Wellbeing

Janey Lee Grace’s Family Matters

By Janey Lee Grace

The latest news and holistic views to keep your clan in tip-top health

SUN AND SEX

Couples trying for a baby shouldget out more, according to areport from the Medical University of Graz in Austria. Thereport which looked at numerous previous studies found vitamin D from sun exposure can improve sperm count in men and balance the sex hormones in women.
DID YOU KNOW?

There has been a significant increase in thenumber of children starting school without being toilet trained, according to a poll by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers.

De-clutter your life

Janey Lee Grace, comes to terms withher mess and champions the ‘one in, oneout’ rule…

For many years the hallway in my home hasbeen known affecionately as the ‘corridor of chaos’. With two adults and four growing kids in the house, there is usually such an array of junk splaying out from the front door to the stairs and beyond, that I have felt exhausted and overwhelmed by the mess. But finally we’re extending, and after the messy builders vacate next weekend, we will have a bigger hallway. I will be doing what life coaches call‘reframing’ and renaming my‘corridor of chaos’. I may even put up a sign.

The new name? Suggestions from my son includes ‘entrance to tranquillity’ (possibly a bridge too far).‘Family fun this way’was the eight-year-old’s suggestion and ‘enter at your peril’ was hubby’s offering.

It will be called simply, ‘the welcome area’. In my dreams it will be ordered and tidy, free from clutter, bright and welcoming. We filled two huge recycling containers while de-junking much to the annoyance of the kids.Every time we extricated old toys, broken games and clothes that no longer fit from the depths of cupboards they wailed loudly that they ‘love that’and can’t possibly part with it. Our new rule after much negotiating is – for every new toy they get an old one has to be recycled. I wonder if I can do the same with my clothes?

Born with the blues

The blast of hormones during puberty is often blamed for teenagers’ sullen moods.However, a study published in the journal Psychiatry Research found the season they are born in could also have an affect. Of the 1,523 teens studied, those born in spring or summer are more likely to suffer from seasonal affective disorder. An explanation given for this trend is to do with the way exposure to longer hours of natural light could have programmed the nervous system in their first few months.

Fact file

“Research from The University of Texas Health and Science Centre has found women with autistic children are on average 6.9 years older than mothers with non-autistic children”

Baby knows best

Letting your little one eat finger food rather than weaning them onto puréed foods is best, a study fromN ottingham University has reported. The study found children who were spoon-fed purées as babies were more likely to prefer sweet tastes and be overweight. Allowing babies to feed themselves means they are in control and can eat at their own pace which leads to a healthy attitude to food.

Article by

Janey Lee Grace

is a holistic lifestyle expert. She is the author of Look Great Naturally – Without Ditching the Lipstick (£8.99, Hay House)

Article by

Janey Lee Grace

is a holistic lifestyle expert. She is the author of Look Great Naturally – Without Ditching the Lipstick (£8.99, Hay House)