There are enough therapists, psychologists and advisors for special needs kids. However, rarely does anyone address the health and long term well being of special needs parents. In continuation of my previous article on “What after me” — one of the best insurances you can take is never a financial product. In fact, the best insurance you can ever take in your life and in your kids life does not cost a penny. It is an insurance to keep your health and well being at its optimal levels. However, the commonly available options usually do not work out well for special needs (SN) parents due to following reasons
- SN parents cannot take time off away from home to indulge in exotic activities.
- They may not even be able to attend structured online events / classes as time away consistently at a fixed hour may not work well for all
- It may not be financially viable for SN parents
In such a scenario, how does one take their best life insurance for life — own health and well being. Following are some of simple things one can do even in the midst of significant constraints.
As this article is from personal experience alone, please do not take it as a therapist or medical advice. It is all about what worked for us in the long run.
Intermittent fasting
14–16 hour fasting 3 days a week is easily doable for most parents. Not only does it increases energy and health levels significantly, it also gives us a lot more time to work on more important things than filling the tummies. You may refer to the nutrition authority Luke on this — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ng2drH4lLaI
Typically, it is easiest to skip breakfast. So a 8 PM dinner to 12 PM to 1 PM lunch the next day easily gets you 16 hours fasting. You may start with 12 hours and ramp up to 16 if you find it difficult. Also doing it on alternate days like Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays alone helps you sustain the practice instead of getting overwhelmed and stopping it. The idea is to not stretch yourself but do what you can sustain in the long run. If some routine stretches you too far, you are likely not follow it for long. Skipping IF on alternate days gives you the energy and enthusiasm to do it the next day — that is the trick to achieve sustainability in your practice.
Breathing exercises
Practice Diaphragmatic breathing or anything you are comfortable with. There are enough videos in YouTube to guide you on these. A mindful breathing for 15 mins a day preferably morning or evening will go a long way in sustaining your long term well being. Again, the principle if never to stretch but do just enough to make it a habit and then stretch. There is no point in starting a 30 mins breathing session on day 1 and stop it on day 3 exhausted or not finding time. Rather start with just 10 mins which can be sustained over long periods.
Dr. Dave Carbonnell Ph. D is a Clinical Psychologist who specializes in treating anxiety. Who can explain the goodness of belly breathing better than him and how to do it — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRIV2R3jzaQ ?
Water therapy
Drinking 3–4 liters of water a day can surprisingly cure a lot of health issues. It is very easy when you do intermittent fasting to aim to drink 2 litres during the 16 hours fast. You may want to read on Water Therapy at https://www.amazon.in/Water-Miracle-Therapy-Scientific-Research/dp/9381384800/
It is very easy to practice this. Get yourself a 1.5 litre water bottle. Fill it and finish it before lunch. Fill once more after lunch and finish it before dinner. Simple — isn’t it?
Nutrition and Supplements
Personally I trust a lot on 4 supplements — Vitamin C, Vitamin D3, Vitamin K2 and Melatonin. The research is endless on how they can help you as you age. You may refer to PUBMED on melatonin — https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3593297/ and how it can help you. These are my long term all-weather companions and helped to avoid any medication for last 7+ years in a stretch.
Who can explain the importance of Vitamin K2 (Not the Vitamin K1 which is responsible for blood clotting) better than Dr. Eric Berg — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gei4_8ZAvo ?
Listen to Dr. Suzanne Humphries, who is a specialist in internal medicine and kidney disease from the US. This will be a 2 hour long video but worth every bit of it — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0LLX0sgwAU on what Vitamin C can do for you and why humans are the rarest species who dont manufacture it and how that is causing issues.
Strength training
Do simple strength training exercises for 10 mins a day. You can do Surya Namaskar if you prefer. You can do push ups if you like. You can do simple exercise bands or dumbbells if you like. Again, the goal is to keep it short simple and gain consistency and routine in whatever you do at first. Pick just 3 exercise band workouts, or just 3–4 dumbbell exercises or just 7 surya namaskars or just 25 push ups. And do it consistently. If you can do 20 mins of something do only 15 or 10 mins or it so that it becomes part of your life.
Cut Carbs, Cut Sugar, Cut Caffeine, Cut Milk
There is only one species in the universe whose natural food is primarily carbohydrates. That species is us — homo sapiens. Imagine a heap of rice in front of you as a heap of sugar. Imagine rotis and chapathis in front of you as sacks of sugar. Reduce carbs in your diet. Remove sugar in your drinks — not replace. You can call it by any name — jaggery, palm sugar or anything — sugar is best cut off from your diet completely. What happens to your body when you completely cut sugar is best explained by Dr. Eric Berg himself — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRj1RKh4xyY
I recently listened to a talk by one of the senior most cancer specialists in Regional Cancer Center (Kerala). He talks about completely cutting 5 white poisons from your food. White rice, White table salt, White sugar, White flour and White milk. Who can explain about milk better than Dr. Mark Hyman MD — Click Here ? Cow milk is made by cow to cause quick and rapid growth of calves. At age 40, 50 and 60 you do not need to inject your body with a fluid meant to cause rapid growth of calves. There is no wonder we all have growth of all sorts after age 40 drinking milk. Let us leave the milk to what nature intended it to me and nature will protect you for not messing around with its design.
Same applies to caffeine. But again, the golden rule applies — do the very little you can and make it a habit. And then once established as a habit, stretch the limits slowly and steadily. Consistency pays and not stretch goals.
With these simple changes made as part of daily routine, you can take one of the best life insurances you ever will take for your special needs kid and yourself. No paid insurance will ever replace this. All of the above can be done in your convenience at your own comfort without every stepping out of your daily care giving routine. And do not cost a penny and works far better than any high paid time consuming exercise and magic routines.
Before I conclude, I want to reiterate the most important point — consistency and routine development. The goal of none of the above practices should be to stretch yourself. The goal is to develop consistency at a pace you can sustain for a long long time. If you can do 30 push ups with stretching yourself do only 25. if you can do 18 hour fasting stretching yourself do only 15. If you can do 25 mins of breathing exercises, do only 15. The goal is to build it as a habit and then extend as you wish or keep it as is as you like. Consistency is what will pay off in long run — not a few extra stretches or push ups or minutes. Aim for consistency and stay healthy. All the very best. Hope this helps all SN parents like us who cannot step away from care giving to do exotic life style exercises.
