The Seasonal Shifts Signifying Back to School

It is the time of year in the Northern hemisphere when nature has begun to slowly transition away from the burning rays of sunshine into the cooler autumn breezes. As the summer season fades into fall, daily routines also shift as students and teachers head back to school. Families and educators begin to make the necessary adjustments to their lives as their days become more tightly packed and structured.

In recent years, the typical back-to-school stress has been heightened by global events, social media pressures, concerns for safety, and technological advancements. Coping with these issues can be even more overwhelming to those who are neurodivergent or have learning or behavioral issues. As a result, children, parents, teachers, and youth face more challenges than just back-to-school jitters, busy schedules, and academic pressures.

If not appropriately addressed, these chronic, excessive stressors can have negative emotional, mental, and physical health ramifications. Notably, due to the ongoing development of children’s brains, kids are at an even higher risk of experiencing these harmful consequences compared to adults.

This is why I believe that offering additional, supportive mind-body approaches is critical at this time. These can be integrated with conventional psychiatric care for better outcomes.

In my previous post on “Integrative Medicine Resources for Mental Health, Emotional Balance, and Back-to-School Stress” I offered information and various holistic resources to help support parents’ and children’s resiliency and mood balance during times of transitions. These included:

  • Updates on the latest statistics on our youth’s mental health
  • Naturopathic mind-body techniques for calming the brain
  • A summary of my integrative mental health resource guide
  • A podcast interview on the link between gut and mental health with a holistic pediatrician

In this video blog, I further update this resource list with additional tools and strategies from my recent articles and outside sources. These include:

  • Safe applications of essential oils in pediatric populations
  • Psychoaromatherapy: The role of essential oils in supporting mental health and cognitive balance
  • Five essential oils that are effective in alleviating stress
  • Nutritional strategies for enhancing brain health and cognition
  • Utilizing essential oils to support detoxification of chemicals, which can impact mental health for both adults and children
  • Essential oil blends tailored for the back-to-school season
  • Curated resources to facilitate a smooth transition back to school and to promote mental well-being for parents and youth of all stages and neurodevelopment

As always, all the references and resources will be available in the resource section and within the links in this accompanying post.

It is my hope that these tools can assist you in taking empowering action to support your children, teens, and yourself in navigating the changes and upheaval we are up against in our world.

 

My Updated Integrative Brain and Mental Health Tool Kit for Relieving Stress, Promoting Mood Balance, and Enhancing Cognition and Productivity 

 

Using Essential Oils for Healthy, Thriving, Happy Kids with Integrative Pediatrician Dr. Elisa Song, MD (Ep. 387 of EOR)

When using essential oils it is important to consider safe use, quality, and dosage, as with any modality. For younger children, proper dilution and selection of suitable oils are especially necessary, as their bodies and brains are still developing.

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Elisa Song on the Essential Oil Revolution podcast. She offered her expertise from years of clinically using essential oils safely with children.

During the show, Dr. Song reviewed how to use our aromatic allies wisely with kids, gentle application tips (including applying them to specific acupuncture points), and how to enhance vagal tone with specific oils to calm their minds and bodies and enhance resiliency.

Listen to the conversation and grab the notes here.

 

Psychoaromatherapy: The Powerful Impact of Essential Oils on the Mind-Body for Better Mental Health and Stress Relief

In this video blog, I share with you how essential oils can assist with emotional balance. You will learn why I feel they should be implemented into our current psychiatric care model to achieve better brain health for American children and adults.

Topics include:

  • The current state of mental health in America
  • How essential oils aid brain health and balance emotions
  • Using essential oils for psychiatric disorders, featuring highlights from an Essential Oils Revolution podcast with world-renowned aromatherapist, Jade Shutes

 

Eating for Your Brain Part 2: The Top Foods for Better Brain Power, Cognition, and Mood

Nutrigenomics and epidemiological research have demonstrated that our diet can enhance our physical, cognitive, and brain health. Knowledge of what to eat to fuel you and your child’s brain can do wonders for enhancing academic success, mental health, and emotional balance.

This video post expands on how nutrients affect brain function and provides a list of top foods found in foundational categories that can improve metabolic brain health. These nutrients have also been associated with managing stress, anxiety, depression, and various other psychiatric issues.

Topics covered include:

  • A review on how nutrition supports brain health
  • What environmental exposures to avoid for better cognitive power
  • Which nutrients are the foundational building blocks that support brain function
  • Foods found within the top categories of nourishment for the brain: antioxidants, probiotics, fiber, lean protein, vitamins and minerals, and omega-3 fatty acids
  • The link between mood and food and eating for your brain biochemistry
  • A personalized vs. generalized dietary approach to mind-body wellness

 

Release Yourself from Overwhelm and Stress: Five Essential Oils to Soothe Your Brain

In a recent post on Saratoga.com, I reviewed five of my favorite essential oils to aid in relieving stress, worry, and overwhelm. These aromatic allies can help the whole family improve their focus and re-group when difficult tasks or deadlines from school or work become pressing.

Highlighted oils include:

  • Lavender oil to calm the brain and promote rest and relaxation for better slumber after a long day.
  • Clary sage oil to alleviate hormonal shifts and mood dips that can trump focus and productivity.
  • Bergamot oil to relieve the stress and anxiety that can keep one distracted and mentally foggy during work or school.
  • Frankincense oil for grounding and to invite into the home the soothing benefits of nature after a day of unrelenting tasks.
  • Citrus oils for uplifting emotions, enhancing attention, and aiding focus on homework or work projects.

 

The Five Mind-Body and Mood Benefits of Essential Oils That Support Healthy Detoxification and Enhance Our Mental and Physical Health

Environmental toxins contribute to brain and mood disorders through causing oxidative stress, mitochondrial damage, and neurotransmitter disruption. Kids are more susceptible to these negative health consequences resulting from the pervasive chemicals present in our world. Knowledge about this concerning connection between toxins and our mind and body wellness can empower us to make informed choices and proactive actions.

In this video post, I discuss how essential oils augment our resilience while living in a contaminated world. This is in relation to their ability to calm our mind-body and balance our nervous system, along with their many biochemical properties that support brain metabolic health and detoxification.

 

Essential Oil Blends for Back to School

Loving Essential Oils blog recently provided five essential oil recipe blends to help both adults and children start off on the right foot for a fruitful school year. These DIY recipes are perfect for use at home (diffusing) or in a classroom (personal inhalers).

Access all the recipes here.

 

Back-to-School Transition Guides for Better Mental Well-Being for Every Stage of Development

Below are several articles and resources that offer parents of children at various stages of neurodevelopment ways to ease the transition from summer to back to school.

  • Back-to-School Transitions By Age and Stage from Parents.com focuses on specific challenges for each age and stage of school of children while offering suggestions to parents on how to help their child navigate through them.
  • Back-to-School Mental Health Checklist from Kids Mental Health Foundation provides resources that help children and their families prepare for school by modifying routines, organizing, and setting up meetings with school professionals.
  • Back to School with Mental Health in Mind from Mental Health America delivers a whole multimedia of resources on all aspects of adjusting to back to school and supporting overall mental health for youth, parents, and caregivers.
  • ADHD Child And Back To School: Expert Tips For A Successful Transition from Parenting with Personality provides a parent friendly, in-depth look at managing back to school for a child who needs additional accommodations. This includes navigating communication between parents and children and other professionals. It also highlights a spiritual perspective at the end, for those who resonate with this.
  • Parenting a Neurodivergent Child: What Every Parent Needs to Know from the Amen Clinics discusses different types of neurodivergence and some tools for parents to help their child and themselves with various struggles.

 

Summary for Easing into Back to School with Better Brain and Mental Health

Back to school is a trying time for youth and adults. If not properly managed, the chronic excessive stressors of living in today’s world can pile up and harm emotional, mental, and physical health. Children are especially vulnerable to these effects because their brains are still developing.

Thankfully there are supportive mind-body approaches to aid in the transition of back of school that support brain health. These can be used along with conventional psychiatric care.

By incorporating essential oils, foods that fuel the brain, and accessing integrative resources for mental health, parents, youth, and teachers can set themselves up for a more successful and less stressful school year ahead.

I’d love to hear from you about the tools you use for easing into back to school.

Please share your comments below.

Sending many blessings.

 

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Resources:

Articles for transitions and mental health:

My video blogs with references:

My articles with references:

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Disclaimer: This material is for information purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, treat, or prescribe for any illness. You should check with your doctor regarding implementing any new strategies into your wellness regime. These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. (Affiliation link.)

This information is applicable ONLY for therapeutic quality essential oils. This information DOES NOT apply to essential oils that have not been tested for purity and standardized constituents. There is no quality control in the United States, and oils labeled as “100% pure” need only to contain 5% of the actual oil. The rest of the bottle can be filled with fillers and sometimes toxic ingredients that can irritate the skin. The studies are not based solely on a specific brand of an essential oil, unless stated. Please read the full study for more information.

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