How to teach your child about the mind-body connection
While trying to explain (again) to my 19 year old daughter why it is important for her to create neural pathways that are positive, affirming and healthy. To practise behaviours like verbalising gratitude daily and to ensure she has creative elements to each day that make her happy. It struck me that although we have been having this conversation for a few years it would be incredible if this had been something she was exposed to since childhood. School was hard for her academically but if she had had "lessons' in emotional wellbeing she would have been the star of her class without a shadow of a doubt. she didn't need the Afrikaans and geography only, she needed to know how to be mentally healthy in a challenging and sometimes unfriendly world. She needed to know how to stop anxiety headaches, she needed to understand the connection from early on because then by now it would have been second nature and not something new. Better late than never for her but lets try equip our children with these skills while they are still young enough to ingrain them in their day to day lives.
How to Teach Your Child About the Mind-Body Connection - by Sarah Vanbuskirk
The mind-body connection is an important concept for kids to understand. Children are regularly taught about physical health and feelings. But what may often get left unexplained or unexplored with kids is the powerful link between our bodies and our brains.
Knowing what the mind-body connection is can help children (from toddlers to teens) to better understand—and achieve—physical and emotional well-being.
What Is the Mind-Body Connection?
The mind-body connection describes the idea that how you think and feel is inextricably linked to how your body feels and functions. The reverse is also true—your physical health has a profound impact on your thoughts and emotions.
For example, if you feel annoyed, or are upset about something, you may get a headache or stomachache, your muscles may tighten up, you may feel tired or wired, or generally unwell.
Alternatively, if you have an illness or injury, you may feel excess stress or concern, or even become depressed or anxious. Self-care and other stress coping measures (more on this below) can be used to help mitigate this potentially harmful cycle.
On the other hand, when you're happy or excited, your body may feel energized, more coordinated, or lighter. When your body is feeling good, you're likely to feel less stress and greater contentment.
In this situation, you can use your good mood or good physical health to boost the other, in a positive self-affirming loop. In fact, studies show that people with a more positive outlook tend to enjoy better health, tolerate pain more effectively, and recover faster from injury or illness.
How the Mind-Body Connection Works
The brain is connected to the body through a complex web of neural pathways that send signals back and forth. The scientific process behind this mechanism includes chemicals that the brain produces that impact your physical health.
Examples include gamma-globin, which boosts the immune system, and endorphins, which act as natural painkillers, dulling discomfort and boosting pleasure and relaxation.
Fear, stress, and worry can also trigger the body's fight, flight, or freeze instincts, even when no true physical danger is present. This innate response to physical threats causes rapid changes in the body, such as rapid heartbeat, rapid breathing, and a flood of hormones (such as adrenaline) to prepare the body to deal with impending danger.
Living under a level of extreme stress or negative mindset that puts the body into a heightened state of looking for danger is associated with worse physical health.
It's challenging to know exactly how much influence a positive or negative mindset will have on physical health, but a strong association has been conclusively found. Researchers also note that good or poor physical health can boost or diminish one's positive outlook, too.
This means that a negative perspective coupled with health problems can potentially make both situations worse. Likewise, enjoying good health may contribute to a more upbeat attitude and resiliency, especially if you're already more positively minded.
How to Explain It to Kids
Explaining how the science of the mind-body connection works to kids may be most impactful if you use examples they can relate to.
Explain that many kids experience stomachaches when faced with stressful or distressing situations. Little kids who worry about monsters under the bed or "bad guys" coming to the house may notice that their heart is racing and their body has tensed up.
Many kids may also have experienced that physical movement coping techniques like taking a walk, stretching, yoga, or deep breathing often help to regulate emotions. Plus, when they talk about their feelings or concerns, they may notice that as their emotions feel better, their body does, too.
Also, when we're scared, excited, or upset we often don't feel hungry—or we overeat. These are all examples of the mind-body connection in action.
Putting It in Practice
Let kids know that caring for the mind is just as important as taking care of the body, as both systems working in harmony is vital to their overall well-being. Once kids understand the general principle of the mind-body connection, they can begin to use it to their advantage.
Coping skills like mindfulness, meditation, yoga, asking for help, sleeping and eating well, breathing exercises, or simply hanging out with friends can help kids manage their stress levels. These relaxation practices may feel more compelling to kids when they know that they will also be positively impacting their physical health.
Kids who are familiar with how emotions affect the body (and vice versa), may also be more likely to ask for help if they are struggling with mental health issues. Knowing that physical distress may be reduced with emotional regulation and that big feelings may be alleviated with physical activity offers powerful coping skills to kids.
Children who are aware of the mind-body connection also know that mental toughness and resiliency and just as important as physical strength.
“This new covid world taught me
1. Debt is not good
2. Family is my gold.
3. Real friends matter.
4. My house is more than I need.
5. My car can last many more years.
6. Internet is now part of my life.
7. I wish my kids and their partners and their kids and everyone they knew lived with me in a commune.
8. I need less fancy clothes, comfort rules.
9. Personal hygiene is for me, no one else.
10. Community is my base, and they really matter.
11. Love given requires no return.
12. Nature rocks, and I need it.
13. Tech and gadgets are useful, only sometimes.
14. Politics will change.
15. This world is crying.
16. I can be better.
17. I love every person I ever met.
18. I am more spiritual and deeper than I realised.
19. This world is beautiful.
20. Gratitude is vital.”