Back to school: dealing with the return to school without anxiety and stress

Dealing with returning to school after the holidays is not easy. Here are some tips to avoid anxiety, stress and sleep disturbances related to the return syndrome.

A new school year is just around the corner and after months of vacation, children and young people have to face the return to school and get used to the daily routineagain. However, the so-called “back to school” can be a source of stress and anxiety, even causing mood swings, eating and sleeping disorders.

The most common symptoms of returning to school malaise

Nervousness, lack of hunger or, on the contrary, nervous hunger, are the most evident symptoms of anxiety associated with the end of the summer vacation. Lack of sleep, due to an altered sleep-wake rhythm during the holidays, can also have repercussions in the long run: being distracted, learning difficulties, daytime sleepiness, anxiety and negativity. The Italian Society of Paediatrics (SIP) estimates that one in four children under 5 years of age suffers from sleep-related disorders, while if you consider the age group of 6-18 years the average is one in ten.

How many hours of sleep does a child need?

The link between health and rest, together with proper nutrition and regular physical activity, is now widely recognised. A child between the ages of 3 and 5 years should indicatively sleep about 11-13 hours, while during school age between 6 and 10 years the recommended hours of sleep are about 10 and in the 11-13 age group are 8-9.
But if children and young people are used to falling asleep later during the holidays and getting out of bed in their own time, it can be difficult to impose a sudden change in the daily rhythm. It would therefore be better to re-establish the right routine a little earlier than when you returned to school.

Tips for getting back into the right sleep rhythm to deal with the return to school

• Bring forward the awakening time and the time of bed gradually: start a week before returning to school to re-establish the usual daily hours, beginning to bring forward day after day not only the alarm clock, but also the time by which to go to bed in the evening.
• Keep children and young people active during the day: playing outdoors and practicing sports is a great way to promote nightly rest. In addition, physical activity helps to counteract anxiety, irritability and nervousness.
• Avoid distracting children with television, mobile phones or video games late at night: these activities do not promote proper night’s rest because they can cause excessive excitement or agitation just before falling asleep.
• If necessary, we help children and young people to face the return to school and to resume the right pace with a completely natural solution: Lactozepamis, for example, a nutritional supplement based on Lactium (hydrolysed milk proteins) and Vitamin E. Available in three formulations (oral, chewable and tablet), it naturally helps to combat anxiety and sleep disorders.