Walking Off School Stress

Getting back into the school routine can be stressful for some kids. But that stress is something they might be able to just walk off.

What we are talking about is just walking to school in the morning, that might do them a whole day's worth of good.

We can all remember stressful days at school. Turning in homework, taking planned tests and the ever dreadful "pop" quiz can add to the stress. But so to can the social parts of school, wearing the right clothes, having the right lunch, all those things that don't seem important now but were pretty much all you thought about during the school day when you were young.

Unfortunately, those stresses can add up and experts are getting more concerned about it since we are finding out that heart disease is a process that starts in early childhood. So getting that stress under control is important.

And it looks like one simple way to do that is by having them walk to school in the morning. Researchers tested stress levels while taking a quiz in both boys and girls that either rode or walked to school. Those "riding" to school had a 3 times greater rise in blood pressure and reported feeling more stressed than the walkers.
So to help you kid better handle the stress that's always going to go hand in hand with school, have them walk if they can. And while you're at it, walk with them, it'll do you a world of good as well.