8.16: Managing symptoms, Staying healthy

Being healthy is important for all children and can be especially important for children with mental health disorders. In addition to getting the right treatment, leading a healthy lifestyle can play a role in managing symptoms. Here are some healthy behaviors that may help:

• Eating a healthful dietcentered on fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes (for example, beans, peas, and lentils), lean protein sources, and nuts and seeds
• Participating in physical activityfor at least 60 minutes each day
• Getting the recommended amount of sleepeach night based on age
• Practicing mindfulness or relaxation techniques[1]

  

  Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): Staying healthy is critical for all children, especially those who may have mental health disorders.[2]

Stress and COVID 19

We all went through an unprecedented period starting in March 2020 that lasted for almost three years in many parts all over the world. The lockdown imposed by governments in the interest of larger public health had health consequences of its own. In the early days, Toppe et al (2021) conducted an exploratory online survey with parents of preschool and school-aged children to examine the levels of stress parents reported and how they correlated with parents' education levels, housing situations, SES, national cultural values and children's stress. The survey respondents were from 17 countries, but most of them were from Germany, Iran, UK and the US. It was a strange and unique time, but one that people everywhere were experiencing. Not surprisingly, it was found that SES helps to increase resilience to stress. But there were some surprising findings such as increased parental stress among parents with Ph.D.s with preschool children, as opposed to parents of preschoolers with lower education levels. On the other hand, many findings were in line with already established research findings such as having more space - particularly outdoors - mitigated stress levels for both parents and their children, particularly preschool aged children. Also unsurprisingly digital media use increased, and most parents were worried about this use. But they also experienced greater stress in relation to this with having to juggle their own occupational demands while supervising their children. In line with how multiple stressors might have an additive (or even an escalative) effect, parents who had children who were preschool aged and school aged reported greater stress than parents with children in either one age group. This latter effect held no matter the number of children indicating that parents perceive (rightly) that children of these different ages demand different types of support, caregiving and educational opportunities.

As the lockdowns abate, mask mandates stop and testing eases, children have emerged from their homes. Certainly the age of the child when the pandemic started will differentially affect so many outcomes. The term "cohort effect" takes on poignant particular meaning as we continue to study the effects long after the actual pandemic has ended.

References:

Toppe, T., Stengelin, R., Schmidt, L.S., Amini, N. & Schuhmacher, N. (2021). Explaining variation in parents' and their children's stress during COVID-19 lockdowns. Front. Psychol. 12:645266. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.645266

Attributions:

Child Growth and Development by Jennifer Paris, Antoinette Ricardo, and Dawn Rymond, 2019, is licensed under CC BY 4.0

[1] Anxiety and Depression in Children by the CDC is in the public domain

[2] Image by the U.S. Marine Corps is in the public domain