POV: It’s the first day of school.  You’ve got all the lunches packed with the kids’ favourite snacks, outfits laid out, you’re feeling a little anxious but all in all, you’re ready. You’ve been ready since July. You love your kids, but it was time both of you got back to some semblance of routine.

You get breakfast on the table, first day of school photos taken the kids are on the school yard 10 minutes before the bell.

You’ve got this. You’re killing it.

Fast forward 2 weeks…

You’re struggling to get the kids (and yourself) out of bed in the morning. You’re too exhausted after work, school and extracurriculars at night to make lunches so you’re whipping them together first thing in the morning and tossing your high school student a $20 to grab something from the cafeteria.

You’ve already got one “friendly reminder” from the teacher about that fundraiser that’s coming up and a message on the class app about your other child about their “spirited behaviour” and difficulty staying on task like the other children. Oh, and you’re starting to feel like you’re coming down with whatever your middle-schooler had last week. Just in time for that big presentation you have coming up at work.

You then berate yourself. Feeling like you’ve failed. You’ve lost the momentum. You’re now destined to spend the rest of the year in a reactional mode, rather than a proactive mode.

If this sounds familiar, I want you to know, you’re not alone. In fact, you’re part of the majority.

You may be thinking “well that’s just life. That’s the chaos of having school-aged kids, a job, a dog, extracurriculars and a life”, but I’m here to tell you that it doesn’t need to be this way.

Sure, it’s going to be busy. Busy and in a constant state of movement is inevitable most days…

But it doesn’t have to be from a place of constant reaction rather than pro action.

While I have a special place in my heart for detailed, hourly calendars and paper planners, to-do lists and the like, this post is about much more than that.

This is about the physiological breakdown that occurs during those first few weeks of school and what you can do today to prepare for them before they happen.

Stress and Adrenal Fatigue

Hormonal Disruption

Hormones control every process within the body including:

• Hunger

• Sleep/Wake Cycles

• Growth

• Blood Sugar Regulation

• Digestion and Elimination

• Energy Production

• Heart Rate

• Muscle Contraction and Relaxation

• Memory

• Mood

• Menstrual Regularity

Our nervous system plays a significant role in the management of our hormones, and when we become stressed, the release of cortisol interferes with proper uptake of other hormones like thyroid hormones responsible for a number of these functions.

Without proper hormone synthesis, the bodily functions listed above become compromised, leading to a number of the issues that we see arise during the back-to-school rush.

Dysbiosis

Chronic inflammation from stress leads to dysbiosis in the gut, which leads to a weakening of the immune system

More than 70% of the immune system is located in the gut and is controlled mainly by the bacteria that reside in there, as well as the integrity of the mucosal lining of the digestive tract.

During periods of inflammation (in the case of chronic stress) the mucus membranes atrophy, reducing the body’s ability to filter out toxic chemicals, bacteria and viruses.

In addition to this, the beneficial bacteria that are supposed to live on in harmony with our mucus membranes are there to ensure those pathogens do not have the opportunity to adhere to the cell walls. In the case of dysbiosis, the beneficial bacteria become overrun by “bad bacteria” giving way to the proliferation of viruses and inflammatory microbial ecosystems.

That is why it is extremely important to take a high-quality, human strain probiotic, to ensure colonization of healthy, beneficial flora that are able to grow and proliferate in the different stages of the digestive tract, ensuring proper digestion, nutrient absorption and elimination.

It’s important to note that not all probiotics are created equally. I recommend the Genestra Human Strain probiotics, as all probiotic literature promoting their benefits is based on human strains as opposed to animal strains. In addition to probiotic strains being important, so is the actual bacteria present. Different bacteria benefit different age groups as the natural, intestinal flora changes over the course of a lifetime. These subtle differences are the reason that many people have tried probiotics and not seen any marked changes in their health.

If you’d like to learn more about which probiotic is right for you or to place an order, click here to contact me today.

Sympathetic Nervous system dominance and Allostatic Load

Allostatic Load is defined by the sum of energy required to maintain homeostasis.

In the case of back-to-school, the body is forced to adapt in numerous ways to maintain homeostasis.

There is a great deal of pressure on one’s social-emotional regulation abilities, cognitive processing, increase in exposure to artificial light and low quality air affecting mitochondrial function and hormonal secretion, often more physical exercise for those who spent their summer vacation relaxing, and for those who spent their summer outdoors engaging in physical activity on a daily basis, back-to-school proves to be stifling for their body’s physical expenditure needs, often leading to an energetic build-up that tends to manifest as behavioural challenges and impulse control issues.

The body also faces a barrage of new and foreign potential pathogens, and often equally as many toxic chemicals that are used to offset these bacterial, fungal and protozoal colonies within school settings. Endocrine disruptors like bleach, ammonia, 1,4-dioxane, artificial fragrance, etc. have the same affect on hormone regulation and bodily function as chronic stress – thus enhancing the negative effects associated with the back-to-school process.

Given what we know about hormones and the physiological processes they are responsible for, we can see that the act of returning to a challenging environment like a school setting, in the presence of increased stress places extreme demand on the body’s vital energy resources to maintain proper health, cognitive function, blood glucose regulation, mood stabilization, microbial colonization and immune function, neurotransmitter production, etc.

Once this allostatic load becomes too much for the body’s physiological capacity, the innumerable “spinning plates” so to speak, that the body is trying to keep in the air, begin to fall, creating what appears to be a cascade of symptoms, but in fact, they are just a result of the breakdown of the body’s capacity to manage regulation at each juncture.

What does that mean?

It’s at these moments that we often treat the body by adding more toxicity in the form of sleeping pills, pain relievers, ant-acids, antihistamines, mood stabilizers, SSRIs, etc. When, in fact, these symptoms are the body’s way of indicating that it’s no longer able to keep up with the amount of toxicity and chemical exposure (physical, chemical and emotional stress) and what it truly needs is proper drainage and circulation to regain homeostasis.

In Your Child

The excitement and newness of back to school has had your child in “fight or flight” for weeks, thus drawing even more heavily on the body’s valuable resources.

Digestion

During fight or flight, the body slows or sometimes halts digestion in an effort to preserve energy for what it believes is the need to run from or face and fight, in the case of a bear attack, essentially. This increase in demand on the body’s nutritional resources can often look similar to one’s nutritional needs during periods of growth or recovery from traumatic events like surgery.

Unfortunately, during these periods of great nutritional needs, this increase in dominance of the sympathetic nervous system renders kids unable to digest much, if any food at all in an efficient way.

In a nutshell, these kids now require twice as many nutrients and are absorbing 50% or less in periods of high stress.

This leads to almost instant nutritional deficiencies, cravings for things like chocolate (in an effort to boost magnesium) and can, and often does result in lowered cognitive function and/or behavioural challenges as the body tries to preserve as many nutrients as possible.

This is often seen as kids with insatiable appetites, attention deficits, poor comprehension skills and constant cravings for sugar and refined carbohydrates.

In addition to these deficiencies, as the child’s nutritional needs continue to be met with nutritionally-void pseudo foods, their deficiencies increase, despite consuming an excess of calories – leading to overeating and ultimately, weight issues and obesity.

Cognitive Processing

While the body is in “fight or flight” and perceives a threat, it pulls its resources inwards to attempt to protect the vital organs. While in a place of “fight or flight” the brain is unable to process and/or retain information the same way it is when it’s in a state of “rest and digest” (parasympathetic nervous system). An example of this would be if you pictured yourself trying to evacuate a burning building while someone was alongside you trying to teach you a math lesson. Consider what your cognitive processing capabilities would be at that moment. How do you think you would perform on the test the following week?

This is what is happening to our children on a daily basis.

As parents and professionals, we often take for granted our child’s lived experiences and the gravity of those situations as they affect them personally.

What we perceive as “just another day at school”, for them can be overwhelming either due to social or academic performance anxiety, or even overwhelming due to excitement and eagerness (unfortunately, the nervous system responds similarly to hyper-excitement as it does to fear and anxiety, thus keeping them in a constant state of hyper-arousal and sympathetic dominance).

Another key factor in this process is the blood sugar response during these periods of fight or flight. During fight or flight, the body is forced to free up sugar stores in the liver and release them into the blood stream for immediate energy use – thus increasing blood sugar levels.

While this process is crucial and life-saving in certain situations, in the case of chronic exposure to these experiences, we end up with chronically elevated blood glucose levels which lead to things like heart disease and type II diabetes, obesity and a myriad of other long-term issues. In the short-term, they lead to more cravings for sugar and refined carbohydrates to help maintain the new, unhealthy levels of blood sugar the body has become accustomed to.

The best way to overcome these challenges is to help strengthen the tone of the Parasympathetic Nervous System through Vagus Nerve Exercises.

Here are a few great resources to help strengthen your child’s vagal tone:

mindfulness resources for young kids

Mindfulness Resources for Teens

Sleep

This constant state of overwhelm on the system drastically affects one’s ability to sleep and maintain adequate restorative sleep cycles.

If we revisit the “running from a bear” scenario, we understand that our body is designed to sleep lighter and less restoratively as a protective mechanism in case of a potential predator or dangerous threat.

For many children, this threat can be subtle or often silent, as mentioned before, due to a social or performance related anxiety, but regardless of it’s subtle nature, can still have a significant impact on our children’s ability to establish proper sleep.

In addition to this, exposure to screens and artificial light after sunset has a very similar effect on the nervous system, thus, kids who are relatively well-adjusted and adaptable in a school setting become equally as susceptible to a decrease in restorative sleep function which ultimately affects things like:

• Immune Function

• Cognitive Development

• Digestion

• Healing

• Emotional Regulation

• Hormones

• Blood Glucose Balance

In You

The same concepts can be applied to ourselves as adults. With the constant need to be everything for everyone, at all hours of the day and night, our body is in a constant state of allostatic deficit.

Managing our children’s needs, our own needs, our occupational responsibilities, tending to our relationships and maintaining our home and financial obligations are full-time jobs in and of themselves, and we are often trying to manage all of them at once.

This is perceived by our bodies and brains as a source of stress. A bear in the woods, similar to how our children perceive their school experience.

This forces our body to pool its most valuable resources to try to maintain balance within, leading to a breakdown in many of the same systems, including:

• Digestion

• Cognitive Function

• Immune Function

• Mood/Emotional Regulation

• Hormonal Balance

Managing The Nervous System and Allostatic Load (Ft. 6 Things You Can Do Today To get started)

I do suggest a consultation for this, as the nuances are different within each family depending on whether or not you’re dealing with neuro-diversities, metabolic disorders, auto-immune diseases, etc., but here are a few things you can try today to get started:

• Breathwork, meditation, yoga, qi gong

• Family Night
  Whether you’re playing games, using conversation starters like these, having a Bob Ross paint night or going camping on the weekend, family time that is filled with laughter (bonus points if it’s outside!!) is the one of the best things you can do to help regulate your nervous system and boost your body’s ability to manage stress.

• 30-Minutes Outside Per Day
  Even in the snow, the body needs the fresh air and exposure to natural light to stimulate mitochondrial function and begin the repair process

• Exposure to Sunrise and Sunset
  Set aside 10-15 minutes at the beginning and end of each day to see the sun rise and set outside (many windows have special treatments to prevent UV light from entering, and it is  these light waves that are crucial for the production of melatonin, so being outside is extremely important). Once the sun has set, turn off all screens or utilize blue light blocking glasses to allow your body to begin to release melatonin in order to induce deep and restful sleep.

A quick note about melatonin: I know it can be enticing to want to supplement melatonin for yourself or your child, but I do not recommend this unless absolutely necessary, as it can have an adverse affect on the body’s ability to synthesize its own melatonin. Prolonged supplementation can render the body unable to create its own, thus creating a dependency that can be extremely taxing on the physiological systems.

• Protein-Rich Foods
  Serotonin and Melatonin, two master hormones are synthesized by amino acid L-Tryptophan (found in abundance in things like turkey, chicken and oats). Amino acids are crucial for the synthesis of hormones critical for the maintenance of our moods.Click Here to schedule a FREE Consultation to get started with meal planning today
• Blue Light Blocking Glasses
  By now I sound like a broken record, but I cannot stress the importance of blue light blocking glasses for all screen viewing and especially after sunset.

The Immune Response to Stress and Poor Dietary Choices

As the body begins to crumble under the pressure, blood sugar levels rise, dysbiosis increases and we start to crave things that will provide us with an instant shot of energy – things like refined carbohydrates and sugar.

Unfortunately, as we continue to give into these cravings, things like dysbiosis and inflammation increase, thus creating a vicious cycle of inflammatory response and bacterial imbalance – the perfect environment for pathogens like viruses and bacteria.

I’m sure you’ve been there. Life gets busy, you order pizza one weeknight, and then twice the second week, and before you know it you’re grabbing take-out more than 3 nights a week and suddenly the entire family gets wiped out by a cold and, if you don’t get a handle on it, it becomes the cold that started a season of unwellness where everyone in the family never really recovers fully and everyone maintains a bit of a sniffle all winter long.

And now, more than ever, families can’t afford to have a chronic case of the sniffles and green runny noses.

Back to School Special

That is why I have created a back-to-school protocol for families that includes:

• An in-depth 90-minute consultation
• 2 weeks of meal plans catered to your family’s individual needs and food preferences (picky eaters, I’m talking about you)
• A list of recommended supplements for the maintenance of good health and cognitive function
• An immune-boosting tool guide to help you truly knock out the inevitable annual cold and get right back to your regular routines – featuring herbal teas, smoothies, and recipes designed to help bolster the immune system and encourage quick and efficient removal of toxins.
• BONUS: my Meal Planning Guide to help you on your way to meal planning efficiently so that you no longer feel like a fish swimming upstream.

In an effort to make the Back-to-School transition as seamless as possible, there’s also a 20% OFF coupon available from now until August 31, 2021.

Use Code: SCHOOL2021