You're making me ill. What's making you be able to do? Bring them home with Sarah and Sunil. That's pink just like appeal.
You're really long. Of course. I like that song. I mean, I love pink.
But I don't like being ill. No. So today we want to kind of talk about our immune system, not just ours, but our children's immune systems because it's back to school time, Sarah. Yes.
Many schools are back today. Full time in the classroom. I like to have one more week, but it's here. And you know, it's been a long time for many children since they've been in school every day with a room full of other kids.
That's right. So we need some strong immune systems to keep our kids from getting sick because let's be honest, there's more out there than just the wrong virus. Oh my goodness. Yeah.
I mean, I just think back to today's my kids were in daycare. Yeah. He's like, Oh, okay, we're sick again, you know, because you're around all these. We have to give all this other stuff because the talk has been about coronavirus for the past year.
So we want to protect our kids from all the yucky stuff. Yes, you know, and I've already been here and people having respiratory stuff, sinus stuff. Still got some viruses lurking out there. So so let's talk about how can we get our children's immune system to a place where it's stronger.
Yeah, there's several things we can do start at home. One thing that we can do is consider the food that we're giving them. Yeah, we want to offer fruits and vegetables at snack and mealtime for sure. Because those have antioxidants and we've heard that word.
We know that they help to fight off stuff. Right. Right. They help us build our unity and they also fight disease because they are filled with vitamins like AC and E.
Right. I call them a vitamin basically AC and E help to fight things off and let's be honest, you know, with everything that's been going on in the world, some of our nutrition standards have slipped for our children, right? They have, you know, because we've been dealing with others still off for the past. Convenient to bother, you know, growing the meat and up and what.
Exactly, but we know that the fruits and vegetables, these healthy foods, they have what the kids need to build a immune system. So that's something we can do. We can offer fruits and vegetables at all meal and snack time. We got to increase those.
Okay. You know, I keep thinking about physical activity. Um, you know, kids have been kind of laying around. They haven't even had to leave home to go to school.
It's roll over and click type of thing. And you know, physical activity helps our blood flow and what this does is increase the effectiveness of ourselves that fight disease. So the blood needs to get flowing. We need to make sure our kids are active and we can't just rely on P.E.
At school to do that. They need more than that, right? I agree, you know, scheduling some at home and luckily, I guess many sports have picked back up. Yeah.
So if you're comfortable with your child playing a group sport or whatever, those options are there for a lot of communities now, you know, but yes, don't just rely on the school to offer P.E. or recess, you know, because some kids don't have that every day. No, so you got to promote stuff at home, you know, you know, no, you don't like from the video game and the television and all the other things that you got to get some exercise, especially since it's still daylight for a long time. Yeah, after they get home from school, we still got daylight for quite a while.
And I know it's hot, but just pump that water. Yeah, they need 30 minutes at home. Yeah. Absolutely for sure.
Right, because they need to get about an hour a day. Yeah. So we need to put it all together and make sure it's an hour. Another big thing that parents can do, and this is something that I definitely go by my house, not just to build a new.
What is that? But bedtime. Oh, yeah. We all function better.
We have had to sleep. But it's really important to know the adequate amount of sleep your children need. Oh, it's on how much sleep? So grade school kids, you know, that's basically going to be kindergarten through middle school at well, maybe sixth grade, fifth grade.
They need at least nine hours. And that's sometimes hard to do with your after school activities going to the night. But it's critically all. Yeah.
They need to sleep not just for their growing and all that, but it helps to let their body rest and recover and that immune system get stronger. Yeah, that's your repair time. Your sleep time is your repair time. So okay, you're saying like nine hours of sleep, a grade school kid.
What about when they get a little bit older? Two nagers. Yeah, which they need about eight. So you know, you have a teenager.
Now, how does he do about eight hours of sleep? He, well, I mean, it's been summer grade. So he's been sleeping in, you know, most teens will sleep till noon. Don't sleep until you make them wake up, but they want to stay up at night.
So yeah, you got to start thinking about that. But your teens, especially that's the age is great. They get to really busy. Some of them have jobs.
They've got, you know, these homework, more homework. So maybe taken, you know, more difficult classes. They got to do more homework in the school sports friends, you know, they've got cool calendars, but just saying that sleep needs to be on there. Exactly.
Okay. All right. And you know, our kids are built with a lot of stress and, you know, just over here in what's going on in the world and now going back to school is going to be stressful in and of itself because things will be kind of different. You know, more back to school these years.
So they need to learn some stress management techniques. Okay. Stress, we know even the good exciting kind, you know, back to school. I'm seeing my friends, new teacher, maybe even new school.
That's good stress, but any kind of stress can weaken the immune cells. So we've got to teach children how to manage stress in a positive way for their overall health. And this can kind of be something they can use throughout life. I agree.
So when we say introducing them to stress management techniques, things like deep breathing, you know, things like meditation, relaxation activities, you know, we need to teach our kids how to call themselves, you know, how to come to their center, if you will, right, you know, just things to relax and manage that stress. I know my son, when he gets a little stressed out, like, Mom, I'm just going to go lay my bed and listen to little music. And that's what he does. And it's fine.
You know, so there's different ways to do this. But it's like you said, it's critical. It's critical. Yes, that they learn how to manage that stress because stress wears down on your immune system.
Yeah, that's a big one. So another thing that we can do is to protect our children from any exposure to tobacco smoke, whether that be in the home or in a vehicle, tobacco smoke and immune system. Yes. Um, like being around secondhand smoke can actually increase the likelihood that the child that they experience is that is going to have more respiratory issues, ear infections, asthma, asthma symptoms.
So just the exposure to that secondhand smoke can have a detrimental effect on their immune system and their overall health. So the parent doesn't smoke. Maybe the babysitter or relative to the pick them up in school or a friend's house that they play at and their parents smoke exposure anywhere can affect their immune system. Yes.
So we want to try and protect our children from that secondhand smoke as much as possible. Yeah. And you know, you don't hear us say a lot about taking vitamin supplements for children because you know, that's one of those things you really need to consult with your physician about, you know, even things that are natural or, you know, things that, you know, seem like common sense to take really, truly your child's position. They know your child's health.
They know your child's specific needs and everything that's on the shelf may not be beneficial for your child. True. Yeah. So you really need to have that discussion.
We always and extension talk about that foods are where we want to get our vitamins and minerals because that's where our body uses them most effectively. Right. Um, and some children do need a supplement. We're not saying that they don't.
No, they're not. But it's an individual decision that needs to be made in consultation with your child's doctor. That's exactly right. Look at it as just, you know, almost like a medication.
Anything that you're putting into your body in the form of appeal or, you know, anything like that is something that needs to be discussed with a health care provider. Absolutely. So I just kind of want to wrap it up by saying in parents, caregivers, be proactive. Yeah.
You know, start doing these things we've talked about offering fruits and vegetables, exercise, bed, Tom, you know, all these start putting them into play. Yes. It's going to, your kids, you, you all your whole family will reap the benefits. I was going to say, I mean, this is stuff that adults can do too to boost our immune system.
All of this, right? Yes. Cause back to school is stressful for. Look, look, stress a little bit.
So I don't know. And, you know, one final thing that we can do that will benefit our children, teach them how to wash their hands properly. Yes. Because the one back to school, they're going to come in contact with a lot of common surfaces.
Right. Everybody's touching the same door knobs and, you know, toilet handles and all that. So, you know, teach them how long to wash their hands about 20 seconds. And do you soap and warm water and to dry their hands on a clean paper towel, you know, just a basic.
And, you know, that will help get rid of a lot of germs that are lurking out there. That's right. Because we want everybody to have a great school year and to be as rest free as possible. Yes, we do.
So thank you for joining us for this episode in the words of Marley, the life you love and love the like you will say well.