5 Wellness Tips For Back-To-School Season

Brush up on the best practices for screenings, hand washing, nutrition and more.

We are well into September, and you and your kids are likely settling back into school routines. And with that familiar structure comes a chance to return to traditions like family dinners, make time to schedule some favorite autumn outings and get back in touch with healthy habits that may have slipped during the care-free days of summer.

Here, we’ve compiled a list of tips and reminders that’ll get your and your child’s health on the right track.

Keep an eye out. One in four U.S. kids ages 2 to 17 wears corrective lenses, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and many more ought to be wearing them but aren’t—yet. Younger children can struggle communicating that they’re having trouble seeing, or even recognizing it’s a problem. “Vision problems in children aren’t always obvious,” says Brooke Goonetilleke, O.D., an optometrist at Bergen Optometry in Hackensack, “so it’s important for parents, teachers, brothers and sisters to closely observe kids as they’re growing.” She says to be on the lookout for symptoms such as squinting or holding reading materials very close to the face.

Get those Zs. Kids and teens need a lot of sleep, and school, extracurricular actives and other obligations can make it difficult for them to get it. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) recommends that children 3 to 5 years of age sleep 10 to 13 hours a day, children 6 to 12 years of age sleep 9 to 12 hours a day and teenagers 13 to 18 years of age sleep 8 to 10 hours a day. The AASM also has found that getting the recommended amount of sleep leads to improved attention, behavior, learning, memory and emotional regulation. Experts suggest limiting before-bed screentime and sticking to a schedule to help kids doze off.

Wash your hands. Schools are notorious breeding grounds for colds, upper respiratory infections and the flu, and we are approaching the prime season for all of those ailments. Be sure to model good handwashing habits with your child—the CDC instructs doing so with running water and soap for 20 seconds at a time for best results. You also can provide your child with hand sanitizer to keep in lockers or backpacks as an alternative.

Schedule key screenings. If the chaos of August caused your child’s annual wellness visit to be postponed, now is a great time to get it scheduled. Primary care doctors will keep an eye out for common problems such as scoliosis (per Johns Hopkins Medicine, watch your child’s shoulders and flag to an expert right away if they seem uneven). If you have a family history or are seeing symptoms or reactions to common irritants, such as pollen and peanuts, it also may be smart to make an appointment with an allergist (food allergies often manifest in childhood, and 6.5 percent of children in the U.S. are diagnosed with asthma).

Eat well. Obesity continues to be a problem in adolescents and, per the CDC, 40 percent of daily calories for children from 2 to 18 years of age are empty ones from added sugars and solid fats. An easy way to cut down calories is to limit soda and sugary fruit drinks in the house. Pack for your children, or help your children make, healthy lunches with a good mix of whole grains, protein, fruit and vegetables, and take another glance over nutrition resources. And make sure set good eating habits for your kids as well—they will want to eat what you eat.

Want more health tips and expert advice? Check out the newest issue of BERGEN magazine.