Why anxiety makes children sick

Why anxiety makes children sick https://thejaneevans.com/wp-content/themes/corpus/images/empty/thumbnail.jpg 150 150 Jane Evans Jane Evans https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/1b06bd036211b82cdba19b095bacdad4?s=96&d=mm&r=g 10 December 2017 10 December 2017

10 December 2017
Jane Evans
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Recently parents have been asking me whether anxiety in children can make them physically sick. The short answer is YES. Anxiety is a whole-body and brain experience and can trigger the following reactions in the body if it happens too often for too long.

Feeling and being sick
Diarrhoea and constipation
Neck, shoulder, back and joint pain
Digestion difficulties – sluggish/too fast
Food Intolerances
Sleep difficulties
Breathing problems
Skin sensitivities and conditions
Low immunity
Hypersensitivity to smells, sounds, visuals, touch, tastes

Some medical practitioners would recognise these symptoms, especially a cluster of them, as possible presentations of underlying anxiety, others would not. Of course with children, it is always sensible to be cautious and check with a doctor but at the same time, sit in the space of what you know about your child.

Harvard Medical School has some useful insights into the long-term health impacts of anxiety.

In the short term, anxiety prepares us to confront a crisis by putting the body on alert. But its physical effects can be counterproductive, causing light-headedness, nausea, diarrhea, and frequent urination. And when it persists, anxiety can take a toll on our mental and physical health.

Why do anxious feelings make my child sick?

Let’s look at the difference between stress which is part of life and serves a purpose, and anxiety which is too much stress for too long and makes a child’s body sick.

STRESS

There is a real-life threat – automatic fight/flight/freeze to preserve life. Once the danger has passed fight/flight/freeze melts away.

ANXIETY

I know dinosaurs are extinct now – what if they got it wrong and somewhere they do still exist and are breeding? Fight/flight/freeze is switched on and the body reacts.

I know that’s stupid but……. Now I’m worried that I’m going crazy even thinking that, what’s wrong with me? I’m worse than I thought. What if people find out? What if I can’t stop imagining that dinosaurs could kill us all?

Stress is a natural response to real or imagined threat. Once a child feels emotionally and/or physically safe again their whole system quickly recovers and they go about their day. In the moment of fear, their heart speeds up, they breathe more quickly, their muscles tighten, their thinking brain shuts off, the blood pumps to the main muscles, body waste is expelled or locked in, vision and hearing focus on what’s right in front and on low sounds.

The body and brain are connected so what one senses as a possible threat, the other responds to. The body gets in first as its job is to fight/flight/freeze automatically to keep us alive. Pausing to think could be fatal. Helping the body to feel safe is so important with anxiety and can be simple but needs repetition, repetition, and repetition as part of everyday living.

Using the body to still the brain

Simple is best for anxious bodies and brains. Tapping into the resources in the body is a great place to start. Teaching children how to settle their body throughout the day and night is so important as it reduces tension in it.

I have made some short clips on ways to
help the body feel more settled. Practice them yourself so you feel OK doing them with your child. Don’t worry if they don’t join in. Make it about you needing to feel calmer. They will benefit from your calmness and may well join in once they get used to them. Connecting with the body and using it to bring a child and ourselves back to now is so helpful for all the ups and downs of daily life so don’t leave it any longer.