Helping Your Child Cope with Stress
Anxiety seems to be a national epidemic and in this article, we will outline how to help your child deal with anxiety during stressful times. When children experience anxiety as a chronic condition, it can have lasting results. Anxiety can impact their body as well as their mental health. It can impact our relationships, ability to learn, and is thought to play a role in heart disease. Anxiety can even weaken our immune systems.
Thankfully, there are ways to help your child cope with their anxiety. Your child’s anxiety can be lessened with a range of therapies that will help them form positive habits for life. This article is all about how to help your child with anxiety.
How Does Massage Help Anxiety
We often associate massage therapy with stress reduction, relaxation, and a calm state of mind. In fact, there are scientific studies that prove this theory. Studies have shown that the stress hormone cortisol decreases as a result of massage. Meanwhile, serotonin and dopamine increase when the stress hormone declines. The decrease is significant, too, with levels dropping by as much as 30 percent or more. Additionally, dopamine and serotonin increase by nearly the same amount after subjects received a massage.
Children and Relaxation
Children can benefit from reducing anxiety, as well. Not only does the child experience the biochemical reactions that science measures, but the experience can be beneficial to both child and parent. The massage session can also be a great time for one-on-one interaction and bonding. The earlier a child begins receiving massage therapy, the easier relaxation and hence their ability to handle stressful times will become. Massage can be a great tool to help our children become adaptive and resilient as they mature. Find a massage therapist that specializes in pediatric bodywork and has experience with helping children suffering from anxiety.
Other Ways to Care for Childhood Anxiety
Massage isn’t the only way to address childhood anxiety. In fact, there are many ways that parents and other adults can help children manage their worry and stress. These can include mindfulness practices, creative activities, and simple physical exercises.
When children are in a state of stress, it can be useful to have them acknowledge their state. They can write a letter to whatever is bothering them. Kids can also draw a picture of the worry, if that is better suited to their style. Even simple toys can become a way for children to refocus their stress.
Exercise is Essential
In addition to creative and mindful practices to lessen stress, simple exercising helps ward off anxiety. Walking, simple stretches and yoga poses can help your child ease the tension their bodies are holding. If they tend to hold worry in their shoulders, parents can help their kids stretch and relax their neck and shoulders. Simply letting their ears fall towards the same shoulder will help ease tension.
Also, there’s no substitute for physical activity. Soccer practice, bike riding, martial arts, or swimming are great examples. Even simply running around in a game of tag can help get their minds off whatever is worrying them. Getting their bodies moving raises those good hormone levels as well. And at an all-time high of screen time, kids really do need to get outside and get moving. As a result, heavy breathing will help soothe their nervous systems and result in a sense of well-being.
Massage from Mothers Can Also Help Children’s Stress
When mothers massage their children, everyone benefits. Not only do the cortisol levels of the children drop, but so do their mothers. When scientists studied mothers of asthmatic children they found that the mothers were very anxious. Children often sense their parents’ stress levels. And this stress was creating a cycle of anxiety that was impacting the family’s health.
Massage Can Help Improve Other Health Conditions
Furthermore, it’s been found that when asthmatic children receive massage, their anxiety decreases and their asthma improves. After the massage, their airflow levels also improved. An Egyptian study recommends that parents of asthmatic children give their kids a massage for 20 minutes a night. Parents and children both benefit from the relaxing results of bodywork.
When mothers massage their children on a daily basis, their anxiety levels decrease. Scientists think that when mothers should take a literal hands-on approach to their children’s health and wellness they feel more at ease. Thus, children will benefit not only from the bodywork but when their mothers are less stressed, everyone’s daily life improves.
Alice Palmeri, LMT works in Southwest Portland, Oregon where she specializes in massage therapy for everyone. License # 23983
Sources
- https://txsource.com/2017/06/30/8-activities-treating-anxiety-children/
- https://gozen.com/37-techniques-to-calm-an-anxious-child/
- https://www.integrativehealthcare.org/mt/massage-therapy-helps-manage-symptoms-of-anxiety/
- https://www.webmd.com/balance/stress-management/features/massage-therapy-stress-relief-much-more#1
- https://www.amtamassage.org/approved_position_statements/Massage-Therapy-for-Anxiety.html
- http://www.liddlekidz.com/children-massage-anxiety.html
