A browse through complimentary medicine literature and texts will provide a whole host of great options used for enhancing our children's immune function. Beyond the whole foods, low sugar diets, Zinc and Echinacea, I think there is one area that is often overlooked in the holistic perspective when it comes to keeping our children's immune systems strong.... and that is stress. We know chronic stress can have immune suppressing effects in adults making stress management at the forefront of many health promoting/immune boosting protocols. But are we making stress management a priority in kids? Or are we overlooking this important area because we associate stress management needs with adults?
Our children have mental health needs just as we do. In fact, their mental health was being influenced and shaped prenatally before they even arrived to greet us! There are many factors that can effect a child's ability to manage stress, from external factors such as home life, to internal factors such as individual temperament. How can we can keep overall stress levels down in our children while keeping resilience and immune function up? Here are my favourite ways:
1) RESPOND to your child's signs of stress with calm and attention. When they are frustrated, upset, acting out, etc. do your best to keep your cool. This will model healthy self-regulating behaviour for them and then you can meet them where they are at to help them navigate their feelings. This is especially key with infants/toddlers before they have an ability to express themselves with verbal language.
2) TALK to them about their stress and share healthy stress management strategies. Punishing kids when they are stressed (because their expressions of stress often stress us out!) won't help them learn to be more in control of their behaviour or deal with their triggers.
3) Incorporate stress management TOOLS into your daily activities with your kids. Things like yoga postures, deep breathing, counting... activities that put everything else on pause. Using strategies regularly make them more accessible for the times they will actually need to use them and make it more likely that they will in fact use them.
4) I think as parents, the language we use with our kids is important (even when they are infants). It can certainly feel like we spend much of the day policing or micro-managing their every move for fear of them hurting themselves, but if we are always speaking to our little ones in negative terms (don't! stop! wait!), it shapes the atmosphere we are creating for them to experience the world. I think asking them more questions instead of making more demands of them gives little ones a greater sense of involvement in their actions and results in a more relaxed/less stressful experience for everyone.
Of course there are so many other great ways to help our kids with stress management. What are some others that you think are important? Let's make them a priority in our families and key components in our immune boosting efforts.
Psychological Stress in Children May Alter the Immune Response: http://www.jimmunol.org/content/early/2014/02/05/jimmunol.1301713.abstract
Stress Weakens the Immune System: