5 Science-Backed Ways To Keep Your Children Healthy

31/08/2016

Since the days I was a young whippersnapper, the way we deal with health and wellness has changed unimaginably.

Myths and old wives tales passed down by grandmothers and relatives like rubbing brandy on a baby’s gums, drinking gallons of chicken soup when you’re ill, and not going outside with wet hair to avoid catching a cold, have now been replaced by data- and science-driven recommendations dished out by everyone from local celebrities to leading medical experts.

Despite this, the fundamentals of leading a healthy life have changed very little. A colourful and diverse diet is, of course, important, along with sufficient sleep and a barrage load of exercise. The difference is that today, we have the technology and knowledge to back our hunches up and truly understand how important they really are. What’s more, as our understanding of how the body works has risen due to modern advances, we’ve discovered new and nothing short of revolutionary, ways to keep our children healthy — but we’ll get to that later.

1. Ensure Enough Time In The Sack

Sleep can help make any weary and grumpy child feel better, but its effects go way beyond just mood altering.

In general, it’s recommended children get somewhere in the region of 10 hours of sleep per night, with very young children also benefiting from naps during the day. Manage this and you’ll not only boost their mood but enhance their ability for learning and memory consolidation, increase their life span, regulate their weight balancing hormones, and even spur their creativity.

2. Promote Good Personal Habits

Good personal habits are the cornerstone of a long and healthy life.

And when better to start than when you’re young? Little things like saying “excuse me” after sneezing, washing your hands after going to the bathroom or before eating, and taking special care of personal belongings, can make it much much more likely that children will build strong, healthy habits, and continue to do so well into their adult years.

3. Choose The Best After School Activities

With so many activities to choose from, all the way from rugby to singing, it can be difficult to choose the activity that’s best for your child.

Although they often don’t know what’s in their best interest, this process should always start with asking your kids what they’d like to do. It can also be helpful to try out a few different activities over the course of a few weeks, and see which they enjoyed the most. Pick the one that provides the best mix of physical, social, and mental stimulation, or whichever area they could do with a little bit of encouragement in.

4. Allow As Many Plant and Whole Foods As Possible

It’s an age-old myth that you can’t get enough protein, calcium, or other essential nutrients from whole plant-based foods.

In reality, the opposite is true. For example, plant-based sources of protein such as beans, lentils, and tofu, are a much healthier source than their animal counterparts meat and dairy, which are regularly cited as being associated with increased risk of cancer and heart disease. Do a little digging into the facts and figures and you may see the appeal to adjust your own diet — something that is crucial in helping you children learn from example.

5. Don’t Throw Away Their Baby Teeth

For a while now families have been banking newborn cord blood stem cells as a way of protecting the future health of their children.

However, it’s a controversial practice and a big decision to make at such an early stage in your child’s life. Today, thanks to the discovery over a decade ago of stem cells in our teeth, families can bank their child’s stem cells without any worry of complications. Quickly growing in popularity among families, tooth stem cell banking is an affordable and clinically-proven way to safeguard your child against diseases and illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease, neurological disorders, and even muscle and bone injury.

Visit our website today to find out how you can safeguard your children’s future health by storing stem cells from their baby teeth.