Today’s wellness tip is a review of some simple math.

While there is no exact formula for improving our sense of wellness, sometimes it’s helpful to try a new method to solve life’s problems, just like a math problem that you might get stuck on.

The list of things to add to improve your wellness can be fairly easy to come up with: a little bit of exercise, more nutritious foods, time in the sun, practicing gratitude, meditation… you get the idea.

However, sometimes our wellness is a problem of subtraction, rather than addition. More stillness and contentment can often be achieved by removing something rather than adding. Removing social media or screen time that creates stress and distracts from important relationships, removing expenses or activities that are too much to manage, removing a meeting or appointment from your schedule that drains your energy; there are lots of examples of things that can be removed in modern life.

If you feel overwhelmed or stressed, it might be time to try subtraction and see if that can improve your overall wellness.

Our mind and body need time outside, every day. Many of our students love their screen time, and without school to take up their day, they may be tempted to spend most of that free time in front of some kind of device.

Though games, screens, and devices aren’t necessarily bad for students, time spent in front of screens isn’t really beneficial for mental and physical health. Too much screen time might mean not enough time exercising, interacting with peers, or developing new skills and hobbies.

Rather than condemn or eliminate screen time, families could consider trading screen time with other positive healthy behaviors. It’s good to start small with these kinds of trades, trading 30 minutes of screen time for 30 minutes of sun time is an easy start to creating a balanced lifestyle.

Time in the sun produces essential vitamins and chemical reactions in the brain and body that support students’ mental and physical health (use the sunscreen though if you will be out for extended periods of time!). Sun time can be combined with other healthy actions, like calling or chatting with a friend or family member, active exercise or walking, developing a skill, or trying a hobby like a puzzle or an art project. Combining our sun time with other positive actions like these can make it even more beneficial!

This week’s challenge is to trade a small amount of screen time for sun time. Even 30 minutes per day of this trade can enhance mental health for our students! Let’s get outside as often as possible this summer and feel the benefits to our mental and physical health.

For more wellness resources visit wellness.jordandistrict.org.