Are You Stressed Out?
Right from the early age, a child falls prey to the pressures and expectations by the outside world. As he grows old, the expectations amplify and the level of pressure on a growing child increases. A stage comes where the stress becomes a crucial part of life and dealing with the mounting stress becomes almost impossible. This leads to several mental, physical and emotional problems.
Sr. Occupational Therapist, Dr. Mrs. Hutoshi Bana talks to Yuga Chaudhari on stress related issues amongst youth.
Some of the stress related problems amongst children are Dyslexia / learning disability, hyperactivity, attention deficit disorder and behaviour disorder. Further there are brain disorders, which are also known as sensory deficits. A child is sometimes unable to socialize, find it difficult to adjust with the surroundings. Such problems at an early age can have repercussions as they grow up.
Some of the problems in early adulthood are learning problems. Examples a child cannot pick up vowels, cannot understand pun or jokes. He is unable to cope up with the academics. This is known as dyslexia. There are several such problems like, writing problem, sequence problem, number problem, sometimes child writes ‘d’ instead of ‘b’. All such problems are symptoms of Dyslexia.
It is also seen in few children that they cannot understand the body language of the other person. This is a serious problem. For example, sometimes without thinking a child can go too close to the other person. This may create an embarrassing situation but one should try to understand that the child is suffering from a disorder. These are symptoms where a parent should take a note that their child is suffering from some disorder and immediately take proper action.
A child is constantly under severe pressure right from the day when he or she is given admission in kindergarten. Academic pressures create stress among most of the children and growing youth. It has become a marks oriented world, ‘you have to get the highest marks, you cannot fail’. Such attitude of the parents towards their children creates stress.
It should be noticed that when a woman is pregnant, she is not under stress (The stress hormones should not get affected) or it may affect the child in her womb. This creates disorders among the children right from their birth. Example, they feel comfortable only in few textiles; they don’t like to be touched. Such behaviours among children are known as hyper – sensitivity behaviour.
It is often seen that parents try to restrict their teenager child. As the child grows the demand from the parent’s side increases. Such restrictions again create problems. Even the children fail to understand their parents, their requirements and their condition. The peer pressure increases when they step out of their schools and see a totally different environment in the college. They want to look good and wear best brands simply because they see others doing the same. The best solution here is a healthy parent – child conversation. A simple hug and kiss therapy can work wonders in any relations – ship.
When a child steps out of the school, too many pressures are bombarded on him. Ragging many times has an ill effect. Physical and humiliating ragging in the college; many times have created mental problems amongst the youngsters. Good marks, good job; and for that ‘N’ number of classes, all this draw a vicious circle around a child from where getting out is almost impossible. Parents try to cherish their wishes through their children, which they themselves were unable to fulfill.
Moving towards adulthood is a very important phase for the child as well as for the parents. Never try to be over – protective towards your children, they may feel suffocated. On he contrary, now – a – days, there are many cases coming up where parents neglect their child due to many reasons. One of the prominent reasons is lack of time due to job and busy schedules. In such cases child feels aloof and neglected. This in turn leads to negative behaviour. In whatever manner the child behaves, parents must understand that ‘the child is asking for help’.
Stress at work is very common amongst youngsters today. Some to he reasons being, job satisfaction, office politics, poor payments, unfriendly environment etc. During the recent ‘call centre’ phenomenon, the stress related problems are on a high. Irregular eating habits, sleep – wake cycle and computer radiation has several side –effects on human body. Especially when it comes to a pregnant woman, such environment can create havoc for her.
Stress is definitely important. It helps a person to survive in a competitive world. But only up to a certain limit. When the level of stress crosses its limit, it starts creating problems for a person and life turns to abnormally. Just like IQ (Intelligent Quotient). EQ (Emotional Quotient) is also important. There are seven Profoundly Powerful Pro simple techniques for increasing emotional competence.
- Always try to appreciate others – be grateful and convey gratitude. This creates positive vibes with the other persons.
- Try to increase words associated with feelings in your vocabulary, like ‘love’, ‘like’ etc.
- Be your own best friend.
- Don’t preach – practice it.
- Listen with your heat – this will control your Blood Pressure.
- Talk back to your body. Pay attention to your body disorders. Ask yourself why this ache is occurring? Why you feel stressed out?
- Smile more
Diet is very important. Always consume nourishing food. If you are upset or sad, put a chocolate in your mouth. Believe it or not, it works scientifically. We say potato increases fats. But it very important to keep your mood balanced.
If a child is behaving in a strange manner or is suffering from any disorder, it is very important for the parent to immediately recognize that child is asking for help. Physically the child may look absolutely fine and healthy. They should be alert of the sudden behaviour of their child.
Children and youngsters are the future of tomorrow. But the growing amount of stress is harnessing the future growth. You cannot change the outside environment but can definitely handle the situation inside your home. Proper understanding and a cautions behaviour can help in avoiding further repercussions. Overly stressed atmosphere at college and work – place can create problems. Hence try to keep your EQ level balanced and keep in mind the seven techniques.