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Toxic stress has a huge effect on children’s brain and health
STATES CHRONICLE – We all know stress is bad, and excessive amounts of it affect people both physically and emotionally. Nowadays, many kids live in incredibly stressful conditions, and new reports prove this might scar them for life. Ongoing stress during childhood affects both the brain and several body functions of the kids.
Toxic stress is more dangerous for children
If children face way too much stress, it might become toxic for them. This means that they start experiencing several changes in their brain, which then interfere with their learning abilities. If it persists, they are in danger of developing serious diseases later into adulthood.
There are many situations which can trigger such reactions in children. Living in poverty, as well as suffering abuse or neglect from their parents contributes greatly not only to their state of mind, but also to their body health. It’s hard to identify how many children have been victims of toxic stress, but many reports show the bad conditions which lead to the development of disorders.
Abuse and neglect are the main causes of toxic stress
Their results show one in four kids in the US suffers traumas before turning 16. Many of these traumas are related to their parents’ behavior, who might either neglect them, or subject them to an abusive or violent treatment. These traumas then lead to learning difficulties, which affect the child’s school performance.
Almost half of US children under 18 live either in extreme poverty, or their economic level is under the standard. This significantly affects their quality of life, and makes many parents abandon their kids in foster care, since they cannot afford raising them. Most of these parents struggle with drug abuse, so keeping the children wouldn’t have given them a healthy environment to grow up in.
We might underestimate the effects stress can have on a child, but these reports are here to send a warning. Show your children that you love and support them no matter what happens, and try to protect them from anything which might prove too much for them to handle.
Image Source: Pixabay
