Movement Is Magical
Movement is magic for kids’ brains and their emotional state. When children are stationary for too long, their body chemistry diminishes their ability to regulate themselves. Unregulated leads to an increase in kids stress behaviours. Stress behaviour is different from misbehaviour. Misbehaviours are more intentional, agenda driven, and self serving. Stress behaviours on the other hand, are reactions to being tired, nutritionally drained, and in general, the child is over stimulated. Often adults mistake the child’s stress behaviours as misbehaviours and our reactions are punitive rather than supportive. When children’s resiliency is low stress behaviours typically flare up as small things suddenly become overwhelming obstacles. Children’s stress behaviours can be annoying and hurtful, but they are really a cry for help. Instead of adults reacting angrily to the child’s inappropriate behaviour, which is a red herring, we can help them to recognize and manage their stress, – self regulation.
Kids that have difficulties with change, concentration, and out of the blue melt downs, are not always acting from entitlement or self centeredness. Children who are identified as ADHD, OCD, ASD, ICD, ODD, (that’s a lot of D’s,) are also dealing with the inability to utilize certain chemicals. Chemicals like serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine, help children’s brains to function better. Among other benefits these chems serve as motivational rewards. When children lack motivation or have the inability to connect their actions to likely outcomes, it results in small failures which pile up quickly, exhausting their positive self-view. When our bodies are in motion it produces more of these much-needed chemicals. Without these chems, self-esteem goes down, while anxiety and depression goes up.
Movement is not the only answer, but it is a major player. For decades light to moderate exercise has been strongly associated with stress reduction, improved cognitive function, and higher academic achievement. Neuroscientists are discovering that moving our muscles produces proteins that travel through the bloodstream and into the brain, where they play fundamental roles in higher thought processes. When children are on the move, chemicals like BDNF, IGF-1, and VEGF, (are we sick of all these acronyms,) assist us in self regulation and prosocial behaviour. This makes it easier for children and adults to make and keep friends, which in turn enhances self-worth.
Children who need to move but are restrained by social norms, are fighting an internal battle that distracts them from completing many common tasks. Some children’s need for consistent movement can be assisted by accepting gentle swaying to counteract standing still or twiddling their thumbs and vibrating a leg when restricted to a chair. Although some children are happy to rest in physical stillness, there is a greater number who need to move in order to learn. Accommodating this need is not about sabotaging their self control, or creating a false social reality that comes back to bite them in the future. It is about letting go of outdated expectations that no longer serve children’s best interests. Research is clear, movement aids attention span, cognitive processes, and socialization. Therefore, it makes sense to move beyond weekly physical education classes and to incorporate the science of movement into our children’s education on a lesson-by-lesson basis.
Adults who are too sedentary, become inflamed and sore. Pain reminds us that without motion there is no lotion for our joints. The belief that movement is only magical for our bodies is an outdated concept. The growing evidence that exercise is powerful for our brains is well documented by John Ratey, MD author of SPARK. He shows how exercise is like Miracle Grow for the brain. This modern understanding of movement, in particular cardiovascular exercise, shows that activity is like a legal performance enhancing drug. Physical activity is even more essential for those that struggle in formal academic settings which regularly demands hours of sitting. Children and adults who are allowed and even encouraged to move during learning sessions will often find sanctuary in an environment that doesn’t shame our inherent need for motion.
We can teach youngsters and ourselves how to move in instructional settings so as not to distract teachers and other students. Chew sticks, fidget toys, pacing strips, deep breathing techniques, and fit ball chairs are becoming more acceptable in classrooms. Planning for movement breaks in our daily routines benefits us all, not just those of us with a D for disorder, in our label.
At home, walking talks, throw catch discipline, play to learn, and dance to remember, are all ways to incorporate movement into liberating the mind, while strengthening personal connections. Next time your child needs a heart-to-heart talk, or you want them to open up and share, go for a walk and talk. If coaching or discipline is on the agenda, engaging your child in a game of catch will break the tension and keep you facing each other. Movement in the form of dance with music, does wonders for retention, locking valuable lessons into our cellular memories. Let’s be proactive before a child has a melt down and prior to us becoming exasperated, by moving to release the magic within.
Namaste
Chris Leigh-Smith
References.
SPARK – The Revolutionary new Science of Exercise and the Brain. By John J. Ratey, MD
Driven To Distraction by Eric Hagerman
Self – Reg by Dr Stuart Shanker
*ADHD Attention deficit hyperactive disorder / OCD Obsessive compulsive disorder / ASD Autism spectrum disorder / ICD Impulse control disorder / ODD Oppositional defiant disorder
*BDNF Brain derived neurotrophic factor / IGF-1 Insulin-like growth factor / VEGF Vascular endothelial growth factor