It has become overwhelming for most parents to balance work, raise children, and keep the family healthy. Especially with the new Covid 19 routines, both parents and children find it hard to keep up with their healthy practices.
However, this does not have to be the case; you as a parent can always find excellent tips on how you can keep the family healthy. Unfortunately, many people have complicated or oversimplified family health. It is essential always to ensure that your family’s mental, emotional and physical health is always in check.
Many practices will enable you to help you keep your family’s health intact. But first, you have to understand what family health means.
The Meaning of Family Health
Family health focuses on how the family functions as a unit in all aspects of health. The truth is that when a single member of your family is unhealthy or sick, the rest of the family will not be at peace. So it is essential that everyone in the family is healthy and functioning well physically, mentally, and emotionally. Keeping the family healthy requires that you keep the healthy practices of the family working while introducing new ones depending on the change of routines.
Here are some essential tips and healthy family practices that you can put into place to keep your family healthy.
Make Regular Doctor Visits
Basically, family health focuses on how the family functions as a unit in all aspects of health. The truth is that when a single member of your family is unhealthy or sick, the rest of the family will not be at peace. So it is essential that everyone in the family is healthy and functioning well physically, mentally, and emotionally. Keeping the family healthy requires that you keep the healthy practices of the family working while introducing new ones depending on the change of routines.
Here are some essential tips and healthy family practices that you can put into place to keep your family healthy.
Make Regular Doctor Visits
The first essential tip for improving your family’s health is to make regular visits to the doctor. From time to time, it is necessary that you take a break from all of life’s busyness and be committed enough to find out about how well your body works or what needs medical attention.
A visit with the doctor will ensure that you are aware of all the health issues you may be facing and will most importantly address them. The visit with a family doctor is not only necessary for adults but also for children who need annual checkups to ensure good growth, healthy weight gain, and protection from illnesses or diseases that might occur in their later years.
It is important to note that when you visit the doctor, you are not only looking for what is wrong with your body but also what needs to be improved.
You can also make sure that you have regular eye check-ups with the family member with such information. If they need glasses for the eyes, you can always research eyeglasses, especially from here, to know which type of glasses they might need.
Have Regular Meals Together
Having meals together as a family is one of the most impactful practices to keep the family together. Having your meals as a family improves so many aspects of your family as a whole. Despite the busy schedules, a family needs to go back to basics and find time to eat together.
Having meals as a family has many benefits. For instance, these practices help in minimizing the family’s risk of eating disorders.
It also allows family members to talk freely, which helps family members get rid of stress and reduce the chances of depression. Moreover, spending meal times together reduces the chances of family members getting involved in risky and harmful drug usage.
Apart from mental health, eating together may also improve fruits and vegetable intake among family members.
Encourage More Water Intake
As you know, water has a very significant impact on the body, mentally, physically, and in the long run, emotionally. Therefore, it is vital to ensure that you and your family are taking in enough water daily to better your health.
However, with a busy schedule and everything going on in the country, it might be difficult for you to remember to drink water. As a family, you can develop creative ways to ensure that each family member drinks water daily.
For example, you can freeze water in funny yet interesting shapes and put the shapes in their drinks. You can also offer them some silly straws to encourage them to drink more. If most of the family members don’t like the taste of the water, you can consider adding some flavor to the water to make it a bit tasty.
Children can also learn how to track their water intake, and sometimes you can reward them for reaching a specific goal a day. Moreover, you can follow their water intake by having them check their urine; if it’s a clear or pale yellow, they are drinking enough water; if the urine is dark, advise them to drink more water.
If more adults in the family, especially teenagers, consider offering them fancy water bottles, this will help them increase their water intake.
Reduce Caffeine Intake
You and your family need to reduce caffeine intake, as it can adversely affect health. For example, caffeine can make a person feel tense, which in turn worsens anxiety levels. Moreover, too much caffeine increases the risk of arthritis in the future.
Lastly, caffeine can also make a person feel nervous; this is because it increases adrenaline levels and causes more stress on the body. If you want to reduce your family’s caffeine intake, then there are plenty of ways to do so: start by preparing meals that don’t contain any caffeine (like fruits) and avoid drinking any caffeinated drinks.
Get Out and Play More as a Family
The first step to improving your family’s health is to get out and play more. Research shows that people are less stressed, feel happier, sleep better, and have a higher quality of life when they spend time in nature or engage in recreation with friends and family.
You can do this as a parent by making sure to always plan a playdate at home with your child. Or, if you have space, make it an outdoor adventure and find some wilderness area nearby for a day of hiking or biking.
The goal is not only to get out more but also to help develop strength and flexibility so that kids can grow up healthy and strong.
Another way to get out more as a family is by taking time for walks. Again, these can be done at home in your neighborhood, or they could involve going on long hikes through the mountains. You might also want to consider getting some new hiking gear just so that it’s fun and exciting!
Get Enough Sleep
The next step to improving your family’s health is getting enough sleep. Sleep not only helps you maintain a healthy weight but it also has been shown to improve mood and cognitive function. For example, one study found that people who got less than six hours of sleep per night had lower levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin.
Getting enough sleep might seem difficult sometimes because of all the other responsibilities you might be having. But there are some things you can do to help make sure everyone gets a good night’s rest:
Limit Time Spent on the Screen
Spending a lot of time on your TV, PC, or even your smartphone increases anxiety and adds to your stress. The same happens to children when they spend too much on their screens. Although they may need to spend more time learning on their screens, it is imperative to reduce the time whenever possible.
Introducing some other activities between lessons is a great idea to let your child off the screen for a few minutes or hours.
What if Others in the Family Don’t Want To Take Part?
To live harmoniously as a family, you need to know which battles to fight and where to compromise. If you want to change certain habits of your family, you need to consider what each of the family members’ needs is and what they may wish to engage in.
Consider having realistic expectations and listen to the opinions of other family members as well. It is also a wise idea to engage in these changes one at a time so that each one may adapt to the changes.
