In recent years, there has been growing discussion about and awareness of the benefits of activities such as yoga, meditation, and deep breathing exercises. These are all strategies which help us calm ourselves and focus on the present moment. Most frequently, the discussion has centered around workplace issues. There is a body of research showing that the above exercises lower stress, reduce anxiety, improve sleep and general health, and reduce depression and pain. Meditators have been shown to have increased brain activity in areas known to induce calming effects, such as the anterior cingulate cortex. Calm breathing triggers the parasympathetic nervous system which reduces stress through slowing heart rate and lowering blood pressure. But for all this work, less attention had been paid to the potential positive effects of mindfulness strategies for children. That is changing with articles such as in Time Magazine for October 3, 2016, titled "The Mindful Classroom" by Mandy Oaklander, as well as multiple online articles such as "Why Children Need Mindfulness Just As Much as Adults Do" by Carolyn Gregoire of the Huffington Post . Being mindful essentially is the ability to sustain a focused awareness on the present moment. Mindfulness practice has been shown to increase our abilities to focus and attend. It may be as effective for children as it is for adults. Research is accumulating to demonstrate that mindfulness has positive effects for many challenges children confront. One current challenge is managing their reactions during a pandemic. It is clear that education for children has been disrupted severely. Children also have to worry about missing friends, getting too close to other children, as well as the challenges for the adults in their lives. These are highly stressful events leading to increased anxiety. Children increasingly face stress and this can affect their health including as adults. In Gregoire's article, reference was made to a University of Florida study that found that "stressful events can impact a child's health and well-being almost immediately, and can contribute to the development of physical and mental health problems and learning disabilities".
For more information about stress management, please see our book (I Can’t Take It Anymore: How to Manage Stress so It Doesn’t Manage You; Paul G. Longobardi, Ph.D., and Janice B. Longobardi, R.N., B.S.N., P.H.N.), available on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/dp/1542458056. For more information about the book, authors, and stress management, please visit our website at www.manageyourhealthandstress.com. Most research on mindfulness with children has been done in school settings. There is evidence that youngsters as young as four years who practice the skills have reduced test anxiety and fewer ADHD symptoms. There also has been noted improved sleep quality and math scores. Various authors have suggested that the positive effects can include social skills such as improved compassion and kindness. There have been benefits in studies with children with ADHD in reducing disruptive behaviors. Mindfulness programs achieve incremental benefit when the teachers and/or parents also engage in such training. I was so engaged this past weekend while my six-year-old grand daughter was visiting. She proceeded to practice relaxation strategies with me, including listening to calming music, diaphragmatic breathing, and using visualization to go to what she described as “happy places”. She uses these approaches to help sleep as well as reduce stressful moments. To give an idea of ways you can involve your children in mindfulness, here are five of Sarah Rudell Beach's from her post titled "8 Ways to Teach Mindfulness to Kids" in the Huffington Post for September 22, 2014:
1. Listen to the bell. An easy way for children to practice mindfulness is to focus on paying attention to what they can hear. You can use a bell or a set of chimes. Tell your child that you will make the sound, and they should listen carefully until they can no longer hear the sound (which is usually 30 seconds to a minute).
2. Practice with a breathing buddy. For young children, an instruction to simply “pay attention to the breath” may be hard to follow. One way is for each student to grab a stuffed animal, and then lie down on their back with their buddy on their belly. They focus their attention on the rise and fall of the stuffed animal as they breathe in and out. Other ways include placing one hand on the chest and one on the belly to allow the child to follow and focus on their breathing. Another is involving your psychologist grandfather in the process.
3. Make your walks mindful. Go on a “noticing walk.” As you walk in the neighborhood, notice things you haven’t seen before. A favorite of my grand daughter when she was younger was to do the exercise "I spy with my eye something . . ." and then encourage her attention. You also can designate one minute of the walk to be completely silent and simply pay attention to all the sounds you can hear.
4. Establish a gratitude practice. Gratitude is a fundamental component of mindfulness, teaching children to appreciate the abundance in their lives, as opposed to focusing on all their material possessions.
5. Practice mindful eating. The exercise of mindfully eating a raisin or a piece of chocolate is a staple of mindfulness education, and is a great activity for kids.
In other posts, I have written about what I perceived to be the potential power of teaching youth how to overcome limiting thoughts. If we can combine that with teaching mindfulness strategies, we can raise a new generation of children well able to manage their stresses, manage a pandemic, be happier, and get along better with others.
Good luck to all on the journey.
Dr. Paul Longobardi
For information on these and related posts, please see my website at www.successandmindset.com