Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE)

Childhood trauma can severely affect a person’s health for the rest of their life. Now there are many types of stress, but the one I am speaking about is not the stress of losing a toy or failing a test. Chronic stress occurs in children when neglect or abuse is present in the child’s life. It does not have to be direct abuse either, their parents undergoing chronic stress and substance abuse can lead their child to their own health issues. The study behind childhood abuse and its connection to long-term health conditions is known as Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE). With the help of Nadine Harris, author of the book, “The Deepest Well: Healing the Long-Term Effects of Childhood Adversity”, ACE is finally becoming a new household name that should have been many years ago.

High dosages of stress can inhibit the brain functions and cause current health complications or ones further down the road. Most adults can tolerate certain levels of stress but as a child, the tolerable stress level is very limited. If a child experiences a traumatic event early on in their life, it will increase chronic inflammation and risk autoimmune diseases like lupus or rheumatoid arthritis or asthma. Harris has experienced many cases of abrupt illnesses due to child adversity. She at first had a hard time discovering that child adversity was the reason for these strange symptoms, she states, “And then I got to the patient that I talk about in the book, Diego, a 7-year-old boy who seemed to have stopped growing after a sexual assault at age 4. For me, that was the case that made me stop in my tracks and say there is something else going on here and I need to get to the bottom of it.” (nytimes.com, 2018) 

For many adults who develop unreasonable health issues like heart disease, stokes, or arthritis, do not recognize the connection between a previous traumatic event and their health state. Sometimes it is never recognized and that is one of the reasons Harris shares us her stories in her book. More light needs to be shed onto ACE in order to prevent and cure these complex illnesses. Once more and more people understand ACE, perhaps the amount of abuse incidents will reduce and the many unsolved medical cases will find their answers.

Childhood Memories: The Assault on Health

Some of us cherish our childhood, others wish to forget it. But no matter how hard one may try to forget, it always comes back around. Adults who have witnessed or was a victim to abuse, drugs, or sexual assault as young children, will never cease to remove that part of their life. While it may shape them into a more suitable person, their minds will not ever forget, leading to harmful affects of their health.

In the book, “The Deepest Well: Healing the Long-Term Effects of Childhood Adversity”, by Nadine Burke Harris, M.D, she brings aloud many detailed stories of grown adults and children going through surprising health issues. At first many of the patients do not realize what the reason for the heart attacks, strokes, ADHD, or stunts in growth are due to. However, once the the doctors learn about their childhood, all the answers fall into place.

Nadine Burke Harris, M.D, is the founder and CEO of the Center for Youth Wellness in San Francisco’s Bayview Hunters Point. She was awarded the prestigious Heinz Award in 2016, and had her own TED Talk about children trauma affecting their health. This is her first book and many love her approach to telling people about the connection between childhood adversity and health. One Book review, by Jane Ellen Stevens, mentions how she hopes readers do not get the idea that this only happens within inner-city communities. Although, Harris has worked hard to prove this notion to be untrue. Stevens believes this book will inspire millions upon millions of people about the science behind this issue.

 

To Train Your Toddler, or To Train Your Teen? Which Will Win The Gold?

While growing up at some point, we all have imagined what it would be like to have kids of our own. What they would look like, dress like, act like. We also imagine how we would parent them, discipline them, and what activities they would be a part of. Then comes the dream of having a kid that is unlike any other. Imagine your own kid an Olympic gold medalist. It would probably be one of the proudest moments of your life. However, the most concerning question to parents is how young should they begin training? How much training? Many believe starting at ages 2 or 3 will allow the child to develop the skills early on and create lots of time for improvement. Yet, this may not be the most strategic plan if you truly believe your child could be an Olympian. 

Yes, training is important, and those at a young age may seem to gain an advantage over those who begin later. However, a recent study  by Professor Arne Gullich, director of Institute of Applied Sport Science, compared the starting age of training from 83 Olympic medalists and 83 athletes who compete and the same level and did not win a medal. Results showed that those who earned an Olympic medal started about 18 months later than those who did not receive a medal. While both groups of the athletes began training under the age of 12, the average age of training for the medalists was 11.8 and the non medalists was at the average age of 10.3. The medalists also acquired significantly less training in their sport during adolescence and significantly more training in other sports. While it may not seem like a huge difference, their achievements later in their careers may say otherwise.

Another advantage to starting later in life is the reduction of injury, burn out, and introduction other activities the child might be more interested or skilled in.  The idea of allowing our children to pick and chose their interest rather than placing them in only one activity is that “our genetically-influenced traits have an influence on the environments that we seek out and create for ourselves”(Scientific American, 2018). Meaning, if a child attempts many activities at a time in their life, they will eventually gravitate more to the one where the skillfully excel at and mentally feel comfortable in. Once the child finds their own activity, then a “virtuous cycle” of effort will take place and the child will then continuously improve in that skill. Ultimately, the best bet for your future kid to succeed and make you the proudest parent, is by giving the child time to pick and chose their own activity, and then encouraging further training programs as long as the child remains happy.