5 Back to School Tips for a Healthy Brain

This mom wants her kids to stay healthy all year round, but especially as they go back to school.  Summer is officially over, and school is back in session. Schedules, rules and diets have been lax for a few months. It is often tough to get kids back into the swing of school after the schedules has gone awry for so long. It also means that any of us parents have to put in the effort first to get ourselves back on track. Then we can get our brood back into school mode easier.  Our kids follow our lead, especially the younger ones. If we are slacking on our health routines, then they start slacking too. If we get our children on the healthy trek at a young age, they have a better chance of becoming smarter, healthier, and mentally sound children. Adults, let’s be the example for our kids to be pictures of health! The things I will mention are very simple and don’t take a lot of time. At first, getting into a new routine can be slightly challenging but the results are so very rewarding for your entire family.

Here are 5 Back to School Tips For a Healthy Brain & Body

1. Limit your electronic usage! Put a timer on it for ourselves and our kids. I know, I know, this is a hard one for us all. Most of us are pretty much addicted to our electronics, me included. Electronics send EMF (Electro-Magnetic Frequency) that can be extremely harmful and disrupt brain wave patterns. EMFs damage the DNA over time. It is especially dangerous to keep these electronics in our pockets or next to our heads. Our kids brains are highly affected by these frequencies. It can make them very irritable and even rageful because it is sending a constant stimuli signal. With all the EMFs & new 5G technology coming in to a neighborhood near you, running around us 24X7, it certainly takes a toll on your body. 5G is so dangerous to our bodies, that even big cities are starting to ban it from being installed.

Getting EMF frequency blocking devices in your home is very helpful.  You can place these near your wifis, modems, smart meters, and other high electronic areas. My favorite products to use are Shungite crystals and VibesUp products. I have them all over my home, especially in the high EMF areas. www.vibesup.com.  Another thing I found to come in handy for my daughter is the blue light glasses to use while watching iPad or TV. You can find these pretty inexpensively on amazon and they actually keep her calmer with the devices. She is quite sensitive to electronics.

 

I limit her screen time, approve what she is watching, and set a timer. When the timer goes off, it’s a 5-minute warning that the electronics are going off. Setting a timer with a 5-minute warning is very helpful for feisty children, so they don’t explode on you. Studies have shown that the sudden disconnection of the EMF can cause the brain to also misfire. Giving them and their brains a quick heads up helps to alleviate an outbreak. It is helpful if we turn off the electronics close to bed time. This will allow the brain to wind down easier before we drift off to sleep. If you are one that has to have tv or noise on in order to go to sleep, then set the electronics away from your head and set a sleep timer.

2. Make sure you are getting enough sleep! Society has us accustomed to cramming as much stuff into a day before our head hits the pillow. We often push our bed times later and later. We have to re-train our brains to slow down. Many of us still feel like we are forever working in dreamtime because of unfinished projects. We can do this by setting an actual bedtime for ourselves too and sticking to it. When our kids see us go into a bed time routine they are more apt to following our lead. Between 7-9 hours is best for adults. As a full-time, self-employed mom, it is a big challenge to get enough sleep. I also know if I don’t get enough sleep more than a couple days a week, I start to get super run down, tired, cranky and my brain gets foggy. We are programmed by society to work, work, work, and yes, I am guilty too! Start going to bed early. Whatever you don’t get done, write it down in your phone or on a notepad, so you can release it from your brain before bed.

   Of course, our kids need more sleep than us adults do. Their brains and bodies are still developing. Pediatricians recommend that children ages 3-5 need 10-13 hours a night. Kids 6-12 years old need 9-12 hours of sleep. Teenagers need 8-10 hours a night and no more than 12 hours unless they are fighting illness. Young adults up to age 25 years brains are also still developing. They need 7-9 hours, no more than 11 hours.

 

Having too much sleep can throw off your brain chemistry. Oversleeping can also cause super funky dreams. I’ve been trying to explain to my 22 yr old. She was always complaining of crazy dreams. I told her she sleeps too long. It has happened to her enough times for her to pay attention. She also just finished a psychology class and wrote a paper on REM sleep and dream state.

Sticking to an after-dinner routine to wind down for bed is really helpful for children and us adult too. I used to be a night owl and still kind of am, but I have had to train myself to go to bed earlier. If I don’t get a project done by a certain time at night, I just have to stop. It will be there in the morning and easier to work on after I have had a night of rest. After a week or so your body starts getting used to winding down at a certain time. When you have the correct amount of restful sleep, the more brain power you will have to tackle the next day.

3. Take some time to meditate. Meditation has been proven to help increase brain power and lower stress. You don’t have to sit there on the floor saying OHM for 30 minutes. It isn’t necessarily a religious thing, it’s a stress reducing thing! It can be fun, enjoyable and relaxing. Just take a 5-minute meditation here and there to re-group yourself and your thoughts. Take some slow deep breaths in and out. No need to make it difficult. Don’t even try to clear your mind or focus on things, just concentrated breathing will work. Teach your kids how to meditate, even if it is a 5-minute quiet time for everyone to sit in stillness. Put on some spa music and let yourself unwind. This will teach them how to take control of their own emotions and calm themselves. It can be super helpful to do before school, on the way to school or before a test. Meditation increases brainpower. There are a lot of really neat meditations available on YouTube. My daughter absolutely loves Cory’s Conscious Living meditations on YouTube. She has such a soothing voice and wonderful stories she tells to get the kids off into dreamland peacefully. They are now even starting to use mediation in the public schools. Studies are showing less kids in detention and higher grades. Meditation creates extra oxygen to the brain. It is helpful to do all day long to alleviate stress, gain concentration and helps you sleep.
4. Do an Immune Boost. Boosting the immune system really helps get rid of unwanted toxins that we have consumed over the summer. Adults can take my Immune Strength Tea or Capsules that I created to get rid of toxins and boosts the immune. They can be found on at https://springrayne.com/shop/ or on Amazon. Kids can take elderberry syrup and extra Vitamin C, especially the first few weeks of school. Another wonderful and safe detox for children is a product called Advanced TRS spray. It is nano-particle zeolite in water. Zeolite is known as a heavy metal, parasite, toxin and containment removal mineral. It is so safe that even newborns and pregnant nursing mothers can take it. It tastes like water so it is super easy to spray in kids mouths or food you know they will eat. People have been reporting some pretty amazing stuff like mood elevations, brain focus, picky kids trying new foods, and autism symptoms lessoning. It is frightening how pick up parasites, heavy metals and toxins everywhere. They are found in our food, the air, from our pets, and even skin care products. Heavy metals in the body have been linked to brain disorders, autism spectrum and Alzheimer’s. The less toxins we have in the body the better the brain can function. If you are interested in more information or trying the TRS detox spray, here is a link you can research and purchase. https://mycoseva.com/springrayne

It doesn’t matter what kind of detox or immune boost you choose. Just do one every couple months or so. It’s like getting the oil changed in your car, it is considered required maintenance. Detoxing and immune boosting can help fight off all the new germs they are coming in contact with. The more the body has to fight off germs and illness the less power goes to the brain.

5. Healthy Eating is one of the best ways to prepare your body and mind for a new school year. Most of us go on vacation during the summer and our food schedules and diets are totally thrown. We take the time during the summer to catch up on all the fun things. Many of us aren’t truly relaxing. We are having as much fun as possible, and why shouldn’t we have fun and enjoy yummy stuff? Our bodies become taxed with all the fun but not so healthy things that we consumed. Those toxins and a lack of rest can create the immune to shoot down. This is why often as soon as we start school, the kids start getting sick again.

Ensuring that you and your family eat a healthy diet is the key to success for a healthy brain and immune system. Omitting the processed sugar and eating organic healthy balanced meals every day. Make sure you and your kids drink water and then eat breakfast shortly after everyone wakes up.  Having plenty of water consistently throughout the day between meals is best for digestion and hydration absorption. Breakfast that contains protein and a healthy fat will help sustain you until break or lunchtime.

Packing yourselves and your children a healthy lunch will help sustain your energy and brain power longer through the day. Eating more protein and healthy fat at lunchtime combined with some healthy carbs should sustain the brain and energy levels the rest of the day. Did you know that 50-65% of a child’s daily calorie intake needs to come from healthy carbohydrates? Yes, kids need a lot of carbs to grow properly! When picking sugar snacks, keep the sugar to less than 6 tsps which is 25 grams of sugar per day. Choosing a light healthy dinner, with healthy carbs and with lower protein will allow you to sleep better.

Make Sure Your Childs Lunch Has:

A Protein – Nut butters,  chicken, turkey
A Healthy Fat – Avocado, chia seeds, nuts
A Healthy Carb – Gluten Free bread, wraps, beans, rice, potatoes, fruit
Fiber – Fruits, green veggies & legumes
Something Green – Snow peas, dark leafy greens, cucumbers, celery

As an addition of course kids like their sugar. Keep it to healthier non processed sugars like brown sugar, brown rice syrup, cane sugar, agave, or honey.

If you would like some healthy recipes, check out my recipe section on my website https://springrayne.com/recipes/

For lots of kid friendly recipes, check out my book Healthy Family, Healthy Family. It is available on my website or Amazon. https://springrayne.com/books/ .

 

All these tips that I have listed above are things that have been working on with myself, my own children and clients to help create healthier bodies and emotional states. It has been my longtime passion to start a private Holistic School for children and families to learn how to heal themselves in a loving and supportive environment. Lots of hard work and changes in plans have taken place for this school over the years. I am pleased to announce the new Starseed Holistic School that is coming soon to Boulder, County Colorado area by Fall of 2020!  Donations are certainly appreciated to help make this dream come true for myself and many families. Check it out and let me know what you think! www.starseedholisticschool.com