Fall Into Wellness This October
As soon as the calendar flips to October, many parents notice a familiar pattern: more sniffles, coughs, fevers, and generally not feeling good. There’s a reason this month often marks the beginning of a more frequent illness cycle. Here’s what’s going on — and what you can do to help you and your child navigate it.
Kids are back to school and those smaller circles and outdoor time turn into time spent in the classroom, daycare, sport practices, or clubs. These environments mean close contact, shared space, and more opportunities for sickness to spread from one to another. This increase in activities and mingling acts as a kickstarter for bacteria and viruses that have been quietly circulating. Homework, stress, and less sleep start to build up and cause the body to feel overwhelmed.
With kids back in school, more responsibility tends to fall on the parents’ plate — think school drop-off/pick-up lines, meal prep and needing to adhere to picky eaters or family members with allergies, trying to remember algebra and help their kids with their homework, dropping your kids off at their practice, still somehow manage to keep a tidy home and a full time job…I think you get the picture. This change in routine means less sleep, more stress, more sugar + caffeine and more irregular meals. All of these things will weaken your immune system, and put large amount of stress on your nervous system!
Fall allergies tend to overlap with illnesses mimicking symptoms like congestion, sneezing, difficulty breathing, coughing, and even a runny nose- this makes it harder to tell what is really going on! Inflammation in the airway due to allergies makes it easier for bacteria or viruses to take hold.
As the temperature cools (and becomes more bearable for us in Arizona 😅) windows close, heating systems run causing the indoor air to become dry. This irritates the nasal passage and weakens the body’s first line of defense! This change leads to less circulation which traps different microbes and can lead to more allergy or cold symptoms.
Shorter days, and less sunshine = less time outside, less vitamin D, dip to your mood, more fatigue and a weakened immune system.
October brings Halloween! It is definitely a favorite holiday, but fun traditions like Trick-or-Treat, Halloween parties, trips to the pumpkin patch, and caramel apples bring a sugar overload to our system! Excessive sugar leads to increased inflammation and cortisol, stressing out our nervous system.
How do we combat this?!
We can support your nervous system BEFORE it gets overwhelmed! Think adjustments, sunshine, increased hydration, whole foods, limiting sugar and caffeine.
Studies show that chiropractic adjustments can help manage stress, improve immune function, enhance sleep, and aid digestion by removing interference and optimizing the nervous system. By restoring proper spinal alignment, chiropractors reduce stressors to the nervous system. This is so important because the nervous system controls every cell, tissue, muscle, and organ in your body!
Stay on top of your health and experience the multitude of benefits chiropractic can offer you this spooky season!
