Wellness Tips For The Whole Family
It’s September! On top of all the back to school fun and fall activities, this is usually when sickness starts to creep in! We are inside more and busier, so it’s bound to happen! Here are all the things we do in our house to prevent sickness as much as possible. Plus, what we use when someone comes down with something!
NOTE: I’m not a doctor and not diagnosing anything! Please do your own research and consult with your doctor when choosing a wellness plan. Our whole family is tested at our naturopath yearly to see what supplements we need. We don’t supplement without seeing what we need first. We also use traditional medicine. These are just additions we use to stay well!
1) Prioritize sleep: This is such an easy way to support your immune system. A huge thing we implemented last year has helped so much with this! All the devices in our home are on screen time and go off at 9:00. This gives us time to watch a show as a family and wind down. We all diffuse and use sleep rollers nightly! Some of our favorites are lavender and cedarwood in the diffuser. Recently I have been putting a drop of cedarwood on the bottom of my feet and I’m sleeping great! Other things that help us are sleep masks, I have this one. Both our kids use their Alexa as a sound machine and we also love blackout shades in the bedroom. You can read things I do every day to help me sleep here.
2) Supplements: My kids are 13 and 15 and take different supplements! Nicholas (15) takes Super B and Vitamin D. Anna takes this probiotic for kids. Both my kids take these Immunogummies that have elderberry. I take daily Ningxia as my multivitamin.
3) Keep the air clean: Did you know that the fragrance in candles and air fresheners can lower the immune system for up to a week? This is one reason we keep these items out of our homes. The air in our homes can generally be more polluted than the outside air. Ways to keep it clean include diffusing pure essential oils, cracking the windows, keeping a snake plant in each room, and removing shoes when entering the house. Especially when someone is under the weather we try to crack windows in our bedrooms for 30 min a day. You can also turn on the ceiling fans facing up.
4) Keep chemicals out: Chemicals and artificial fragrance in the home are known to lower the immune system. We use plant-based cleaning and laundry products instead of chemicals. We don’t want to give our immune systems another hit when it’s already fighting every germ out there! This is how we clean our house!
5) House rules: These rules are common sense but go a long way when everyone remembers to do them! We all wash our hands every time we come home. I also encourage my kids to change clothes after school and we all take our shoes off at the front door.
What we do when someone is sick
1) Oils we use: Our gold standard oil blend for sickness is the Thieves blend. This helps support wellness and I start diffusing it immediately when someone isn’t feeling well. We also like to make a roller to use ever few hours. I roll it on our spine. You can see the recipe below!
2) Supplements we add in: One supplement we add in when one of us has a cold is Zinc. I buy any chewable form that’s available at Whole Foods since everyone in our house isn’t able to swallow pills yet. My naturopath also told me that Airborne is a great supplement to have on hand when someone is sick and actually recommended it to me over a regular Vitamin C product.
3) Cold support: When someone does have a cold in our house, I love this Thieves Chest rub! It’s helpful for runny nose and also for coughs. If you like to DIY, I made a new stuffy nose balm too! You can see the recipe below!
4) Diffuse: There are so many options for diffusing when under the weather. I love to do Thieves, lemon, and frankincense. At night I will do Thieves and lavender in the kids rooms. If one of them is stuffy, I will add some eucalyptus or Raven. This not only supports whatever symptoms they have but also helps to clean the air!
5) Steam shower: We always have a bottle of oil in the shower. We just put a few drops under the running water and breath it in as we shower. Our favorites are peppermint or eucalyptus. This also helps with stuffiness or coughing. You can see my shower steamer recipe here.
6) Stomach support: Our go to oils for stomach issues are Digize or it’s kid friendly version, Tummygize. These are great in roller form and can be rolled on the tummy every few hours.
5) Fever support: We do use fever reducers when needed, but love to use our oils too. Favorites are lavender or peppermint in a little coconut oil and rubbed on the spine
These are two new wellness recipes we make and use in our house!
Elderberry Syrup:
1 1/2 cups dried elderberries (I bought these on Amazon.)
3 cups water
1 cinnamon stick
1 1/2 cups raw honey
In a sauce pan, bring elderberries, water, and cinnamon stick to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove from heat and mash the elderberries to remove any extra juice. Strain into a glass bowl using a cheesecloth or mesh strainer. Let the liquid sit for about 30 minutes and gently stir in the honey. Store in airtight container. This makes one 16 oz bottle. I use these bottles!
A single teaspoon of homemade elderberry syrup once a day is sufficient as a preventative measure. If illness strikes, use more as necessary, with up to 3 teaspoons per day.
No mess stuffy nose balm:
I recently saw a Vicks commercial with this item and wanted to recreate it! This recipe makes two sticks using these empty deodorant tubes I found on Amazon.
In a glass bowl, combine 1/4 cup coconut oil and 1/4 cup beeswax pellets. (I buy these.)
Then add 1 T shea butter and microwave for 1 min at a time until the beeswax is melted.
Add a tiny pinch of menthol crystals and 10 drops of eucalyptus.
Pour directly into tubes and let cool.
Use on chest or back with stuffy nose or cough. (Don’t use right on nose or near eyes.) You can watch me make it here!
If you’re ready to start using essential oils, you can learn more about all the options here!
What would you add to this list? Tell me in the comments!
XO
Sarah