Does your child have anxiety?

The pandemic brought many things to light that were in the shadows. For many, it caused things like depression, anxiety, and other emotional issues to rise to the surface and cause problems. For so many, school and seeing friends kept problems at bay, but mandating students to stay home and move their learning online created a serious blow to their social skills and coping mechanisms. Whether you believe lockdowns were necessary or not, they caused emotional issues for many kids and adults. Things like anger, depression, anxiety, lack of motivation, plummeting energy levels, insomnia, and even ulcers, hives, acid reflux, headaches, eye strain, and other manifestations of stress became issues.

A case study by PXDocs showed that a 5th-grade girl Avery’s sympathetic nervous system was stuck on and left her in a constant state of tension and irritability. Her Insight Scans showed red areas of tension correlating with subluxation and dysfunction that affected her adrenal glands and caused sensory and anxiety to flare up. In only 90 days of proper chiropractic care, her follow-up scans lined up with her parents noticing a big improvement. She was falling asleep easier, waking up rested and was calmer and more relaxed. But the big win was that she could control her emotions and showed much fewer signs of stress and anxiety!

Here are Avery’s before and after scans. You can see the progress and why we love our Insight technology so much. It gives us the ability to show you visual proof of your progress.

How To Spot Anxiety

It’s simple for parents to spot anxiety by watching a child’s body language and mannerisms.

Common signs of anxiety:

1. Seeming overwhelmed
2. Restless or irritable
3. Looking tired
4. Lack of motivation or taking on too much
5. Trouble concentrating
6. Easily angered
7. Frequent headaches, backaches, etc.
8. Overly worried
9. Spiraling with tasks feeling they are unmanageable
10. Insomnia or still tired in the mornings
11. Indigestion, heartburn, nausea, constipation
12. Emotionally unstable

All or some of these symptoms usually accompany tension that can cause more problems. If your child complains of headaches, a stiff neck or back, or uncontrollable feelings of being overwhelmed, then you should seek help.

Emotional stress can manifest in the neck and back, which can perpetuate more stress and even frequent illness from a damaged immune system.

Think about it. When you have a sore neck, headache, or backache, how do you react to others? Chances are, you react with less patience and aren’t in a very good mood. It can affect your immune system, digestion, heart rate, sleep, and every aspect of your life. It does the same in your children.

You and your children can get help naturally without using prescription or over-the-counter drugs. Chiropractors are educated in ways to help the body function as intended and to keep the flow of electrical signals, hormones, blood, and oxygen moving smoothly. Often, the simple answer is the right one.

Insight Scanning Technology

We use a tool that can show tension in various areas of the body. It helps us spot the cause of blockages or tension that can disrupt the flow of nerves, muscles, and vital nutrients that keep our bodies running at their best. It can show the doctor indications of subluxation (vertebra misalignment) that can usually be easily fixed. The nervous system doesn’t operate properly when there are disruptions and can get out of balance. This can enhance issues like anxiety.

A subluxation in the upper cervical area (neck) can disrupt motor function and affect balance and really everything in your body. The nerves in and near your brain stem affect everything, especially the vagus nerve. A subluxation here can start as early as birth and is a common problem many parents may not be aware of. It can be a root cause of many issues that are misdiagnosed and mistreated.

Imagine if you looked at your front yard and it was brown. You look around and notice a water hose and sprinkler are there, but there’s a bicycle parked on it, stopping the water flow. Now you have a choice of what to do…

Do you:

1. Remove the bicycle
2. Fertilize the yard

The answer seems simple, but when it comes to our bodies, we sometimes choose to add chemicals.

If you treat the issue with drugs, many times it’s like fertilizing the yard when you could just remove the bike and let the water flow. Once the water begins to flow again, the grass will get the nutrients it needs to thrive, and it will turn green again.

Chiropractic is much like removing the bike and restoring proper flow to our bodies. A subluxation is like a kink in the hose sometimes and can restrict important functions.

The Bottom Line

If you notice your child seems overwhelmed, anxious, and exhausted all at the same time, it’s time to intervene and get some help. It may not be purely a psychological issue. It could be a problem caused by subluxation that’s disrupting their body’s natural function.

If you haven’t experienced chiropractic before, this may be a new concept for you. Advertising by major drug companies portrays common symptoms as causes for taking medication when maybe all that’s needed is focused chiropractic treatment. A pediatric chiropractic specialist like Dr. Bronson can examine, diagnose, and treat children in special ways to gently restore proper function so their bodies can thrive.

It’s worth a shot to avoid chemicals and solve the underlying issue. After treatment begins, many parents see improvement in:

1. Mood
2. Sleep
3. Energy
4. Ability to cope with tough situations
5. Emotional stability
6. Digestive issues
7. Concentration (better grades in school and more attention span)

The History of Pumpkin Pie

The Origin

Pumpkins date back to 5,500 B.C., cultivated in Central America. In fact, they were one of the first things the European explorers brought back from their travels. First mentioned in about 1536 as “orange gourds.” First called pumpions, the pumpkin became part of England’s pie-making culture, which was in full swing with all kinds of sweet and savory ingredients.

Using pumpkin was a way to make bread without much flour but it wasn’t always popular. However, in 1653 there was a recipe published by the French chef Francois Pierre la Varenne that instructs readers to boil pumpkin in milk and add it into a crust. Later in England in 1670, a writer named Hannah Woolley wrote about a pie containing pumpkin, apple, and herbs such as rosemary and thyme. Pumpkin pies grew in popularity in New England during the 18^th century and became part of the traditional Thanksgiving feast. And in 1705, a town in Connecticut postponed their Thanksgiving celebration by a week because there wasn’t enough molasses to make an adequate number of pumpkin pies.

Pumpkin pie recipes are as numerous as the pumpkins’ appearance are varied. A recipe published in the first American cookbook published, “American Cookery”, in 1796 was very similar to the custard version we all know today.

From there, pumpkin pie rose to greatness being featured in novels, papers, and on Thanksgiving tables across the New World. Abraham Lincoln made Thanksgiving a national holiday in 1863, during which the common two foods were turkey and pumpkin pie. And in 1929 Libby’s meat-canning company in Chicago introduced canned pumpkin, which opened up the dish for those who didn’t want to spend the time to cook, strain, and mash their own pumpkins. The rest is history…

Comment with your favorite pumpkin pie recipe and favorite Thanksgiving memory. Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at Bronson Heritage Chiropractic.

Holiday behavioral challenges affect many people. Here are some explanations and things you can do to help. You may notice your child and others having more trouble with their anxiety, ADD, ADHD, or other sensory conditions during the fall months, when they seem relatively fine the rest of the year. Transitioning back to school, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas…there’s a lot going on.

Here are some tips to help your kids de-stress and have a smoother, happier, calmer, more sensory, emotional, and behavioral-regulated transition.

What Causes Holiday Behavioral Challenges?

• Changes – Let’s face it; some people don’t handle changes very well. Children, in particular, have trouble with changes, especially when things get a bit chaotic. Add to that the anticipation for a school break and all the fun times during the holidays, and it’s understandable why it can be a sensory overloading time. Children with sensory conditions like ADD, ADHS, seizures, anxiety, and ASD (autism spectrum disorder) may find it especially difficult during the holidays.
• Our Emotions Follow the Seasons – It’s natural for our bodies to adjust to the seasons. Holiday behavioral challenges are just a difficulty adapting to changes and can cause sensory overload. The way nature intended, our nervous system follows our circadian rhythms and is always adapting to changes in the environment and our surroundings. Seasonal changes like temperature, changes to daylight hours, time changes, and seasonal activities all create changes we must navigate. Naturally, our bodies attempt to slow down in the winter months when a typical family’s activities are at an all-time high. Our activity contradicts our circadian rhythms, causing stress that can affect those with or without existing challenges.
• Seasonal Allergies – Allergies can cause additional stress on our bodies. During the holiday months, our immune systems have a hard job. When the green turns to tan, the leaves fall, the grass goes dormant, and there’s an increase in dust in the air. Our bodies have processes in place to handle allergies, but they can increase our inflammation levels and increase stress. But what do you think happens if something is preventing your body from reacting the way it should? What if you add drugs to the mix, which counteract your body’s natural responses? It can take some of the fun out of the holidays.
  So, how does chiropractic affect your body’s response to seasonal allergies, emotions, adaptability, and more? A subluxation can hinder your body’s defenses along with something called The Perfect Storm, which can trigger sympathetic nervous system dominance. When this happens, your immune system is less effective, and you could have moderate to severe inflammation issues (allergies, aches, pains, stiffness, headaches, etc.)

3 Things That Could Help Counteract Holiday Behavioral Challenges

First, neurologically focused chiropractic care can help your body function as it should, enabling it to adapt properly. Chiropractic treatment can activate the parasympathetic system by activating the Vagus Nerve, which can have a relaxing and calming effect very quickly.

You and your child will benefit from a balanced, properly functioning system, which could go a long way to reducing the holiday’s emotional, behavioral, or stress challenges.

If you or your child is experiencing trouble with emotions, anxiety, ADD, ADHD, or a challenged immune system, and you haven’t visited Bronson Heritage Chiropractic yet, it may be beneficial to do so. We want to help you make holiday challenges easier to handle.

Second, it’s important to slow down and stop scheduling every waking moment. Downtime is important. Unplug from the computer, phone, and TV and go outside or read a book. Protect your bedtime and get plenty of sleep. Drink enough water each day to help your body circulate important nutrients. Eat right whenever possible and add plenty of fruits and vegetables to your diet.

Third, increase supplements like magnesium, potassium, Vitamin C, and zinc. Magnesium is calming to your system and can help you get to sleep easier. Vitamin C, zinc, allicin, and elderberry can help boost your immune system.