Isolation and Mental Health: The Second Pandemic and What to Do About It
COVID is Taking a Mental Toll on Our Children. Here’s How You Can Help.

If COVID-19 has weighed heavily on your children, they are not alone. Roughly two-third of parents worry that their children are falling behind socially, emotionally, and academically as a result of the pandemic. Their fears are not unfounded.

This school year, many children in Park City and throughout the U.S. will take classes online. As you probably noticed during the spring lockdowns, most kids struggle with distance learning.

The challenges are many.

If you worked at a desk before the pandemic began, odds are that you now work from home. Commuting to the kitchen table was probably nice at first. Wearing nothing but a nice shirt and underwear during business calls is pretty great too. By now, though, you probably recognize some of the downsides of working from home:

We’ve all heard that 8 hours is the gold standard of sleep. Anything less heightens your risk of heart disease, diabetes, obesity, depression, injury, etc., over the long haul.

If only it were that simple. 

Researchers have now linked excessive screen time to attention problems, expressive language delays, developmental delays, insulin resistance, poor sleep, and higher rates of depressive symptoms and suicide-related behaviors. 

Footwear seems to impede children from developing motor skills and muscles that are relevant to jumping and balancing. By introducing barefoot training into your children’s lives, you may help them develop healthier movement patterns and better athletic performance.

About 75% of American adults experience back pain every year. Some people experience minor strains that heal with rest and time, but others experience unrelenting pain and can barely get out of bed. Still others feel pain and numbness radiating down one or both of their legs.

Sometimes, people feel so debilitated by back pain and immobility that they say, “my back is out.” I hope you’ve never been through that, but if you have, you know how terrifying it is.  

When your “back is out,” what’s really going? What causes it? And what are your options for recovering?