Every disease in adulthood can trace its roots back to childhood health, habits, and events. Poor childhood health has been shown to increase lung and cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes, arthritis, and obesity. It increases the number of deaths from these and other diseases.
There are many simple things parents can do to set their children on a healthy path and support the development of their immune, nervous, and endocrine systems. These are the keys to childhood health and set the stage for a healthy adulthood.
1. Lots of tender, loving touch
Children are particularly susceptible to stress because so much of their lives is dependent on others. Children can’t necessarily verbalize feelings of stress, but overstressed children have greater trouble with obesity, infections, conduct disorders, mood disorders, and socialization. Loving touch substantially reduces stress in children, and skin-to-skin contact improves immune functioning. Children who have a stable family life, are cuddled a lot, and are told that they are loved will grow into adults with less stress and better stress management skills.
2. Routine
Children thrive on routine. Our bodies have many internal rhythms, from our obvious heartbeat to our subtle hormone releases and sleep-wake cycle. All of our hormones are released in cycles, and the endocrine system is one of the primary systems developing during childhood. Having a routine in the way we live our lives helps those internal cycles function more optimally, and children need a routine to help internal rhythms get established from the very start. Routine helps children identify boundaries and get a sense of how they fit into the world around them.
Routine is exceptionally important when it comes to sleep. Children with less sleep don’t function at the same level as children who get enough sleep on a regular basis. Sleep-deprived children will have greater difficulty with focus, controlling emotions, and irritability, will have a lower threshold for frustration, and be more prone to injuries. Sleep-deprivation can also set children up for respiratory disorders, cardiac disorders, and obesity in adulthood due to the behaviors learned. Parents can also lose up to 200 hours of sleep per year due to their children’s sleep habits!
Children need different amounts of sleep at different ages. Infants need a minimum of 14 hours per night and children 12 to 36 months old need 12 to 14 hours per night. Preschoolers need only slightly less (11 to13 hours per night), and children up to 11 years old need at least 9 hours per night.
3. Probiotics
Having the correct types and balance of good intestinal bacteria helps reduce the incidence of respiratory and food allergies, helps keep the immune system functioning in a non-allergic/non-inflammatory mode, reduces inflammation in the gastrointestinal system, improves digestion, and provides protection against colon cancer later in life. Breastfeeding gets the proper balance started, but it needs to be supported through childhood with supplementation of beneficial bacteria. This is especially important if babies were not breastfed. After much research, we have found a wonderful probiotic which we highly recommend and it's Dr. Formulated Ultra Probiotic.
4. Essential Fatty Acids
Essential fatty acids (EFAs) reduce the incidence of allergies, help keep the immune system functioning in a non-allergic/non-inflammatory mode, reduce the development of auto-immune diseases, reduce colic, improve learning, support healthy nerve and brain development, and reduce anxiety and depression. EFAs are found in particularly high amounts in fish, nuts, and seeds, and the EFAs in fish oil is particularly good for a child’s developing brain. At Healing 4 Soul, we carry easy to swallow fermented cod liver oil capsules.
5. Essential Minerals
Minerals play an essential role in a wide range of activities in the body. They required for the integrity of bones and teeth, regulates the absorption of calcium and the contraction of all muscles (including the heart), is used in the stomach to produce the acid required to digest protein and absorb minerals, and is involved in at least 300 different enzyme reactions. We strongly recommend Original Quinton Hypertonic or Original Quinton Isotonic to help you get balanced.
Most people are magnesium deficient, and high levels of calcium can block magnesium absorption. Magnesium only works when it actually gets into the cell, so using a source of magnesium that the cells can absorb and hold is essential. Magnesium is in the center of the chlorophyll molecule in plants, so green vegetables are one of the best food sources of magnesium.
6. B Vitamins
B vitamins are used as cofactors for many enzyme reactions in the body, and function in many processes, including blood sugar regulation, lipid metabolism, neurotransmitter synthesis and nervous system function, building DNA and blood cells, immune function, hormone regulation, amino acid/protein metabolism, and antioxidant effects. Food sources of B vitamins include seeds, legumes, meat, eggs, many dark green vegetables, yeast, and whole grains. Supplementation is best done as a B-complex to ensure the correct balance among all the individual B vitamins.
7. Blue-Green Algae
Blue-green algae have the highest concentration of easily absorbable protein of any food source, are high in bioavailable magnesium, and provide all the elements necessary for life, especially minerals, at doses close to physiological levels. Algae are what fish eat to produce the EFAs found in fish oil. E3 Live is a fantastic source of blue-green algae that provides more than 65 vitamins, minerals, amino acids and essential fatty acids. It is also a rich source of chlorophyll and is the most nutrient dense food known to mankind.
For further information or to book your appointment please call our office at (800) 669-0358 to speak with one of our dedicated team members