Let’s Talk About Anxiety

Anxiety isn’t the best thing to have but many people have the symptoms. Sometimes parents find it difficult to believe their children. To help let’s start with how the NHS describes Anxiety and its symptoms

The NHS website (www.nhs.uk) explains that symptoms experienced by young children (toddlers) mean they can become irritable, clingy or tearful, they can have difficulty sleeping and can wake up due to bad dreams. For older children the NHS describes a lack of confidence, unable to remember everyday things, finding it hard to concentrate, having problems with sleeping and eating, having angry outbursts, having negative thoughts, thinking that bad things are going to happen and avoiding everyday activities.

Kidshealth.org provides some reasons why anxiety might be caused in children. They explain that “a child who has a family member with anxiety is more likely to have [it] too. Kids may inherit genes that make them prone to anxiety.” They also explain that “genes help to direct the way bran chemicals (called neurotransmitters) work. If specific brain chemicals are in short supply, or not working well, it can cause anxiety.”

The website also lists ‘life situations’ and ‘learned behaviours’ as possible influences that can lead to anxiety.

The NHS provides a long list of ways to ease anxiety in children a few important ones include:

“Turn an empty tissue box into a ‘worry box’. Get your child to write or draw their worries and then ‘post’ them into the box. Then you can sort through the box at the end of the day or week.”

“Practise simple relaxation techniques with your child, such as taking 3 deep slow breaths, breathing in for a count of three and out for a count of three.”

“Encourage you child to manage their anxiety and ask for help if they need it.”

If you have any of these symptoms or are worried about anxiety please let somebody know and they will try to help you. I hope that this article has helped you or provided some useful advice to help others with anxiety.

By Grace Yr6

Burgh Le Marsh Primary School

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