With COVID-19 still raging all around us it is more important than ever to learn how to improve family health. Keeping every member of your family healthy does not have to be a challenge. There are simple tips for how to improve family health that any family can follow and benefit from.
Following these tips for how to improve family health will ensure that every member of the family gets healthy and stays healthy, including your pooch. There is no time like the present to get your entire family in good health.
The Basics of Good Health
The absolute basics of good health start with getting regular health care. Creating a relationship with health care professionals can help to promote good health. Health care professionals are not just there to cure or treat symptoms they offer prevention strategies that can help to prevent a wide range of health issues.
The same is true of pet healthcare. The old adage an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure is actually a very true statement. With regular checkups for the whole family including your four-legged family members, you can get keep a close eye on physical health, and take any steps that are needed to correct things like diet.
Another really good reason to find the health and wellness center that will work for your entire family is that if a condition or illness does crop up, early interventions can help to get health back on track. If you are wondering how to improve family health, the first tip is to partner with trusted health care providers.
A great approach is to create a team of providers that can help to address any problems as they come up. Each family member may need a different team of specialty doctors. For example, children or adults that suffer from allergies would gain greatly by having an allergy doctor on their care team.
Keeping well-child appointments, and even visiting the animal hospital regularly with your pets, will ensure that everyone stays on the right track when it comes to good health. Don’t let the fear of COVID-19 keep you away from these all too important appointments.
Overall Health
When we think of health we usually think of our physical health, but good health does not end with physical health. Overall good health is achieved by ensuring you see the specialist that you need to. For example, it is important that children go to the dental office every six months for an oral health examination.
Adults that are at a higher risk of gum disease may have to see the dentist every three months. If there is no risk of gum disease and a level of relative good oral health, adults can see the dentist every six months.
While you are making those dental appointments consider making an appointment for:
- Vision screening. An annual visit to the eye doctor can detect early changes that can be corrected with corrective lenses.
- Dental cleaning for your pet. Dogs and cats can get cavities that can be painful and lead to tooth loss. Ask if your animal hospital offers dental cleanings for pets.
- Hearing screening. A lot of people never have a hearing screening until they experience hearing loss. Annual screenings can help with early detection.
Oral health, vision health, and hearing health are all an important part of overall wellness. Cavities, gum disease, and other oral health issues can and will affect your overall health. Vision problems can affect development in children.
Partner with a local dentist, eye doctor, and vet that can help you to improve your family’s oral health, vision, and ensure Fido can keep his smile. It is an easy way to improve the health of your family.
How To Improve Family Health Through Behavior Modification
Changing certain behaviors can actually improve your family’s health. Risky behaviors like smoking around your children, overconsumption of alcohol and even speeding while you are driving can all be threats to the good health of your family.
You may think that a speeding ticket is no big deal, but it can affect the health of your family. Let’s say you were speeding along and wind up getting a ticket. You can pay the ticket and take the points on your license which drives up the cost of your auto insurance, or you can pay a lawyer. In either case, the keyword is “pay”. Having to pay an additional bill is stressful. Stress is bad for your health, and of course, kids can pick up on stress and it can cause them to suffer as well.
If you smoke, especially in front of your kids, stop. There is no easy way to say this. Smoking is extremely bad for your health. Children that have one or more parents that smoke is about 60 times more likely to smoke themselves.
Changing behaviors can be one of the easiest answers to how to improve family health. Here are some negative behaviors you can change that will reduce risks:
- Distracted driving is dangerous. Driving and texting or driving and eating, or driving and on the phone are all dangerous activities that can result in a phone call to an injury lawyer because of an accident. Make it a habit to keep your eyes on the road and your hands on the wheel.
- Eating a diet rich in processed foods. Fast food is fun once in a while, but it should not be a diet staple. There are bodies of research that point to the idea that fast food is not the best diet option.
- Destress your household. Stress is bad for everyone. A routine in the household can help to destress a household.
Changing some negative behaviors can have a huge impact on how to improve family health. Change can be difficult but in the end, it is well worth the challenge.
Exercise Should be On the Menu
You can not discuss how to improve family health without dedicating at least a part of the conversation to exercise. Adults need about two and a half hours of physical (moderate) activity each week. Unfortunately, most adults are not getting enough exercise. Recent studies have found that children are not getting enough exercise. Luckily, you can make some simple changes to ensure the whole family is getting enough exercise in.
Here are some ways you can incorporate exercise into everyone in the households life:
- Make workout time a family affair. Clear away the coffee table, turn on Youtube for some free exercise classes, and let the kids join in. Yoga is a great option for a family exercise class. Make it a twice-weekly requirement.
- The family that plays together, stays together. Make exercise fun by going bicycling together, playing sports together, there are plenty of things you can do with the kids that will keep them moving.
- Walking is a great family activity. Walk your neighborhood, visit your local park and hike the trails, get out, and walk around.
Getting the kids up and out of the house (weather permitting) is one of the best ways to improve both physical health and mental health. Exercise is a great way to reduce stress and keep the body in good health. Of course, when you exercise with the kids you are also building important family bonds and spending quality time together.
If the weather is keeping you and your family indoors, you do not need tons of room, to make some space to workout together. Clear away some furniture and put it to the side to make room for some stretching and moving.
What if your new apartment really is on the small size and finding some space is difficult. You can utilize the outdoor spaces, for example, if your new apartment is on the fifth floor, take the stairs as much as you can. If there are greenways or playgrounds for the kids, take advantage of those spaces.
Another option, if you are living in an apartment, is to take advantage of the health and wellness center which is often found in apartment complexes. If your apartment complex does not have one look for health and wellness centers nearby that can accommodate you and your family. Many of these centers offer kids exercise classes as well as adult exercise classes.
Making exercise a normal part of your family life will help to foster good habits in your children and help them to enjoy a lifetime of good health. Getting creative with making exercise fun for the whole family can go a long way in getting everyone involved.
What’s Keeping You From Exercising?
In some cases, it is not that you do not want to exercise more, it is that you cannot participate in the exercise. Of course, if there is anything that is keeping you from getting up and moving address the problem.
For example, as we age our joints can cause us discomfort but there are solutions. You can see a joint restoration specialist to restore your joints and feel more comfortable. Sometimes you cannot go directly to increasing activity, you have to take other steps like addressing joint problems.
If you have lower back problems or joint problems there are some exercises that you can do that are easy on the joints. Swimming is a good option and other low-impact exercises can keep the pressure off your joints.
The point is if you are suffering and it is keeping you from joining in the exercise take the steps to do something about it. Finding solutions for any condition or problem that you are dealing with can help you to improve your overall health.
How To Improve Family Health Through Diet
Another topic that has to be addressed is diet. It can be difficult to get kids to eat well. It can be a challenge especially with the stress of COVID-19 not to snack and reach for comfort food but a good diet is all about balance.
One of the easiest ways to ensure that the kids snack on good foods is to not fill the pantry with sweet treats. Keeping sugary drinks and snacks out of the house and making them a once in a while treat can help to cut down on mindless snacking for the whole family.
Sugary snacks and drinks can pile on the pounds and:
- Cause tooth decay.
- Unbalance insulin levels.
- Decrease a steady stream of energy.
A lot of parents freely give their children fruit juice, unfortunately, even fruit juice can be a bad choice because of the amount of sugar that is in fruit juices. Promoting more consumption of water can help to improve health. Keep fruit juices to a minimum.
Stock up on healthy snack options. Fill the fridge with fresh fruits and vegetables that are easy for children to get on their own. Cutting up fruits and veggies and placing them in small snack size storage containers will encourage healthy snacking.
If you are wondering how to improve family health through family meals, that can be as easy as getting the kids involved in the process. Making “assistant chefs” out of your children will get them more interested in meal prep and ultimately in eating the healthy meals you prepare together.
There are plenty of kid-friendly healthy menu options that you can create together. Letting the kids partner with you in meal prep will give them a sense of pride and encourage them to try new foods that are good for them. In other words, turn mealtime into a fun time and you will get even the pickiest eater to try new healthy foods.
As a parent you are in control of what foods come into the home. Kids are resilient and will bounce back easily when you tell them that donuts are not coming into the house as a regular snack option. As a matter of fact, you do not need to make any grand announcements, you just do not buy junk food.
With a little effort, you will easily be able to improve the whole family’s health. You can worry less about how to improve family health and focus more energy on enjoying being together.