“Take a deep breath!” How often do we say this statement to our children (and ourselves) to help calm down? While this catch phrase is commonplace, up until recently there was no research which studied the effect of deep breathing on a young child’s physical state.
Recent research from the Stanford University Graduate School of Education shows how children respond to taking deep breaths, not in a lab setting which is usually how this research is conducted with adults, but rather in the playground or at school, settings that capture a child’s real-life experience. The exciting results of this research conclude that taking deep breaths reduce a child’s arousal state. Students who engaged in a deep breathing practice showed lower heart rates and an overall increase in their body’s ability to deal with everyday challenges.
Telling children to take a deep breath to calm down may not be enough. In the study, the researchers developed an easy-to-use tool to help kids learn the technique of deep breathing. Since taking deep breaths may not always be intuitive for children, learning with this short video guide proved to be successful in helping them calm down. The animated video developed for the study teaches young children how to slowly inhale by pretending to smell a flower and to exhale by pretending to blow out a candle.
This proven tool is free and now available online (link below). It can be used to help children self-regulate in the classroom or playground, but can also be used by parents to help children prepare for a potentially stressful or challenging event – a test, a doctor’s appointment, or perhaps a crowded gathering.
The video is included below; try it!
https://vimeo.com/442138273?embedded=true&source=video_title&owner=48226541
All Blogs are written by Professionals in the fields of Nutrition, Human Development and Diabetes.