Classes are back in full-swing and midterm exams are creeping up! School’s pressure often leads people to stress-eat, grab whatever’s convenient, or forget to eat. Easy and convenient foods tend to be fast and junky. While these foods are fine in moderation, healthy eating improves mental performance – an essential for school! 

But you may be wondering how healthy eating could be convenient. After all, doesn’t produce go bad fast? And if you’re on the move, there aren’t really quick healthy options you can grab, right?

Not quite. 

Whether you are in university, grade-school, or are a parent trying to make healthy habits for yourself and your children, here are some ways you can eat healthy while going to school.

Healthy Eating Habits To Cultivate In School

Drink Lots Of Water

Your body needs to stay hydrated, especially when you’re trying to focus in a class or on a test. Drinking enough water can help you stay alert in your studies. Our bodies are 70% water, after all. Part of making healthy choices is giving our bodies the hydration they need.

Eat Breakfast

Ensuring you have a nutritious breakfast can cut down on snacking during classes and improve mental performance. Things like eggs, oatmeal, and fruit are good healthy breakfasts to turn to.

Meal Prep

Planning out meals in advance allows for the chance to make overnight oats or other healthy options for breakfast. It also eliminates the unknown of what’s for lunch, because you can make it ahead of time. Especially if you usually find yourself running out the door in order to make it to your first class, meal prep makes it easy to just grab your lunch and go.

Pack Your Lunch

Going along with the above tip, if you pack your lunch, you’ll be less tempted to go to a fast-food restaurant because you brought food with you. You have the convenience of having it already on you, so when you are hungry, it’s ready. Packing your lunch also gives you the opportunity to make healthier choices! You can bring salads, smoothie bowls, rice bowls, sandwiches, veggies, fruit, and more.

Choose Healthier Options

Sometimes, you can’t bring a lunch, so you have to get something else while at school. With the increasing push for healthy options in schools, you aren’t limited to pizza. You can look for yogurts, smoothies, salads, or anything that looks like it will give a balance of protein, veggies, and carbs. 

Make Little Switches

Eating healthy can often come down to all the little decisions we make throughout the day. If you’re craving something sweet, you can try switching out candy for fruit. If you want a crunchy, savory snack, you can try veggies, like bell peppers, with hummus. Want something carbonated? Sparkling water, while not ideal, is a better choice than soda and comes in an abundance of flavors. 

Healthy Eating On The Go

Sometimes, the only time you have to eat is while getting from one place to another. Instead of swinging by a fast-food chain or opting for junk food, you can grab a smoothie or yogurt drink. Protein bars, lettuce wraps, trail mix, and dried fruit are some of the other healthy options available to you.  If you can’t do that, choose somewhere with healthier options, like a sandwich place. 

Listen To Your Body

If we eat stressed, we can often ignore our body’s signals that it’s full, and eat more than we should. Eating slowly and making sure to chew your food can prevent overeating. 

Exercise

Physical activity alleviates stress, so if you find yourself stress-eating, carve out time in your day for physical activity. It doesn’t have to involve the gym, it can just be a walk around the block. Just enough to get you moving and give your brain something else to focus on.

Healthy eating improves mental and physical performance, making it all the more vital during school.

Ask A Professional About Healthy Eating In School

Ogden Chiropractic believes in the value of living the best life possible, and good nutrition as one of the ways to achieve that. For any questions about nutrition or any of the other services Ogden Chiropractic offers, please feel free to contact us today!

The pain can become excruciating when a muscle cramp, commonly referred to as a charley horse or muscles spasm occurs. The sudden, unexpected muscle spasm can be caused by a variety of reasons. No matter your level of activity, the risk of muscle cramping is relative.

Where You May Experience Muscle Spasms

Muscle spasms occur spontaneously and unexpectedly in many regions of the body. They are frequently found affecting, but are not limited to, the back and front of your thigh, as well as the lower part of your leg, referred to as the calf. 

You may experience cramps in your:

Feet:

Cramping often occurs in the arches of your feet and around the toes. Flexor digitorum longus, Extensor digitorum longus, Tibialis anterior, and Abductor hallucis play an important role in how your foot flexes and moves. 

Lower Leg: 

The calf is formed of two muscles; the gastrocnemius, and soleus. These muscles are used to walk, run, and jump. They pull your heel up, allowing forward movement. Since these muscles are used frequently, they have a high probability of cramping. 

Upper Leg: 

There are two main muscle groups in your upper leg. The quadriceps and hamstrings. These muscles play a large component in bending and straightening your knee walking and connecting to your hips.  

Hands: 

Flexor digitorum superficialis muscle, Thenar muscles, Hypothenar muscles give movement to your hands for holding and grabbing objects every day. 

Arms and Shoulder:

Biceps brachii, Triceps brachii, Deltoid, Posterior (extensor) muscles of the forearm, and Flexor digitorum superficialis can cramp from everyday use. Many careers that are physically straining likely use these muscles to lift, carry, pull, push, or hold.

Abdominal wall:

Abdominal muscle strain is frequently seen among athletes, causing muscle spasms. These can be serious indicators of larger problems. 

Causes of Muscle Cramping

Muscle cramping is not limited to athletes or active individuals. Every individual should take the proper precautions to prevent muscle spasms. 

• Dehydration: Drink you water! Dehydration is one of the most common reasons for muscle cramps. Excessive loss of fluids in the body can lead to decreasing blood volume and low levels of electrolytes. Since your muscles and organs need proper blood flow, depriving them of this will result in cramping. You may alsoe experience stomach cramps. 
• Low Minreal Levels: If you have low calcium, sodium, potasium, or magnesium levels, you may be proen to frequent muscle cramping. 
• Muscle Fatigue: Overexhastion of muscles from strenuous activity, exercise, or any overuse can cause cramping. If your muscles arent given an adequate amount of recovery time and proper care, they will feel weak and become subject to injury. 
• Low Circulation: Many individuals spend a majority of their day sitting at a desk for work and watching television on a couch. Poor circulation, usually seen in the legs, is caused by the lack of daily leg movement and stretching. 
• Lack of Muscle Recovery: Athletes are prone to muscle cramps, especially athletes who do not take proper care of their bodies. To prevent cramping, proioritze muscle recovery after strenuous workout and muscle strain. Recovery allows for improved performance and healing. Recovery also reduces the risk of muscle injuries such as muscle pulling, shins splits, or tendinitis. Wether you are a seasoned athlete or are starting your fitness journey, do not neglect muscle recovery. If you have questions about sports medicine, contact us today.

What can I do to reslvoe and prevent muclse spasms? 

Drink Enough Water

Our world has become flooded with sugar-filled, carbonated, and artificially flavored drinks. These drinks do not provide the body with sufficient amounts of hydration, electrolytes, minerals, and nutritional value whether you are drinking regular or diet products. Even sports drinks that are marketed to be “hydrating” are found to have excessive amounts of table sugar (sucrose) and high-fructose corn syrup. This can leave you feeling fatigued and sluggish. Drinking water replenishes your muscles, regulated body temperature, and lubricates your joints. Water intake gives you energy by transforming it into nutrients for your musculoskeletal system (bones, muscles, tendons, ligaments, and soft tissues). 

In addition, there is an abundance of health risks associated with the overindulgence of processed drinks. Although these bubbly sweet drinks taste good, they can put your body at high risk of many health complications including excessive muscle cramping, diseases, poor dental health, sugar addiction, and an unhealthy body fat percentage. Consuming these beverages in moderation can prevent these health risks.

Replenish your musculoskeletal system of essential fluids needed for a functioning body. 

Get Moving

No matter how active you are, it is recommended to get moving for proper circulation and muscle functions. Daily walking, yoga, and stretching are all great ways to increase circulation in the legs. Starting small by dedicating 5 minutes of your day to physical activity. A short walk may be enough to drastically improve your muscle cramping. Taking a break from sitting will improve circulation over time and includes many other physical and mental benefits such as endorphin relief, cardiovascular fitness, improves the management of high blood pressure, reduces the risk of heart disease, and improves balance. 

Power of Muscle Massage

Relieve the cramp by stretching daily and massaging the affected muscle as needed. The application of a heating pad to the muscle may also help. It is of the utmost importance that you properly hydrate before a massage. Hydrated muscles are much more compliant with the methods used by massage therapists. Ogden Chiropractic offers superb Sports Massage Therapy with benefits including a reduction in muscle tension, increased range of motion, and better sleep quality. Learn more about The Benefits of Sports Massage.

Muscle Compression

Wearing a compression sock can help relieve muscle discomfort and cramping in areas of the foot and lower leg. Compression socks apply mild pressure to the affected muscle. Consult one of our experts about muscle compression before doing so.

Find a Professional

At Ogden Chiropractic, we understand how painful muscle cramping can be. Ogden Chiropractic offers outstanding Massage Therapy and evaluation of your symptoms. If you have performed at-home remedies and muscle cramping is still occurring, this could be a more serious problem. For personalized guidance and professional help, contact our experts today. We are dedicated to helping resolve your muscle pain.