Childhood Anxiety - A Naturopathic Approach

Growing up with both parents in the teaching profession, over the years I’ve grown accustomed to hearing commentary on “kids these days.” Lately, the conversation seems to centre around “anxious kids” or childhood anxiety. Not only do my parents see this in schools but I hear about it all the time in my Naturopathic practice from parents and even children themselves. The stats also seem to be in agreement. In 2017, Children’s Mental Health Ontario issued a survey where they found 1/2 of Ontario parents had concerns about their children’s anxiety and 1/3 of Ontario parents had a child miss school due to anxiety (1).

What exactly is childhood anxiety?

It is important to note that anxiety, nervousness, uncertainty, stress, etc. are a normal part of any childhood. Childhood and adolescence are stressful times in life. Children are constantly learning new things, figuring out what works and what doesn’t. Their brains are undergoing rapid development in early years and fine tuning in adolescent years. It is important to support children through these tumultuous times and avoid pathologizing what may actually be a healthy response to life and all the challenges that come with growing up. That being said, anxiety becomes a problem or pathological when a child’s activities of daily living start to be impacted by his or her anxiety.  For example, if a child is scared to leave the house, has trouble getting out of bed in the morning, refuses to go to school, experiences major changes in appetite, etc. its time to get some professional help in getting to the root of what may be going on for that child.

What causes anxiety? Where does it come from?

As we talked about earlier, childhood is a challenging time. Think about all the things the average person learns in childhood. You probably learned to talk, learned to assert yourself and your needs, learned how to feed and dress yourself, developed an identity, learned about vulnerability, learned about loss, learned how to express yourself, you learned about the inevitability of death…stressful times! These days, kids have even more stressors to navigate. Today’s kids are also stressing about grades, getting into the best schools, having an acceptable amount of Instagram followers, extra-curricular activities, as well as the constant stimulation from social media, screen time, and being constantly on the go. Then there are stresses like parental loss or divorce, poverty, bullying, accidents, etc. that may compound the everyday stressors children are already trying to navigate. With so much learning, growing, and experiencing to do, it makes sense that children would be anxious and this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. These stresses come with life and if they occur in the right environment with adequate love and support can help foster brain development and optimize neural connectivity. So how do we best support our kids so they can grow into healthy, resilient adults?

Let’s start with parents. How are your stress levels?

This is a question I often ask parents when they are concerned about their child’s anxiety. Parents are children’s first and probably most important role models so if you’re stressed out and feeling overwhelmed and run down, guess who’s watching and probably modeling your behaviour? I would like to make clear that this isn’t about blame or shame. Maybe you’re trying to keep up with our fast-paced, high stress society, maybe you’re simply trying to make ends meet, maybe you haven’t quite processed or addressed your own childhood anxieties. Parenting is definitely a calling and while I’m not a parent, I admire and can only imagine all the challenges that must come with the role. Ensuring that you are well supported and addressing your own needs will help make for calmer parenting, will model self-care for your child, and will create a more stable environment for your child to explore the intricacies of life.

How do you create a supportive environment for you and your family?

There’s a reason why “It takes a village to raise a child” is such a common phrase. It really is true. Children who grow up surrounded by loving community and support tend to grow up to be resilient adults and are better able to cope with and manage life’s stressors (2). Reaching out to family and friends for help, connecting with the parent group at school, helping out with community initiatives, doing groceries at the local farmer’s market, joining the local church or spiritual group are all great ways to help build a supportive community.

Providing Structure and Stability

One other way to create a stable environment for children is to introduce some structure and routine. This allows for some certainty in their day in contrast to all of the uncertainty that they already face on a day to day basis. Some examples of creating routine include: regular meal times, bed-time routines, morning routines. These sorts of routines create stability and, if you are able to participate in these routines with your children, also bring about bonding and security.

Supporting Brain Development

We’ve talked about the rapid brain development and fine tuning that occurs throughout childhood and adolescence. Experiences during this time best inform the brain on what is important and what is less important, which neural connections it should keep and which ones are less necessary. This will set the stage for adult life. This means it is important for kids to have many experiences. This includes all the wonderful, magical, joyful experiences of life but also the stressful, painful, uncomfortable experiences as well. Provided children have supportive adult relationships and stable environments, short-term, moderately stressful experiences can help them form healthy coping strategies and wire their brains for coping with these situations in the future (3).

Other ways to support healthy brain development are through:

Optimal Nutrition

Ensuring a diet with lots of fruits and vegetables, healthy fats, protein and limited amounts of processed/pre-packaged foods and refined sugars. Remember parental modeling here, children are more likely to eat their vegetables if they see you doing it. Sitting down for meals as a family also helps foster a supportive environment, especially if you can factor in some form of gratitude practice or prayer before the meal.

Exercise

By this point in time, we probably all know the vast physical benefits of exercise. And yes there are studies to show that exercise even benefits kids. Not only does exercise increase self-esteem in kids but it also appears to improve cognition, executive function and even help in treatment of ADHD symptoms (4,5,6). Playing outside is probably my favourite exercise for kids because as we’ll see in the next section, nature also helps foster healthy brain development.

Time in Nature

Spending time in nature promotes creativity, inspires wonder, changes the brain.

Mindfulness

Playing outside would cover this one too! Mindfulness doesn’t have to be hard, it can be as simple as allowing some time for kids to be bored and let their minds wander. If all of this seems overwhelming or you’ve already implemented these lifestyle changes and your child is still struggling with anxiety or even if you would simply like some help raising a resilient kid, it may be time to reach out for some professional help.

How can a Naturopathic Doctor help?

We can work with you to figure out the root cause of your child’s anxiety or come up with a prevention plan that works best for you and your family. We can also offer some helpful treatments to manage symptoms and support you and your child with healthy coping mechanisms. We can investigate nutritional factors or potential food sensitivities that may be aggravating symptoms. We can offer botanical medicines such as calming herbal teas. We can also offer calming acupuncture or acupressure treatments. Though not for everyone, I have treated children with acupuncture and they actually enjoyed and benefit from the treatment.