Stress can cause detrimental effects on kids. I found in one article there are two types of stress, internal and external. Internal stress is hunger, change in family or in other words; separation anxiety, fatigue, and pain of any sort. External stress can be if they see arguments, domestic violence, being rushed to get ready, peer pressure and other things to that affect. A lot of these can cause a kid to be overwhelmed and irritable, that often leads to melt downs and inappropriate behaviors.
High stress levels can have many detrimental effects on young children, such as a change in brain chemistry and function and a higher risk of disease, although it’s not limited to just that. It is not limited because some cases are not as extreme as others. Stress can lower a child's immune system, making kids susceptible to childhood diseases. I find a lot of this article to be true. There are tons of different types of stress and different individuals cope with stress differently. I know when I get stressed out my back starts to hurt, or I get a slight cold and when I get out of my stressful situation I feel tons better.
In most cases stress can be seen through physical reactions. A few of those that you can see are sweating, hair chewing, fingernail biting, stomach aches, nervousness, and headaches; the list goes on. You would think that it would be pretty evident to parents if their kids are being stressed out. I think parents sometimes get to wrapped up in their own stress that they don’t realize they are sharing it with their kids. I think parents vent to whoever is listening when they are having a hard time, and in most cases kids are listening.
Read more at Suite101: Stress and Your Child http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/canadian_health/111401#ixzz0lU1N6GS8
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I believe that stress is hard on kids too. I have heard of the different types of stress, but I think the worst ones are the external stresses. Peer pressure from other students is really hard for kids to get past and overcome the pressure. It seems to take a very strong willed child to not be affected by the pure pressure. Then if the child has to deal with other stresses too. They just get overwhelmed, not sure how to release the stress. So then, the stress starts to eat away at the child's health. I know from personal experience with peer pressure, it is one of the hardest to overcome and conquer. Luckily, I had understanding parents who were good at explaining things to me and constantly reassured me that I was loved at home and that was all that really mattered. I could do whatever I put my mind to and it did not matter what the other kids said, just what I believed inside me. I was the Sheriff's daughter, so you can just imagine the peer pressure I had to deal with. It was a hard time the 7th and 8th grade year, but after that I grew to overcome the peer pressure. So I believe, if a child has strong family support and the parents understanding of what their child is going through, then the child will overcome the peer pressure in the end.
ReplyDeleteStress is something our nation tries to deem a normal part of living in this country. However, I do not think that we would find it to be as much of a concern in other countries. Even though stress is part of our bodies natural response system, it can be argueed that stress is starting to be a learned trait in children. If someone has a broken bone they would fix it, because that is not how our body is suppose to be "working"...so why isn't there an effort to fix high levels of stress, becaue this also is not normal or how this systom is suppose to be "working".
ReplyDeleteAmerican lifestyle is seen as fast paced, with little time to relax or even enjoy down time because alot of people find it as an indication as being lazy.It is a constant go,go, go lifestyle. But should this be viewed as normal, because we are teching kids that stress is an everyday thing. Whereas the human body is not designed to function in high stress levels on a day to day basis...it is a protection mechanism. Other countries have lunchtime Siesta's every day, have more vacation time, and essentially less reported illnesses in the work place.
As a safety and health graduate we have several studies that are done showing that long work hours lead to fatique and quality of work decreases largely. More accidents and errors in work are bound to happen at the end of the day...therefore raising the questioning to is the quantity of work time really getting the American public further ahead then say these countries that allow more rest time.
American heart association has heart attacks as number 1 killer in the U.S., but stress has increased immensely. Could there possibly be a correlation in the raised stress levels and this large problem. And should something be done to relieve these high levels of stress?
I think teaching children that stress should not be a normal part of everyday life should be a priority. And teaching children how to cope with stress using several positive techniques. I never learned anything like that in school. Things like journaling, meditation, yoga should all be strongly encouraged and maybe even taught so children know how to channel or block out stress from coming to such extreme levels that it starts being detrimental to their health. And to also be taught that it's ok to take a break sometimes, we are not superhero's...we're human, as much as alot of people hate to admit it.
There is also strong evidence in holistic medicine that poor diets can lead to higher levels of stress and anxiety, whereas changes in diets can help alleviate some of these symptoms. Not a surprise with the increase of fast food and poor diets in America as a whole.