All’s Well that Starts Well

How is health like a chair? Well, you can’t get healthy by sitting in a chair. But you can get healthy by understanding that, like a chair, all of health stands on four legs. Those ‘legs’ are diet, sleep, exercise, and stress-reduction. Unlike a chair, however, the four legs of health are mutually-reinforcing. That is to say that good sleep helps you exercise, good exercise reduces stress, and so on. Clearly, good health habits are important for people of all ages, but the younger you start, the better. It turns out that children who practice good health habits place themselves on better footing to stay healthy for the rest of their lives.

The trick is knowing what, exactly, is meant by ‘good health habits’. The other trick is knowing how early to start inculcating good health habits in your child.

Oh sleep! it is a gentle thing, Beloved from pole to pole!

If only sleep really were beloved! The truth is that we don’t get enough sleep. The National Sleep Foundation says that infants should get 12–15 hours of sleep per night, and teenagers should get 8–10 hours.

No one knows why we sleep. But we do know that inadequate sleep over long periods can make us sick. The effects on the cardiovascular system, including high blood pressure can last for years, with serious consequences. There are simple things parents can do to help their children develop healthy sleep habits. The first is very simply to have a consistent bed time! Humans are creatures of habit. It turns out that if you have a routine, usually starting at dinner time and ending at bedtime, the child’s natural sleep-wake cycle will be reinforced, for long periods of time.

You really are what you eat

Of all the legs on the chair, healthy diet might be the most important. It is no surprise to anyone that Americans are not eating well. The obesity problem is reaching epidemic proportions. Much of American obesity begins in childhood. The problem here is that all the fat cells that a human will ever have are created in childhood. These fat cells may get larger or smaller, but they never go away. The best solution is never to grow them to begin with. Obese children already begin laying the foundations for coronary artery disease with inflammatory changes in their circulatory systems that can predispose them to heart attacks and high blood pressure.

So, what is meant by “healthy diet”? It turns out that the food pyramid we learned about in school should be turned upside down. The pyramid was built on shaky science, to say the least. To the best of our knowledge, a healthy diet looks like this, in this order:

Meats and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, grains rarely, sugar never.

The last point deserves emphasis. Sugar, in any form, is bad for you. It is probably the case that there is no such thing as a ‘good’ sugar. The effects of sugar on human metabolism is now fairly well known. The swings in blood sugar and insulin levels that are provoked by sugar consumption give rise to a number of inflammatory and cardiovascular effects that can be long-lasting.

Work it

Children don’t need to be told to exercise. Children are natural athletes. The tragedy of our generation is that children learn to be sedentary. And they learn to be sedentary from adults. The problem is not simply that parents model poor exercise behaviors for their children, although this is certainly true. The problem is that parents increasingly forbid their children to leave the house and move! That is, unless the children are leaving the house for scheduled activity, often that the parents arrange, and even pay for.

School, sadly, does not help the situation much. It is not that physical education is being cut back, or even recess. The problem is that a child sits in a chair for hours on end for 10–12 years. We are not designed to sit. We are designed to move. A toddler does not need to be taught to perform a perfect squat. She does it naturally. Sadly, by the time she is 10, the child’s joints, and quite possibly her weight, will not permit her to squat correctly.

The solution is to allow your children to go outside and play. Allow them to learn new sports and play them!

Namaste

The final leg on the chair is stress-reduction. It is well-known that stress is a killer. Stress-related hormones, particularly cortisol, is correlated with a number of chronic inflammatory and infectious conditions. Of all the health habits listed above, stress-reduction may be the most difficult to master.

Just as children are natural athletes, so they are natural relaxers. Most children know instinctively what activities relaxes them, helps them discharge their anxieties, or allows them to blow off steam. Most parents know what activities are best for reducing stress in their children. But there is one stress-related practice that many parents are guilty of inflicting on their children: over-scheduling.

A common joke among parents is that the definition of over-scheduling is a child who is doing more activities than my kid. Over-scheduling is stressful. Over-scheduled children simply do not have adequate time to unwind, relax, and just be kids. The increased cortisol levels that this stress creates interferes with sleep, induces bad eating habits, and disrupt normal exercise patterns. In short, over-scheduling damages all four legs of the chair of health.

Be a model parent

Kids notice things. They are natural observers. And they are obsessed with fairness. Children notice if you are not practicing what you preach, and they will not adopt good health habits if you do not: it’s not fair! So, get plenty of sleep. Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, etc. Exercise regularly (and intensely!) And find time to unwind, with your child. Even though good health habits are important for children, it’s never too late to start.