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2 min read

Todd's Advice to Parents Struggling with Their Health

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1j6Mgw3xSU

Many health issues are caused by stress, which many parents face every single day. Young parents are exhausted, walking around like zombies. As a parent, your health becomes second to that of your child, and your child’s needs become your needs. Attempting to maintain your health can be a struggle.  We have provided you with a few simple tips that can serve as a base to starting the journey of prioritizing your health as a parent.  

  1. Commit to Making Your Health a Priority 

Generally, your health gets pushed off into the background. If you are fortunate enough to have a spouse in the journey of parenthood, you need to commit to being supportive of him/her making their physical health a priority. This balance also helps with your mental health and your relationship in general. 

  1. Just Move 

Simple movement like walking is very beneficial to your health. You should track your steps on an apple watch, Fitbit, or even your phone. This allows you to see how active you are each day and eventually ramp up your movement each day. Minimizing the amount of time that you are sedentary will benefit your health. 

  1. Manage Your Sleep 

Make sure that you carve out enough hours at night to get your own sleep. If you have a young child, obviously you are not in charge of your sleep schedule, they are. But as soon as the kids are old enough, you have to go back to getting into a good sleeping rhythm. Many parents do not prioritize their sleep.  They go to bed with the TV on, and they do all sorts of things that are done simply out of habit, but they are simply just bad habits that need to be broken. Once your sleep is under control, you will start to feel good in all aspects of life. Your judgement becomes better. Your ability to lead is stronger because you feel the absence of pain, discomfort, and fatigue. As a result, you can focus more. You can be more creative and charismatic.  

  1. Invest In Your Health 

Carving out five minutes of your day to mediate, or even taking a moment to pause from the fast-paced world that we live in, is a simple habit you can add to your daily routine. Going to see a functional medicine doctor and learning about your gut health is a step in the right direction.  This will help ensure that you are the healthiest version of yourself. Seeing an M.D. that has a functional medicine certification is fantastic.  And seeing an ND (Naturopathic Doctor) in addition to you primary care physician is ideal.  This additional perspective will help to identify what you should do at the current stage you are in, particularly for things that fall outside conventional medicine, like gut health. 

Taking control of your health and fitness while trying to balance the demands of parenting is difficult.  But it’s a journey.  And the most important thing is that you take the first step.  It will truly enrich all areas of your life, and it will especially make parenting more enjoyable when you feel good.  I hope you find these tips helpful as you begin/continue your journey.