Spring Break Health Challenge
Dear Griffin School Community,
It became clear during the Covid years that caring for our own personal health is not just good for ourselves, it is an important way to care for and protect ther people around us. Highly infectious diseases remind us that self-care is a community service. More broadly, we know how much we impact each other with our emotions, our attitudes, our actions, and our behaviors. In a small community, bringing our best selves into every interaction makes a positive difference for everyone else in the community too. I appreciate being surrounded by positive, healthy, energetic people, don't you? Let's do all we can to support each other in that way.
DST and The Value of Sleep
Daylight Savings Time begins again today. It's an annual opportunity to consider how important sleep is to a healthy, high-functioning brain. As daylight increases by a few minutes each day, this rolling forward of our clocks by an hour makes for long, luxurious afternoons of sunshine - hopefully that enables more time to linger with friends and be outdoors together. If we are not careful, it can also just mean we lose an hour of sleep each night. We know how critical sleep is for thinking, learning, and for social and emotional health, so I urge all of us to shift our bedtimes back an hour so we get the abundant, deep sleep we need to function. That starts tonight!
Have a hard time getting to sleep earlier? Try getting some vigorous exercise each day, reduce your screen time especially in the hours before bedtime, and avoid caffeine and sugary foods especially in the afternoons and evenings. We all know what it feels like to be rested and ready to take on the new day - let's do what it takes to make that happen for ourselves and for each other.
Measles, Vaccinations, and Travel
With almost 200 cases of measles in Texas and with spring break travel coming up, it's important reinforce the importance of the simple, safe, and effective protection that the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine provides. We are fortunate to be in a school community that has a very strong commitment to medical science and adherence to public health guidelines; we also of course have members of community who are immunocompromised or who cannot get the vaccine because of their condition, so it is critical to be vigilant to protect ourselves and each other from health threats like this.
Austin Public Health published a media toolkit for schools to use to communicate with our communities about measles. I'm sharing the whole toolkit here for those who would like to be fully informed about this issue.
Spring Break Challenge
It's not unusual to feel kind of run-down this time of year, but with spring break coming up, hopefully there is time ahead to rest and restore and focus on your own wellbeing. Sometimes even with this extra time, we can make choices that set us up to come back from the break feeling exhausted (like we just need one or two MORE days off to really feel ready to get back to work).
So here's my Spring Break Challenge for all of us: Let's make the choices that will lead to feeling well-rested and strong when we wake up on Monday, March 24th, the day we come back to school together. There are constant temptations to indulge in stuff that ultimately depletes us: binging TV, social media, video games, doom-scrolling, junk foods, being sedentary, and staying up far too late at night. We all fall into compulsive stuff like this that leave us feeling tired, upset, fearful, anxious, grumpy, and irritable.
What if this spring break, we intentionally moderated our compulsions and intentionally built in the things that make us healthier, more resilient, more patient and generous with each other? What if we all came back from spring break feeling fantastic, eager to be back on campus together, and ready for the good work ahead?! Thanks for taking on that challenge with me. Have a wonderful, restorative, active, healthy spring break!
Best Wishes,
Adam Wilson, Head of School