Sleep Breathing Disorders Linked to Behavior Problems
17 March, 2012 at 08:54 | Posted in Body & Mind, Children, Science | Leave a commentTags: Body & Mind, Children, health, psychology, Science
Children’s hyperactivity, aggression cited in new study
When sleeping children don’t breathe properly, it can lead to serious behavioral and emotional problems, according to a new study.
Sleep-disordered breathing includes a variety of conditions. Among them are snoring, mouth-breathing, and sleep apnea. An estimated one child in 10 snores regularly, and a smaller number suffer from the other conditions.
In a new study, published in Pediatrics, parents were asked about their children’s breathing from infancy up to about age six. They also filled out a behavior questionnaire at ages four and seven.
Researchers led by Karen Bonuck, at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University in New York, sifted through the data.
“The central finding overall is that sleep-disordered breathing is associated with a 50 percent increase in adverse neurobehavioral outcomes,” Bonuck said.
Those “adverse neurobehavioral outcomes” most notably include hyperactivity, but also aggressiveness and problems in relationships with other children.
Sleep-disordered breathing is associated with a 50 percent increase in adverse neurobehavioral outcomes.
—Researcher Karen Bonuck
Bonuck says the more significant the breathing problems were, the more serious the behavioral issues were likely to be.
“What we found was the worst outcomes were seen in the children with the worst symptoms.”
This isn’t the first study to link children’s sleep issues with behavioral problems, but it was big enough—with some 11,000 youngsters involved—to rule out other possible causes.
“Before this study, certainly we knew of a lot of the adverse effects in terms of behavior, growth, cognition,” she said.
“The difference with our study is we studied lots of kids, we followed them for nearly six years, and these were a general population.”
Bonuck notes that some earlier studies tracked children for a shorter period of time, or were limited, for example, to tonsillectomy patients.
via Sleep Breathing Disorders Linked to Behavior Problems | Environment & Health | Health | Epoch Times
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‘Growing up in Ireland’ Shows Childrens’ Need for Positive Relationships
10 March, 2012 at 17:33 | Posted in Body & Mind, Children, Science, Society | Leave a commentTags: Body & Mind, Children, psychology, relationships, Science, Society
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Parent/child relationship key to children’s emotional development
DUBLIN: The Irish National Longitudinal Study of Children published a report on Thursday from the study on how families matter for children’s social and emotional well being. The report was launched by the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Ms Frances Fitzgerald, TD, at an event in Dublin Castle. While the findings suggest that from 15 to 20 per cent of Irish children have significant emotional or behavioural problems, these numbers are broadly in line with international figures, according to The Irish Times.
The study – How Families Matter for Social and Emotional Outcomes of 9-Year-Old Children - explores how children in Ireland are faring in their development. It examines the links between what goes on within the family, such as parenting, the quality of the parent-child relationship, parental depression and marital satisfaction, and children’s social and emotional development. The report also looks at the extent to which children’s outcomes differ according to family structure and social class background.
The findings are based on data from the first round of interviews with 8,500 nine-year-old children, as well as interviews with their parents, teachers and principals. Interviewing took place from September 2007 to June 2008.
Speaking at the launch, Ms Fitzgerald said: “The report confirms what we already know: the quality of family relationships and factors within the home impact hugely on children’s development. Good parenting is crucial for children’s outcomes, and that is why this government is committed to helping parents ensure their child gets the best start in life.”
The report author, Dr Elizabeth Nixon, who is a lecturer in Developmental Psychology at Dublin’s Trinity College, said: “Children display individual differences in their risk of experiencing social and emotional problems. Some of this risk may be due to the child’s nature, but what goes on within the family has a very important role to play. The quality of parent/child relationships and, in particular, children’s conflict with mothers and fathers, represents a significant risk for their psychological well being. Children can also be affected by other things that happen in the family, such as maternal depression, marital dissatisfaction, and economic disadvantage, but children can be buffered from the potentially negative influence of these factors if a positive parent/child relationship can be maintained.”
Growing Up in Ireland is a government funded study following the progress of almost 20,000 children and their families—a child cohort of 8,500 children interviewed at nine years and thirteen years of age, and an infant cohort of 11,100 children participating at nine months and three years of age. The study is being conducted by a consortium of researchers led by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) and Trinity College Dublin.
More information is available on the study’s website: www.growingup.ie
• The majority of nine-year-olds are developing well without any significant social, emotional or behavioural problems. Approximately 15 – 20 per cent of children were classified as showing significant levels of emotional or behavioural problems.
• Girls were more likely than boys to have problems of an emotional nature (like feeling anxious or sad), while boys were more likely than girls to have problems of a behavioural nature (like fighting with others or being hyperactive). In general, boys display more difficulties overall.
• The style of parenting adopted by parents and the quality of the parent-child relationship were associated with social and emotional outcomes. Children whose parents used an authoritarian parenting style (a high level of control combined with a low level of support for the child) had more difficulty, as did children whose parents were neglectful (a low level of control combined with a low level of support for the child).
• Children who experienced high levels of conflict with their mothers and fathers displayed more social and emotional difficulties.
• Mother/child closeness was important for girls’ social and emotional outcomes, but not for boys. Levels of closeness between children and their fathers did not predict social and emotional problems.
• Parents’ psychological well being and the quality of the relationship between parents matters for children’s social and emotional development. Parent/child conflict was higher in situations where mothers and fathers had experienced depression, and where mothers and fathers were dissatisfied in their relationship with each other.
• Mothers’ depression and marital satisfaction were associated with difficulties for children, but this was largely due to the knock-on effect on the mother/child relationship. Fathers’ depression and marital satisfaction were not directly related to children’s difficulties.
• Certain inherent characteristics of children make them more vulnerable than others to having poor social and emotional outcomes. Children who are highly emotional or react intensely when they get upset displayed more negative outcomes. Nine-year olds who have a chronic illness are more likely to have higher levels of social and emotional problems.
• Children in single-parent households and in more economically disadvantaged families displayed higher levels of social and emotional problems. However, the associations were small, once child characteristics and parenting were accounted for. Coming from a lower socio-economic background or single-parent family may increase a child’s risk for poorer social and emotional outcomes. However, processes within the family and child characteristics remained the most important predictors of children’s social and emotional outcomes.
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‘After-birth Abortion’ Article Reveals Absurdity of our Moral Values – Viewpoints
8 March, 2012 at 07:02 | Posted in Body & Mind, Children, human rights, Society | Leave a commentTags: Body & Mind, Children, human rights, Society
Ethics researchers suggest newborns have ‘no moral rights to life’
A recent article in the Journal of Medical Ethics has been greeted by a storm of protest, after researchers at Oxford and the University of Melbourne claimed that killing newborn infants is as justifiable as abortion, regardless of the health status of the baby.
The authors, ethics researchers Dr Alberto Giubilini and Dr Francesca Minerva, have since been the recipients of death threats, according to a report in The Telegraph. The article, entitled “After-birth abortion: Why should the baby live?”, described newborns as “potential persons” rather than “actual persons”, and insisted that “the moral status of an infant is equivalent to that of a foetus in the sense that both lack those properties that justify the attribution of a right to life to an individual.”
The authors consider a ‘person’ to mean an individual capable of attributing to his or her existence some at least basic value, such that being deprived of this existence would represent a loss to the individual. What they called “actual persons”, however, could be harmed by killing, as they would be prevented from accomplishing their “aims”.
“Hardly can a newborn be said to have aims as the future we imagine for it is merely a projection of our own minds,” according to the article.
As such, the absence of these “aims” would seem to render the newly-born a non-person, on which, the authors suggested, parents could decide to perform “after-birth abortion” (a term they preferred to infanticide) for any of the reasons that abortions are currently carried out, as it would have “no moral rights to life”.
According to The Telegraph, “their fundamental point was that, morally, there was no difference [between ‘after-birth abortion’ and] abortion as already practised.”
Our Moral Frame of Reference
Far from having written an article that either condones or condemns abortion or infanticide, the authors stress that it was meant to serve as pure academic discussion, and not as a potential white paper for future policy.
The article and ensuing discussion also provide us with a lens through which we can view our society, and how it regards the creation and care of human life, as well as our responsibilities in this regard, if any. It asks questions of the moral compass within us, and of the values we regard as norms today.
Why should this article excite so much controversy? It is to be hoped that the thought of ending the life of a baby after it has been born is anathema to most right-thinking people. It goes against not just our legal statutes but against the very law of nature; it is an issue most of us don’t even have to think about. Every one among us can look out their windows in the coming weeks and see nature in its most wondrous stage of spring, the essence of which is the creation of new life after the winter. The ending of such life before it has had a chance to bear fruit smacks of terrible waste.
Our will to live and to raise families is born of our most fundamental instinct. The framework within which we do so is, however, more a function of our culture and upbringing, and thus varies from land to land and from one household to the next.
Our greater European culture draws most of its values and moral integrity from a Judeo-Christian tradition, of which the central theme is of love and compassion. When we consider the story of King Solomon, in which two women ask him to solve a disagreement between them over who is the mother of a child and he suggests cutting the child in two and giving each woman half, we remember that the true mother is revealed to him through her love for her child, as she begs the other woman to take the child rather than see it die.
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Ancient Wisdom for Healthy Sleep
31 January, 2012 at 07:45 | Posted in Body & Mind, Children, Chinese culture, Science | Leave a commentTags: Body & Mind, Children, Chinese culture, health, Science
People spend almost one-third of their lives sleeping. Good-quality sleep plays a very important role in having a healthy life.
What Happens During Sleep? The body relaxes, restores, and rebuilds itself during sleep. After having a good night, people wake up feeling refreshed. This is because many things take place during sleep that restore and rebuild the body. For example, during sleep, the body produces more growth hormone, which is important in burning fat and developing lean muscles
Sleep is also the time when the body goes through a complicated regulation of immune system functions. Studies show that when people are sleep-deprived or have their sleep chronically restricted, their T-cells go down, and their inflammatory cytokines go up. They become prone to getting colds or the flu.
During the deep level of sleep, muscles relax and blood vessels dilate, promoting better blood circulation, and the brain processes information. Therefore, sleep is not a passive process but an active, integral part of our lives. People who think sleep is a waste of time and try to use artificial means to cut down on sleep will suffer a significant decline in health.
How Much Sleep?
How much sleep we should get depends on our age. The older we get, the less we need. An infant needs 14 to 15 hours of sleep; a toddler needs 12 to 14 hours of sleep; school-age children need 10 to11 hours; adults need anywhere from 7 to 9 hours of sleep.
People who are chronically sleep-deprived, those who chronically have poor-quality sleep, and pregnant woman may need an increased amount of sleep. Older people may have interrupted sleep and need naps during the day.
In general, adults who sleep less than six hours and more than nine hours may have a shorter lifespan.
Early research focused on what happens if someone is sleep-deprived for 48 to 96 hours. Symptoms included sleepiness, hair loss, irritability, agitation, and psychosis.
Today, researchers have shifted their focus to sleep restriction, studying what happens to people who sleep less than six hours nightly. Some people tend to become hyperactive and restless during the day, others tired and sleepy.
Doctors wondered if they should give these patients mental stimulants to keep them calm and alert. Another question is, what have these patients actually lost in terms of their health?
Best Time to Sleep
Current sleep-hygiene guidelines advise people to go to bed at the same time and get up at the same time, yet very few researchers address what time people should go to bed.
Dr. Chritian Gulleminault, of Stanford University, conducted a preliminary study of eight men who spent one week in the sleep laboratory. His research tracked their behavior and level of function while simulating driving and taking memory tests and tests for staying awake. They were allowed to sleep for eight and a half hours for two nights and only four hours for the other seven nights.
One group slept from 10:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. for seven nights, the other group from 2:15 a.m. to 6:15 a.m. As you can expect, sleep restriction affected all participants. Results of the wakefulness tests taken the day after eight and a half hours of sleep differed greatly from results on the last day of sleep deprivation.
But the results also differed between the two groups. The early morning sleep group’s score on the wakefulness test was significantly better than the late-night sleep group. The early morning group also had better rates of sleep efficiency (the percentage of time spent sleeping in the four-hour window) and sleep latency (the amount of time spent falling asleep).
These results are not enough to tell when the best time to sleep is, but they do indicate that sleep at different times produces different results.
Part 2:
Classical Chinese medicine is a complete medical system that has been passed down to us. It offers additional information about sleep health.
Sleep is a result of the natural rhythm of energy circulation. At 11 p.m., the yin energy (qi) is at its strongest. This is the ideal time for the body to return to rest, restoration, and replenishment.
People should therefore not stay awake past 11 p.m. This is also the time for the body to build up yang energy (qi), which provides the energy we need for physical and mental activities during the daytime.
The body’s qi and blood pass through and nurture each organ system throughout the day and night. Different times of night have a greater impact on different organs. For example, between 1 a.m. and 3 a.m., blood and qi are strongest in the liver organ and its meridians (an energetic network fulfilling liver function). Therefore, sleeping during this time is critical for liver to be able to function normally.
In Chinese medicine, the liver bears an incredible amount of responsibility— physically, mentally, and emotionally. Liver energy regulates one’s mood, digestion, menstruation, dreaming, the sleep-wake switch, vision, and the smooth flow of energy throughout the body. It is in charge of strategic planning and execution and nurtures all of the connective tissues, from ligaments to nails.
The liver is extremely sensitive to negative emotions such as anger and resentment. If the liver is not being cared for well, people will be very irritable and agitated. Now you can see how serious the consequences to your health will be if you do not sleep at the times you should.
The other important organ system that is nurtured by qi and blood is the lungs (strongest from 3 a.m. to 5 a.m.). The lung system is responsible for providing oxygen to the body, defense against infection, and nourishment to the skin, and for assisting in the regulation of food and water metabolism.
Being emotionally distressed, eating the wrong kinds of food, or exposing oneself to environmental toxicity or infections disturbs the organ systems and meridians and can create sleep disorders.
For example, when the kidney energy, (our major source of cooling energy) becomes too deficient to balance the heart energy (our major source of heat energy), people cannot fall into sleep due to over-active heat energy. Thus they get insomnia.
When the liver yang energy is not balanced by the liver yin energy, people may get nightmares, sleepwalk, and experience restless leg syndrome. When the spleen and lung qi are deficient, the body accumulates fat as well as phlegm that can block the airway, causing obstructive sleep apnea.
Therefore, from the Chinese-medicine perspective, sleep disorders are a superficial manifestation of underlying imbalances of body energies. These imbalances cause health issues that are often improved by modifying our life style, including getting healthy sleep, eating properly, meditating, exercising, and reducing stress.
For those who have more troublesome symptoms, receiving courses of treatment with acupuncture and herbal medicine is very important and most helpful. The last thing you want to do is to mask the symptoms by simply taking medications.
Dr. Yang is a leading physician, board-certified psychiatrist, and international expert on classic forms of Chinese medicine. He is a fourth-generation teacher and practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine, specializing in acupuncture.
This is Part 1 and 2 of a series.
via Ancient Wisdom for Healthy Sleep Part 1 | Traditional Chinese Medicine | Health | Epoch Times
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Character Development Improves School Performance
30 January, 2012 at 07:33 | Posted in Body & Mind, Children, Science | Leave a commentTags: Body & Mind, Children, psychology, Science
Developing social and emotional character skills in students significantly improves learning outcomes and “overall school quality,” new research finds, after testing a new character development program in Hawaiian elementary schools.
Tested in 20 schools, the program involved a series of organized activities taking one hour per week focused on developing student character as opposed to traditional methods of employing rules to control or punish problem behaviors.
“What we’re finding now is that we can really address some of the concerns in our schools by focusing more on character in the classroom,” said researcher Brian Flay of Oregon State University in a press release.
“A third-grade lesson, for instance, might be helping kids to understand how other people feel, to learn about empathy. That may seem simple, but in terms of educational performance it’s important.”
The research—the latest in a series of studies—suggests that past traditional policies proved ineffective in curbing problem behaviors such as violence and drug abuse due to not addressing underlying issues such as a student’s sense of self and social attachment. The results of the new trials have been promising.
Previous studies revealed 72 percent fewer suspensions, 15 percent less absenteeism, and significantly improved reading and math skills based on national and state tests.
“The current research supports the hypothesis that these programs can generate whole-school change and improve school safety and quality,” the researchers wrote in their research paper.
The findings were published in the January edition of the journal School Health.
Read the research paper here.
via Character Development Improves School Performance | Inspiring Discoveries | Science | Epoch Times
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Blogs May Benefit Socially Distressed Teenagers
25 January, 2012 at 07:03 | Posted in Body & Mind, Children, IT and Media, Science | Leave a commentTags: Body & Mind, Children, health, IT and Media, psychology, Science
Blogging may help teenagers who suffer from social anxiety improve their self-esteem and relate better with their friends, according to a new study.
“Research has shown that writing a personal diary and other forms of expressive writing are a great way to release emotional distress and just feel better,” said study lead author Meyran Boniel-Nissim of Israel’s University of Haifa in a press release.
“Teens are online anyway, so blogging enables free expression and easy communication with others.”
Troubled teens who expressed their concerns through a blog appear to benefit more than from writing in a private diary, according to the study. And blogs that allowed comments from readers seem to enhance the positive effects.
“Although cyberbullying and online abuse are extensive and broad, we noted that almost all responses to our participants’ blog messages were supportive and positive in nature,” co-author Azy Barak said in the release.
Randomly selected high school students in Israel were asked to fill out a survey about their feelings on the quality of their social relationships. Those showing signs of social anxiety or distress were selected for the study.
Four groups of students were asked to run a blog for 10 weeks, posting at least twice a week. Two of the groups were told to focus on their social problems when posting, with one group not accepting comments and the other open to comments.
The other two groups could write about whatever they wanted, and similarly one group was open to comments. There were two control groups: one group writing in a private diary about their social problems and the other group doing nothing.
Students were judged to have poor social and emotional conditions if they wrote too much about their personal or relationship problems or showed signs of low self-esteem.
The bloggers improved significantly in self-esteem and showed more positive social behavior compared to the control groups. Bloggers who were asked to write specifically about their problems and had their posts open to comments improved the most.
The study was published online in the journal Psychological Services.
via Blogs May Benefit Socially Distressed Teenagers | Inspiring Discoveries | Science | Epoch Times
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- Teen Obesity Associated With Lack of Sleep
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Physical Activity Linked to School Achievement
18 January, 2012 at 07:57 | Posted in Body & Mind, Children, Science | Leave a commentTags: Body & Mind, Children, health, Science
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Increased blood flow to brain might play a role
Pushing aside physical education to focus on academic subjects, such as math or reading, could have a negative impact on achievement, according to new research which finds that physically active students do better academically.
Combining the results of previous studies from North America and South Africa, including more than 55,000 children aged six to 18, researchers at VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam found a link between physical activity and progress in school.
“Based on the results of our study we can conclude that being physically active is beneficial for academic performance,” says lead researcher Amika Singh, adding that there may be a biological explanation.
“There are, first, physiological explanations, like more blood flow, and so more oxygen to the brain. Being physically active means there are more hormones produced like endorphins, and endorphins make your stress level lower and your mood improved, which means you also perform better.”
Also, for those getting exercise from organized sports, learning rules and how to follow them may improve classroom behavior and concentration.
Because of differences among the studies, Singh says it is not possible to say whether the amount or kind of activity affected the extent of academic improvement.
However, given the general finding—that physically active kids are more likely to do better academically—she says educators should take that into consideration before cutting fitness programs in schools.
via Physical Activity Linked to School Achievement | Fitness | Health | Epoch Times
Related Articles: Canadian Students Report Lower Learning in High-Tech Classrooms
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Book Review: ‘Simplicity Parenting’
6 January, 2012 at 07:42 | Posted in Body & Mind, Children | Leave a commentTags: Body & Mind, books, Children, psychology
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As holiday time winds down and the calendar beckons a fresh, new year, many will resolve to do things better this time around, consulting a plethora of books to guide them in their pursuits of less weight, more money, reduced stress, increased joy, or any number of personal goals.
If it’s calmer, happier children and a harmonious family life you’re aiming for this year, Simplicity Parenting, Using the Extraordinary Power of Less to Raise Calmer, Happier, and More Secure Kids, by Kim John Payne and Lisa M. Ross is worth a read.
An experienced education consultant and counselor, Payne asserts that “our society—with its pressure of ‘too much’—is raging an undeclared war on childhood.”
“It doesn’t come as a throwaway comment,” Payne explained to Whole Living in an interview, “it is very serious. I think our children are suffering from sensory overwhelm, like a sensory tsunami. But we, unlike a lot of wars that we see in the world, can declare peace in our homes.There’s so much booming and buzzing in the world, so wanting to have a peaceful home is just establishing a balance.”
Simplicity Parenting takes aim at all that is overloading our senses, and more specifically, those of our children, and calls on parents to embrace a less is more philosophy. “We are building our daily lives, and our families, on the four pillars of too much: too much stuff, too many choices, too much information, and too much speed. With this level of busyness, distractions, time-pressure, and clutter (mental and physical), children are robbed of the time and ease they need to explore their worlds and their emerging selves.”
Through detailed examples and thoroughly fleshed out analysis about the realities of modern life, the authors make a strong case for the need to simplify when it comes to kids. “Simplification is not just about taking things away. It is about making room, creating space in your life, your intentions, and your heart. With less physical and mental clutter, your attention expands, and your awareness deepens.”
A plan focusing on four areas: the environment, rhythm, schedules, and filtering out the adult world is prescribed to offer peace and security to children in their formidable years and, as a consequence, to the family at large.
Some recommendations may shock the reader upon a first pass. What reaction might children have to cutting their pile of toys in half and then in half again? What might the members of the household think of less “screen time” and (gulp) giving up television?
The family stories presented in Simplicity Parenting, however, drive home what most of us inherently realize—that the excesses and busyness our children are subjected to may actually be doing more harm than good.
From television and computer time, to participation in competitive sports, to the predictability of the unfolding of each day’s events, to sleep patterns, to academics, to meal time, to clutter, to wardrobe, and even the issue of too many books, Simplicity Parenting addresses familiar concerns of parents and flies in the face of the pressures they can feel to give their children every opportunity to advance early and succeed in life.
Simplicity, the authors argue, and quite convincingly, “will provide your child with greater ease and well-being.” Whether it is some general inspiration, specific ideas to implement, or a new way of life you are looking for, “Simplicity Parenting” is an eye-opening read (especially around the holidays which can bring along a unique brand of excess) for modern-day parents.
Looking for a better parenting approach in the new year? It’s simple.
via Book Review: ‘Simplicity Parenting’ | Literary & Visual Arts | Arts & Entertainment | Epoch Times
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Fast-Paced TV Cartoons Reduce Kids’ Learning, Study Says
20 November, 2011 at 07:38 | Posted in Body & Mind, Children, Science | Leave a commentTags: Body & Mind, Children, Science
Speed and unrealistic situations affect preschoolers
Four-year-olds’ ability to concentrate, learn, and solve problems slows after watching fast-paced cartoons, according to a new study.
Young children have difficulty learning immediately after watching fast-paced television cartoons full of images and activities that are not possible in real life, according to a new study.
It’s what some people are calling the “SpongeBob effect.” SpongeBob SquarePants is a cartoon character whose surreal and improbable undersea adventures are watched by children around the world.
University of Virginia researchers wanted to find out whether watching “SpongeBob” affected kids’ ability to learn immediately after seeing the show.
To find out, a group of 4-year-old children watched either a short video of “SpongeBob” or a slower-paced and more realistic animated show called “Caillou.”
A third group of children spent time drawing instead of watching television.
Afterward, explains researcher Angeline Lillard, they all took standardized tests designed to measure their ability to concentrate, learn, and solve problems—what psychologists call “executive function.”
“And what we found is that children who had been in the “SpongeBob” group were performing only about half as well as the other children. So they were at about 50 percent capacity.”
The 4-year-olds in this study are at a critical age when the prefrontal cortex is still developing. That is the part of the brain where problem-solving and related functions are located.
Lillard says one reason why a show like “SpongeBob SquarePants” might affect learning is its combination of speed and content.
“It’s fast-paced and it’s fantastical. So the child is needing to process all this new stuff really, really fast, and it’s difficult to process since it doesn’t really happen in real life.”
Lillard cautions that her study looked only at how young children learned immediately after watching the TV shows, so she cannot say whether watching these kinds of programs have a permanent effect on learning.
“But I would say that parents might want to think about when children watch such shows and perhaps how frequently they watch them as well because they are certainly compromised immediately afterwards.”
Lillard’s study is published in the journal Pediatrics.
via Fast-Paced TV Cartoons Reduce Kids’ Learning, Study Says | Epoch Times
Related Articles: SpongeBob Study: Some TV Hurts Children’s Learning
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Childhood Malnutrition in China Causes Significant Economic Losses
9 November, 2011 at 19:37 | Posted in Body & Mind, Children, China, Food, Science | Leave a commentTags: Body & Mind, Children, China, Food, health, Science
“Breakfast: nothing; Lunch: rice or polenta, salt water soaked soy beans; Dinner: rice or polenta, salt water soaked soy beans.”
This is not a recipe for losing weight, but the daily menu of children from poverty stricken-areas in western China. According to a state report, the loss to China’s economy due to malnutrition in children amounted to 4 percent of GDP.
In an Oct. 10 report of China Economic Weekly, Ma Guansheng from the National Institute of Nutrition and Food Safety (NINFS) said: “China now has about 290 million children between the ages 0 to 14, among which 15 million are below the poverty line. 12 to 36 percent of these kids are underweight compared to the standard set by the World Health Organization (WHO). Their growth rate is 6 times less than that of metropolitan kids. The Vitamin A deficiency is 4 times that of metropolitan kids.”
Ma Guansheng told China Economic Weekly that malnutrition results in slow growth, iodine deficiency, and anemia in children, which leads to loss of productivity. In 2001, the loss of productivity from slow growth was estimated to be 16.6 billion yuan, from iodine deficiency 19.8 billion yuan, from adult anemia 65.8 billion yuan, and from childhood anemia 259.9 billion yuan. The combined total loss to economy was 362.1 billion yuan (US$56.7 billion) or 4.01 percent of GDP.
Ma estimated that in 2010 China’s GDP was 40.1 trillion yuan, and the loss due malnutrition was 1.6 trillion yuan (US$252 billion).
Liu Wenkui, Deputy General Secretary of the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation, told Sound of Hope Radio on Oct. 16 that a lot of elementary school-age kids in western China suffer from malnutrition. They only have potato, polenta, rice or soy beans to eat.
According to a Xinhua News article of June 22, the kids in Tanglangqing Elementary Schoolin Luquan County of Yunnan Province can only afford 2 meals per day. All they have for meals is potatoes, which causes severe malnutrition. Some kids have never seen milk. Some kids say their biggest wish is to taste a watermelon.
On April 24, a Southern Daily reporter discovered that 53 children in Happy Elementary School in Yangcheng Township of Guangdong Province had only cold corn polenta sprinkled with a little salt and drops of oil from home for lunch. Soy sauce for them is a luxury.
Liu Wenkui said China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation had started a fundraising campaign to help kids in western China to eat a snack between classes.
He said that the participation rate is on the rise, but their organization is under pressure on issues of transparency and professionalism. About 30 to 40 percent of the donations come from the public and rest from businesses and enterprises.
Research shows that a diet deficient in meat, eggs, and vegetables will result in malnutrition. The person will be 3 to 4 centimeters shorter; the IQ will be 10 to 15 points lower. The resulting loss to productivity will be 2 to 9 percent.
Read the original Chinese article
via Childhood Malnutrition in China Causes Significant Economic Losses | China News | Epoch Times
Forced Abortion in China’s Shandong Province Causes Mother’s Death
29 October, 2011 at 07:27 | Posted in Children, China, persecution | Leave a commentTags: CCP, Children, China, persecution of dissidents
Lawyer urges authorities investigate
Because local media in Lijin County in Shandong Province in eastern China refused to report on how a woman died during a forced, late-term abortion, a family member has published the story of the mother’s unnecessary death. This has drawn angry comments across China’s cyberspace.
Radio Free Asia, quoting information released by a mainland human rights website, www.fancun.com, reported that Ma Jihong, six months pregnant, was forcibly taken to a state-run hospital in Lijin County, where she died during the abortion.
A relative posted a message on a microblog describing what had happened. The relative stated that local birth control authorities took Ms. Ma to the hospital for an abortion since she and her husband have two children.
Once there, Ma’s fingerprints were forcibly taken along with an unwilling signature, supposedly to show her consent. The surgery began at 4 pm but no updates were given to the family.
By 10 p.m. the family was worried and alarmed, and demanded that the operating room be opened. Inside, there were no medical personnel and Mrs. Ma, no longer breathing, was lying on the operating table.
“Ma’s children were not aware that their mom had died and were crying out for her. We sought help from the local media but none were willing to become involved. So we are asking that this story be spread widely on the web,” the relative wrote.
Over 1,000 netizens commented, with most posts anonymous. This one set the tone for many: “I am shocked! I feel helpless! I feel outraged! I want to do something!”
Some expressed hopelessness about living in China under the Chinese Communist Party: “You cannot do anything. This is a society under the Communist Party.”
And another wrote, “Let’s emigrate to foreign countries, leaving this lawless society.”
Some wanted to take action. A Beijing lawyer wrote offering his services and saying, “We must let the world know that citizens cannot be bullied at will.”
Others hinted at more drastic actions. One poster wrote, “It is indisputable that this communist country is very corrupted. If any group plans to take action, I hope it is a big, shocking action.”
A Beijing lawyer named Cheng Hai (not the one who responded online to the relative’s post), said that it is illegal to perform an abortion without consent. The birth control office’s brutality has resulted in a death so those responsible should be held accountable, he said.
Cheng mentioned that the violent, forced abortions occurring in Shandong have been scathingly criticized by the courageous, blind human rights lawyer Chen Guangcheng. Chen was subsequently imprisoned on trumped up charges.
Released this past September, Chen remains under house arrest in very difficult circumstances, with his property having been taken from his family’s home and he and his wife having endured beatings. His health is said to be poor.
Now that another death has happened, Cheng Hai is urging Beijing and Shandong authorities to conduct a thorough investigation.
Read the original Chinese article.
via Forced Abortion in China’s Shandong Province Causes Mother’s Death | China News | Epoch Times
A Child’s Death, a Nation’s Suffering, and a Party’s Culture
28 October, 2011 at 17:19 | Posted in Body & Mind, Children, China | Leave a commentTags: Body & Mind, CCP, Children, China, psychology
Little Wang Yue died on Oct. 21, but the issues raised by the ending of her short life are not going away.
On Oct. 13, Wang Yue, also called Yueyue by her parents, was run over first by a minivan and then a pickup truck. Video from a surveillance camera shows she lay in her own blood for seven minutes while 18 people passed by pretending not to see her.
That video, which went viral on the Chinese Internet, has caused the biggest discussion ever among netizens and also within the state-run media about how morality has declined in China. That the netizens and the state-run media both have the same view about anything is unusual.
But the discussions about the simple decline of morality miss the point unless they consider the question, why? Why morality in China has declined has been much less discussed, for reasons that will become obvious.
The Trash Scavenger’s Story
The 19th person to come upon Yueyue in the alley was a middle-aged woman named Chen Xianmei, who was carrying a gunnysack she used to pick up any trash that might be worth something. Chen pulled Yueyue out of the road and yelled for help until Yueyue’s mother, hearing Chen, came running.
Someone identified as Lin, said to be a professor of history at Harbin Normal University, made a comment about Chen that has been forwarded many times on Weibo, the Chinese microblog.
“Why did Chen Xianmei help Yueyue? It’s absolutely not an accident,” Lin is quoted as saying. “It is totally due to her lack of education. She hasn’t read many textbooks, has no time to read the newspaper, hasn’t studied theory [in China, “theory study” means the study of communist theory], hasn’t willingly accepted the propaganda, hasn’t been transformed in her view of the world. The result is that she has kept her basic conscience.”
No matter who the real author of this comment was—someone named Lin or someone else—it goes to the very bottom of the issue: The true reason behind the indifference to Yueyue is the communist culture. The less one is influenced by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) culture, the higher moral standard one can have.
Since she helped Yueyue, Chen’s life has become difficult.
First came the attention from the local CCP offices. The Civilization Offices of the Nanhai District and Dali Township each gave Chen 10,000 yuan (US$1,564).
She refused to accept the money, saying that she only did what she was supposed to do. But the officials insisted and almost forced her to take the money.
Then came the media. Foshan Daily, the official newspaper of the CCP Foshan Committee, published an article with the headline “That Moment, She Made Foshan Proud.”
After that, someone on the Internet and her neighbors started to point fingers at her, saying that she had only helped Yueyue because she wanted fame and money.
Tired of the continued visits by the Party and state officials, the attention from the media, most of which are Party mouthpieces, and the neighbors’ finger pointing, Chen decided to leave the city and went back to her hometown, hoping to get some privacy and rest.
Chen’s experience is not alone. In today’s China, anyone who does something good will immediately become a magnet for awards, forums, media interviews, and inclusion on lists of moral models.
Her words will be quoted even though she probably has never even thought of the words that are attributed to her. The Party will be especially eager to claim credit, saying the good deed was the result of the “socialist spiritual civilization.”
The person will be labeled as the role model of the socialist moral standard. She will say many words that she doesn’t want to say and appear at many places where she doesn’t want to be. She doesn’t belong to herself anymore. She belongs to the Party and becomes part of the propaganda machine.
The award of money is absolutely necessary because, through this, the Party takes credit. Besides, the money is probably the only thing that the Party officials, who are self-proclaimed materialists, can think of as a reward for a good deed.
Turning down the money is not in the person’s power, just as with Chen Xianmei. This explains one reason why nobody wants to be a hero in China. Who wants to become the Party’s tool?
Causes of Indifference
The Party doesn’t want to see a deep discussion about the cause of the lack of moral standards. Obviously, such a discussion would not only deprive the Party of credit for ordinary people’s good deeds, but would also reveal the real reason for the lack of moral standards.
Professor Lin’s comments pointed to the Party’s education, propaganda, theory, and view of the world but didn’t explain in detail how these cause China’s morality to decay.
From the reaction of the netizens to Yueyue’s case, one can see that most people know what is good or bad. People still have the right moral judgment. If there is no danger to doing what is right, people will do the right thing.
The problem is that the CCP has made it hard for most people to do good deeds. It has done so at three levels.
Read more: A Child’s Death, a Nation’s Suffering, and a Party’s Culture | Opinion | Epoch Times
Friendship Helps to Reduce Childhood Stress
28 October, 2011 at 08:11 | Posted in Body & Mind, Children, Science | Leave a commentTags: Body & Mind, Children, psychology
Fourth graders have lower stress levels when experiencing peer exclusion if they have good friends, according to new research from the Netherlands.
Children get stressed due to exclusion, and victimization, such as gossiping and hitting. However, the effect is diminished if victims have at least a few good friends. Even having one good friend can reduce the loneliness children experience while suffering hardship caused by their peers.
Social rejection is known to cause stress in preschoolers, adolescents, and adults. The new study from Radboud University Nijmegen investigated stress and bullying in more than 100 fourth-grade schoolchildren, aged 9 years old. Friendships and a child’s group status are particularly important at this formative age.
The children’s stress levels were determined by measuring their cortisol levels five times on two consecutive days. They chewed on wads of cotton wool twice at home in the morning, when arriving at school, at the end of the school day, and at home in the evening.
Cortisol is a stress hormone that mobilizes energy levels and helps us cope with stressors. Levels are naturally high in the morning, and then diminish during the day.
However, the daily cortisol cycle flattens due to long-term stress as a result of the fight or flight response, and can have negative effects on health, particularly immunity.
The findings are part of the Longitudinal Study of Nijmegen (NLS) and are published in the journal Child Development.
Marianne Riksen-Walraven, who founded the NLS in 1998, spoke with The Epoch Times by telephone.
She explained that children who were excluded more had higher cortisol levels and a flatter daily curve, indicating long-term stress.
However, children who were victimized did not show raised cortisol levels, suggesting that victimization is not as stressful as exclusion.
Meanwhile, children who were excluded more but had a few good friends showed lower cortisol levels compared to rejected kids with fewer friends or poor quality friendships, indicating that friendship helps children deal with exclusion.
When asked about upcoming research, Riksen-Walraven said these same children are now 12 years old and are participating in another NLS study.
Riksen-Walraven thinks it will be interesting to study how rejection affects these children’s minds as they grow up, because recent research involving brain scans on adults who are collectively disliked shows that it hurts in the same way that physical pain does.
“Together, the results demonstrate that although friends cannot completely eliminate the stress of exclusion at school, they do reduce it,” Riksen-Walraven said in a press release.
“And the number and quality of children’s friendships can serve as a buffer against being rejected.”
via Friendship Helps to Reduce Childhood Stress | Science | Epoch Times
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Teen Obesity Associated With Lack of Sleep
27 October, 2011 at 22:06 | Posted in Body & Mind, Children, Science | Leave a commentTags: Body & Mind, Children, health, Science
Adolescents who sleep less than eight hours per night may be more likely to put on weight, according to a new study by researchers in Texas.
A total of 255 high school students were surveyed. The researchers found that adolescents who sleep seven hours or less on weekdays have a higher body mass index (BMI) than those who sleep more than seven hours.
They also found an association between sleeping less than eight hours and obesity in male adolescents.
“Sleep is food for the brain,” researcher Lata Casturi of Baylor College of Medicine Sleep Center said in a press release.
“When teens do not get enough sleep, they fall asleep in class, struggle to concentrate, look and feel stressed, get sick more often, and do not meet their obligations due to tiredness.”
Various factors are involved, for example the hormone leptin, which regulates fullness, and the hormone ghrelin, which stimulates appetite.
“When you don’t get enough sleep, it drives leptin levels down, which means you don’t feel as satisfied after you eat,” said study co-author Radha Rao, of DeBakey VA Medical Center, in the release. “Lack of sleep also causes ghrelin levels to rise, which means your appetite is stimulated, so you want more food.”
“The two combined, can set the stage for overeating, which in turn, may lead to weight gain.”
The researchers suggested educating children early in life about good sleeping habits.
“Developing good sleep habits in adolescence may help to reduce the risk of related health conditions later in life,” Suhail Raoof, President of the American College of Chest Physicians, said in the release.
The study was presented at CHEST 2011, the 77th annual meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians, held Oct. 22 – 26 in Honolulu Hawaii.
via Teen Obesity Associated With Lack of Sleep | Science | Epoch Times
Related Articles: Early to Bed, Early to Rise Makes Kids Healthier: Study
Early to Bed, Early to Rise Makes Kids Healthier
23 October, 2011 at 13:45 | Posted in Body & Mind, Children, Science | Leave a commentTags: Body & Mind, Children, health, Science
Young late nighters are less physically active and fit than their early bird counterparts, suggests new research from Australia.
“Late bedtimes and late wake-up times are associated with an unfavorable activity and weight status profile, independent of age, sex, household income, geographical remoteness, and sleep duration,” reads the abstract of the study, which was published in the journal SLEEP on Oct. 1.
A team of scientists from Adelaide studied a total of 2,200 Australian adolescents, aged 9 to 16 years old, using time interviews and pedometers.
Despite similar sleep durations, late-rising and late-sleeping adolescents were observed to undertake 27 minutes less daily physical activity than the early risers and early sleepers, who went to bed 70 to 90 minutes earlier and woke up 60 to 80 minutes earlier.
“The children who went to bed late and woke up late, and the children who went to bed early and woke up early got virtually the same amount of sleep in total,” said study co-author Carol Maher from the University of South Australia in a press release.
“Scientists have realized in recent years that children who get less sleep tend to do worse on a variety of health outcomes, including the risk of being overweight and obese. Our study suggests that the timing of sleep is even more important.”
Read more: Early to Bed, Early to Rise Makes Kids Healthier | Health | Epoch Times
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Life is important and our choices are important.
On this website I will in different ways express what I think gives meaning to life and also what might be a challenge.
It may include the need for sustainable development for our planet, or various questions about our health and mental well-being.
To be truthful, to be good, to have patience and compassion, are spiritual qualities that are a part of my cultivation of self through Falun Gong /Falun Dafa, the way of insights. To refine and improve myself to a better, more compassionate human being gives my life great meaning.
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