Alaska

Alaska-approved ways to improve your family’s well-being this spring

Published

3 years ago

April 14, 2022

Alaska-approved ways to improve your family’s well-being this spring

Introduced by Medical Park Household Care

As spring arrives in Alaska, mother and father are navigating will increase in daylight, vitality ranges, and shifts of their children’ wants and behaviors.

But this 12 months, supporting youngsters and youngsters’ well being is “extra vital than ever,” mentioned Dr. Michelle Laufer, a pediatrician at Medical Park Household Care in Anchorage.

Kids and youngsters are dealing with unprecedented psychological well being challenges following two years of an isolating pandemic; the American Academy of Pediatrics not too long ago declared a nationwide psychological well being emergency for youngsters, and a full 25% of households have sought psychological well being care for a kid.

Laufer mentioned psychological well being associated points in her sufferers are at an all-time excessive in her 22-years as a pediatrician.

Fortunately, there are some easy and well timed methods to assist prioritize your loved ones’s well being.

Medical Park Household Care has been serving to Alaska households thrive since 1971. On this article, the clinic gives suggestions and instruments to assist Alaska children and youths by way of altering seasons and instances.

Learn on to discover sensible, accessible, and helpful instruments you’ll be able to put into follow to assist your loved ones.

In Alaska’s massive outside, suppose small

Analysis persistently factors to the well being advantages of spending time in nature. However mother and father don’t must plan a big tour so as to take pleasure in Alaska’s outside.

“Maintain it easy,” Laufer mentioned. “Don’t do something that feels overwhelming, as a result of then it’s much less more likely to occur.”

For example, pack a picnic and go to a park. Get outdoors extra usually, even when for much less time, and your complete household will reap the rewards.

Reframe and make it enjoyable

Dad and mom could view train as an onerous chore. Kids don’t must really feel the identical means.

“Children will naturally train,” Laufer mentioned. “I similar to to current it as enjoyable methods to be collectively as a household.”

Reframing an exercise in your thoughts, and to your youngster, will assist to beat destructive associations, and also you’ll be extra more likely to comply with by way of.

A impolite actuality examine

Picture supplied by Medical Park Household Care

Moreover, if a baby is fighting weight problems or lethargy, mother and father usually default to considering their youngster is “lazy,” Laufer mentioned. As a substitute, deal with how your life-style impacts your children, as youngsters mannequin their mother and father’ habits.

“That’s the toughest a part of being a mother or father. No matter you do, they’re going to do it,” Laufer mentioned. “They’ll do the great issues, they usually’ll do the dangerous.”

For those who wrestle with staying energetic, strive including small, healthful actions to your day. Your efforts will in the end assist your complete household for years to come back.

Maintain it fascinating, and maintain snacks round

Assist your children keep energetic by creating novelty round smaller actions. For example, when taking a stroll, flip it right into a scavenger hunt by asking “what number of blue issues can you discover?” Laufer mentioned.

Or, placed on some rain boots and go on a puddle stroll, letting your children splash round to their hearts’ content material. Take a stroll on the seaside, or strive performing some gardening and plant some flowers outdoors together with your children.

Irrespective of the exercise, bear in mind to deliver snacks, and be able to adapt to your youngster’s wants.

Altering seasons, adjustments in our brains

Some mother and father would possibly discover children performing up greater than traditional throughout spring time.

Alaskans face extreme darkness in winter months, which creates a sleep-inducing melatonin launch within the mind. As daylight returns, our brains start producing extra serotonin, and fewer melatonin, mentioned Medical Park Household Care Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Desiree Cook dinner.

Extra serotonin means extra vitality. However the climate remains to be “form of all over,” Cook dinner mentioned, so getting children outdoors generally is a problem.

“Now we’ve the daylight they usually don’t actually know what to do with it,” Cook dinner mentioned. Consequently, children could exhibit undesired or hyperactive behaviors or irritability.

Hygiene is for sleep, too

Due to the acute adjustments in daylight, sleep hygiene is extraordinarily vital in Alaska.

Routines matter, Cook dinner mentioned. Set a schedule, and take away synthetic gentle earlier than bedtime.

That features powering down telephones. Bear in mind, children aren’t all the time nice at self-regulation, mentioned, Dr. Jill Gaskill, household medication doctor at Medical Park Household Care.

Cellphone use is a privilege they will earn, Gaskill mentioned, as an alternative of being a given.

Bettering sleep schedules could result in mood tantrums, break downs, or pushback from children and youths. However with consistency, and by emphasizing the constructive, you’ll possible= make progress, Cook dinner mentioned.

The case for Taco Tuesdays

Similar to for sleep, each day scheduled actions are vastly helpful for households.

“Children and households actually do effectively with routines,” Laufer mentioned. So implement a Tuesday Taco evening, Friday Enjoyable evening, or a Sunday Scavenger hunt.

What issues is that it’s “one thing the child can depend on, and one thing enjoyable you are able to do,” Laufer mentioned.

Household time issues

“It sounds tacky, however it’s extremely vital,” Cook dinner mentioned of household time. The straightforward act of consuming dinner collectively each evening will assist construct wholesome household relationships. .

To inspire children, maintain it quick and easy. For instance, seize a pizza and head to Kincaid Park for dinner.

“Having new experiences collectively is nurturing for household relationships,” Laufer mentioned.

Discover your option to thrive

Stress is affecting mother and father and adults alike and it’s taking a toll.

Bodily and emotion well being are tied linked. “You possibly can’t have one with out the opposite,” Cook dinner mentioned.

Picture supplied by Medical Park Household Care

It’s essential for folks to get their children out into the group, and work with them to ascertain wholesome relationships.

With spring growing vitality ranges, now is a good time to make that mild push. “Everybody’s motivation is up,” mentioned Cook dinner. “Children wish to be energetic they usually’re much more prepared.”

“Now could be actually simply the time to search out your option to thrive once more,” Cook dinner mentioned.

Getting youngsters again outdoors … of their heads

Youngsters have missed out on two years of progress and connection. “It’s been laborious on the emotional and psychological improvement,” Gaskill mentioned.

Youngsters “get so caught up of their head about what’s improper with them or what’s completely different,” Gaskill mentioned, and with this intense self-focus has come an inflow of despair, anxiousness, and consuming issues.

Encouraging children to get out into the group might help. Group sports activities, music, and social actions are extra vital than ever.

With children and youths, social experiences assist to develop a way of what’s regular.

“We all the time take into consideration (the advantages of) train, and going outdoors, however the further component is (going with) another person,” Gaskill mentioned.

Methods for speaking to teenagers

Many on-line assets exist to assist mother and father study to speak to children, Cook dinner mentioned. Take a look at an inventory of trusted sources on the finish of the article.

Retaining a line of communication open together with your teen – even when it’s only one mother or father within the family – is extraordinarily vital.

By no means underestimate what spending time collectively can accomplish. “It helps construct these relationships,” Cook dinner mentioned. “That’s actually the most important factor.”

Recognizing when to take the following step

Generally at-home options can solely go thus far. In case your youngster or teen is fighting extreme worry round social interactions, is failing college, or is irritable or withdrawn, it could be time to hunt assist from knowledgeable.

“A well being care supplier is an effective place to start out,” Cook dinner mentioned.

Useful Household Sources

healthychildren.org

childmind.org

mpfcak.com

alaskachildrenstrust.org

akeatingdisordersalliance.org

dhss.alaska.gov/dph/PlayEveryDay

voaak.org

Medical Park Household Care is a neighborhood and physician-owned clinic that has been caring for generations of Alaskans since 1971.

This text was produced by the sponsored content material division of Anchorage Each day Information in collaboration with Medical Park Household Care. The ADN newsroom was not concerned in its manufacturing.

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Alaska

Close encounters with the Juneau kind: Woman reports strange lights in Southeast Alaska skies

Published

6 hours ago

November 23, 2024

Press Room

Close encounters with the Juneau kind: Woman reports strange lights in Southeast Alaska skies

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – For Juneau resident Tamara Roberts, taking photos of the northern lights was just a hobby — that is until a different light altogether caught her eye.

Capturing what she’s called strange lights in the skies of Juneau near her home on Thunder Mountain, Roberts said she’s taken 30 to 40 different videos and photos of the lights since September 2021.

“Anytime I’m out, I’m pretty sure that I see something at least a couple times a week,” Roberts said. “I’m definitely not the only one that’s seeing them. And if people just pay more attention, they’ll notice that those aren’t stars and those aren’t satellites.”

Roberts has been a professional photographer for over 20 years. She said she changed interests from photographing people to wildlife and landscape when she moved to Juneau 13 years ago.

Once she started making late-night runs trying to capture the northern lights, she said that’s when she started encountering her phenomenon.

Roberts said not every encounter takes place above Thunder Mountain: her most recent sighting happened near the Mendenhall Glacier while her stepmom was visiting from Arizona.

“She’d never been here before, so we got up and we drove up there, and lo and behold, there it was,” Roberts said. “I have some family that absolutely thinks it’s what it is, and I have some family that just doesn’t care.”

Roberts described another recent encounter near the glacier she said was a little too close for comfort. While driving up alone in search of the northern lights, she expected to see other fellow photographers out for the same reason as she normally does.

But this night was different.

“I’ve gone up there a million times by myself, and this night, particularly, it was clear, it was cold and the [aurora] KP index was high … so as I’m driving up and there’s nobody there. And I was like, Okay, I’ll just wait and somebody will show up.’ So I backed up into the parking spot underneath the street light — the only light that’s really there on that side of the parking lot — and I turned all my lights off, left my car running, looked around, and there was that light right there, next to the mountain.”

Roberts said after roughly 10 minutes of filming the glowing light, still not seeing anyone else around, she started to get a strange feeling that maybe she should leave.

“I just got this terrible gut feeling,” Roberts said. “I started to pull out of my parking spot and my car sputtered. [It] scared me so bad that I just gunned the accelerator, but my headlights … started like flashing and getting all crazy.

“I had no headlights, none all the way home, no headlights.”

According to the Juneau Police Department, there haven’t been any reports of strange lights in the sky since Sept. 14, when police say a man was reportedly “yelling about UFOs in the downtown area.”

Responding officers said they did not locate anything unusual, and no arrests were made following the man’s report.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Weather Service in Juneau also said within the last seven days, no reports of unusual activity in the skies had been reported. The Federal Aviation Administration in Juneau did not respond.

With more and more whistleblowers coming forward in Congressional hearings, Roberts said she thinks it’s only a matter of time before the truth is out there.

“Everybody stayed so quiet all these years for the fear of being mocked,” Roberts said. “Now that people are starting to come out, I think that people should just let the reality be what it is, and let the evidence speak for itself, because they’re here, and that’s all there is to it.”

See a spelling or grammar error? Report it to web@ktuu.com

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Alaska

‘We’re ready to test ourselves’: UAA women’s hoops faces tallest task yet in another edition of the Great Alaska Shootout

Published

14 hours ago

November 23, 2024

Press Room

‘We’re ready to test ourselves’: UAA women’s hoops faces tallest task yet in another edition of the Great Alaska Shootout

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Heading into Friday’s game with a 6-1 record, Alaska Anchorage women’s basketball is faced with a tall task.

The Seawolves are set to face Division I Troy in the opening round of the 2024 Great Alaska Shootout. Friday’s game is the first meeting between the two in program history.

“We’re gonna get after it, hopefully it goes in the hoop for us,” Seawolves head coach Ryan McCarthy said. “We’re gonna do what we do. We’re not going to change it just because it’s a shootout. We’re going to press these teams and we’re going to try to make them uncomfortable. We’re excited to test ourselves.”

Beginning the season 1-4, the Trojans have faced legitimate competition early. Troy has played two ranked opponents to open the season, including the 2023 national champion and current top-10 ranked Louisiana State University on Nov. 18. The Trojans finished runner-up in the Sun Belt Conference with a 15-3 record last season.

“At the end of the day, they’re women’s basketball players too. They’re the same age as us and they might look bigger, faster and stronger, but we have some great athletes here,” junior guard Elaina Mack said. “We’re more disciplined, we know that we put in a lot of work, and we have just as good of a chance to win this thing as anybody else does.”

The 41st edition of the tournament is also set to feature Vermont and North Dakota State. The two Div. I squads will battle first ahead of UAA’s match Friday night.

All teams will also play Saturday in a winner and loser bracket to determine final results.

See a spelling or grammar error? Report it to web@ktuu.com

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Alaska

Women will make up a majority in Alaska House for first time in state history

Published

22 hours ago

November 22, 2024

Press Room

Women will make up a majority in Alaska House for first time in state history

The entrance to the House of Representatives Chamber at the Alaska State Capitol in Juneau on February 26, 2024. (Marc Lester / ADN)

Six Alaska House seats currently held by men are set to be held by women next year, bringing the overall number of women in the chamber to 21. This will be the first time in the state’s history that one of the legislative chambers is majority women.

The women elected to the Alaska House bring a variety of experiences and perspectives to the chamber. Ten of them are Republicans, including four newly elected this year. Nine are Democrats — including three who are newly elected. Two are independents who caucus with Democrats.

There are also five women in the state Senate, a number that remained unchanged in this year’s election, bringing the total number of women in the Alaska Legislature to 26 out of 60, a new record for the state. The previous record of 23 was set in 2019.

Nationally, around a third of legislative seats were held by women this year, according to researchers at Rutgers University. Nearly two-thirds of women legislators are Democrats. In Alaska, women serving in the Legislature are largely evenly split between the major political parties.

Before this year’s election, only seven states had ever seen gender parity in one of their legislative chambers. They include Arizona, Nevada, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Colorado, New Mexico and Oregon. California is set to join the list after this year’s election.

Three of the women slated to serve in the Alaska House next year are Alaska Native — also a record. Two of them were elected for the first time: Robyn Burke of Utqiagvik, who is of Iñupiaq descent, and Nellie Jimmie of Toksook Bay, who is of Yup’ik descent. They join Rep. Maxine Dibert of Fairbanks, of Koyukon Athabascan descent, who was elected in 2022.

The historic increase in representation of women came in Alaska even as voters did not reelect U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola, the first woman and first Alaska Native person to represent the state in the U.S. House. Peltola was voted out in favor of Republican Nick Begich III.

Women come to the Alaska Legislature from diverse professional backgrounds, but a disproportionate number of them will arrive with some experience in public education.

Three of the newly elected lawmakers — Burke, Jubilee Underwood of Wasilla and Rebecca Schwanke of Glennallen — have served on their local school boards, helping oversee the North Slope Borough, Matanuska-Susitna Borough and Copper River school districts, respectively.

The three bring different perspectives on public education. Burke said she is looking forward to working with a bipartisan caucus that is set to have a majority in the Alaska House this year, with a focus on increasing education funding and improving the retirement options for Alaska’s public employees, including teachers.

Schwanke and Underwood, on the other hand, have indicated they will join the Republican minority caucus, which has shown an interest in conservative social causes such as barring the participation of transgender girls in girls’ school sports teams.

The increase in the number of women serving in the Alaska Legislature comes as public education funding is set to be a key issue when lawmakers convene in January.

Burke said she and the other newly elected women bring different policy perspectives to the topic of education, but their shared experience in serving on school boards reflects a commitment to their children’s education.

“With so many parents and so many moms, I hope that there will be really good legislation that supports working families and children and education,” Burke said.

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