2023-09-01 09:04:18
The early mornings, the excitement of the new backpack, the rush, the rushed breakfasts, the happiness of being reunited with friends… are ingredients of a cocktail that can lead to some uncertainty in the days leading up to it. At EFEsalud we have spoken with pediatricians so that they give a series of advice so that back to school be easier.
A difficult awakening
What is going to cost the most, probably, is the awakening. It has been more than two months in which schoolchildren have not had hours to go to bed. The nights, too hot to go to bed early and have been many friends to play hide and seek with. There will also have been walks with the families along the beach, the town square or the urban parks.
And in the mornings there has been no need to jump out of bed early. Unless there has been a rush to take a dip in the sea, the river or in the municipal pool.
EFE/Villar Lopez
“It is a true fact that in summer we go to bed later, because throughout the history of humanity, human beings have matched their biological rhythm of wakefulness and sleep to the seasons. In summer there are more daylight hours, and our biological clock, not just the social one, adapts to this. It is absolutely physiological and normal,” he says. to EFEsalud the coordinator of the Sleep Group of the Spanish Association of Pediatrics (AEP), Gonzalo Pin Arboledas.
But in the fifteen days before going back to school, one of the pieces of advice, according to the pediatrician, is that children’s schedules must be brought forward “slowly and progressively” so that the social rhythm is more similar to the one it will take. from September.
“You need to do it fifteen days before because we are going to move the clock against nature and you have to do it very slowly, but not only sleep, but also food, bathing, social life, to avoid jet lag social that occurs in the early days”, Pin Arboledas abounds.
Alondras or búhos
There are families who rush back from vacation until the eve of going back to school. In these cases, the expert points out that it is necessary to take into account, especially in the youngest – infant students and the first years of Primary – that the environment where the minors sleep is a determining factor of the quality of their sleep.
As to the number of hours that schoolchildren have to sleep, Pin Arboledas stresses that first of all families should know that in the same way that they are aware that there are weight and height percentiles and that not all children of the same age weigh or measure the same, the same thing happens with sleep. Not everyone has to sleep the same.
“The second concept is that among children, as among adults, there are morning characters, called larks, who fall asleep and wake up early, and evening characters, called owls, who tend to sleep and get up later,” explains the expert from the AEP.
The best thermometer to measure the hours a child has to sleep is his behavior during the next day and his performance.
The importance of keeping a rhythm
In the case of adolescents, the pediatrician does emphasize that they have to sleep about nine hours, but about 60% of them sleep less, with the repercussions that this lack of sleep can have on their school performance and mental health.
Tweens have to sleep about an hour less. Younger students, more hours, but these are statistics and each case may be different.
EFE/Leo Rodriguez
“It is very important to convey the idea that the quality of sleep must be measured by how much you sleep, when you sleep, with regular schedules that on the weekend do not differ by more than two hours from what you do during the week and the quality of sleep . They are the three factors that influence the outcome of an adequate waking quality of life ”, he maintains.
Pin Arboledas emphasizes that life is rhythm and that without it there is no healthy life. “That they have a rhythm of sleep, physical activity and eating,” he remarks.
Be careful with breakfasts, lunches and snacks
Precisely in terms of meal times and especially what is eaten there will also be changes with the return to school, which is why the experts influence this with more advice. It is not the same to have time to have breakfast than to go at the right time to do it.
The Spanish Association of Primary Care Pediatrics (AEPap) remember that children’s breakfasts are the meals that tend to contain more unhealthy foods, as are the lunches that are carried in backpacks to eat at recess, as well as snacks, when they leave school.
To help families, the AEPap proposes that when choosing dairy, opt for milk or yogurt and avoid “prepared milkshake-type boxes, petits and other dairy products such as custard”. It is best to offer milk alone.
The vice president of the AEPap, Pedro Gorrotxategiclaims a EFEsalud that there are soy, oat or rice drinks that have added sugars and do not have a sufficient amount of calcium, “so important” for the growth of bone mass.
The fruit, better whole and water, the ideal drink
As for the fruit, remember that it is better to take the whole piece or in a smoothie (without sugar) rather than in juice.
Gorrotxategi explains that whole fruit contains fiber and glucose absorption is slower, so there is no glucose spike that, in the long term, is harmful to children.
EFE/Juan Carlos Cardenas
And between the carbohydrates that the AEPAp calls “good” highlights the white or whole wheat bread (not sliced) and the healthiest thing is to add extra virgin olive oil.
Butter is considered “acceptable” because it is a natural food made from milk. However, it should not be consumed more than one or two days a week.
and for the sandwichesprimary care pediatricians opt for non-fatty foods such as canned tuna, slightly cured cheeses or some low-fat meat derivative such as ham or turkey, with oil, tomato or lettuce, among other vegetables.
They remember that sausages, “even if they are turkey, contain fat, a multitude of ingredients and little meat. If we have time, grilled chicken breast or French omelette”.
Y cereals that are sugar free. Nuts, unroasted and unsalted. In small children you have to be careful because of the risk of choking, so you have to offer them crushed.
Water is the ideal drink.
Finally, they warn against products with “bad” fats such as industrial pastries and pastries. In moderation, they point out, “a homemade sponge cake with little sugar and olive oil is preferable.”
Is there the perfect backpack to avoid damaging your back?
And more advice because there is no going back to school without a backpack. Some will release it, others will inherit it and others will continue with the same one from the previous course. The important thing, in any case, is that the weight of the same together with the books does not exceed 10% of the weight of the minor.
EFE/Xoán Rey
“You have to try together to find a formula so that they carry the least weight possible, so that they don’t have to be carrying books from here to there,” warns the vice president of primary care pediatricians.
And it is that the weight of the backpacks is a physical effort that schoolchildren have to do every day they go to school. This effort can be related to the Back pain and future spinal problems.
Gorrotxategi emphasizes the importance of placing the backpack on the back, since it is even convenient for it to wear a belt so that it stays close to the spine.
The heaviest books have to be placed as close to the column as possible inside the backpack and this, in addition, must go higher than the back. Carrying it low means that the weight falls on the buttocks and is more damaging.
And carry the backpack for a single handle on the back is a very bad habitaccording to the vice president of Aepap: “It’s the worst of all,” he says.
In the event that schoolchildren have to carry excessive weight in their backpacks, they could resort to the ones with wheels. In this case, it is necessary to ensure that the minor alternates the two arms to carry it. And better to take her in front than behind her, dragging her.
Happy back to school.
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