make sure their brains and bodies are getting all the nutrients they need to perform well in school. Every child should be taking an omega 3 supplement, a multivitamin and probiotics. Why? To fill any gaps in their diet and to make sure they’re getting all the brain boosting, anti-inflammatory, gut supporting help they can get. The Omegas help support healthy brain development, the probiotics help support the gut-brain connection and health, and the multivitamins help ensure their overall nutrition needs are being met.

5 - Help them overcome challenges with essential oils. Have a kid who has a hard time with tests? Try diffusing uplifting oils like peppermint and wild orange while they study and then also have them take those oils in a roller bottle on the day of the test.

Have a kid who struggles with social/emotional challenges at school? Give the Emotional Aromatherapy line a try - it will empower them to recognize their feelings and have a healthy method to embrace and overcome them.

And let’s not forget a very key ingredient - Chiropractic care! Having your children adjusted regularly can help improve their school performance, their general mood and demeanour and even their receptiveness to learning. When we adjust your children, we are making sure that their bodies are functioning the way they were designed to - with unfettered communication between their brains and every other aspect of their bodies. When the brain and body communicate clearly, kids can be at their best, and have their best school year every year!

To learn more about the supplements and essential oils in this article, check out the Essential Oil tab on this page, or email dr.sarahtremblay@gmail.com