Category Archives: Sleep

Riding the Rapids

We recently spent a few days hiking up mountains, camping and white-water rafting in Wyoming and Montana, because isn’t that what people who are afraid of heights (me) and can’t swim (yeah, me, again) do for fun? And it was fun. It’s good to push out of the comfort zone.

Most parents and the other adults who care for and work with children are quite serious about helping them get out of their supposed comfort zones and into a healthier lifestyle. Recently, I was speaking to a group of adults about the topic, “Raising Mentally Healthy Children.” We spent our time focused on what we can do.

One problem that arises in these conversations – whether in a group, one-on-one, or with a family, is that making time for change seems impossible. The days are packed, and nothing on the schedule seems negotiable. Yet, in reality, what’s not negotiable is what humans need to be healthy and thriving.

What most kids need, and what we need, too, is more appropriately divvied-up time. For example, children and teens benefit from a solid two hours or more of physical activity every day. They need time outdoors, in nature, for their immune systems, Vitamin D, circadian rhythms and even their eyesight development. The near-and-far variation in focus that being outdoors elicits promotes healthy eyesight in young children; kids are supposed to go from crouching down to study a beetle to peering across the field to see if that’s a hawk in the tree and then taking off running to make sure. Optimally, they’re outside for at least two or so hours every day – more on weekends.

Kids need enough sleep – probably 9 or 10 hours a night, with an absence of screens. Recent research links high levels of artificial light at night (ALAN) with increased rates of cancer due to disruption of the circadian rhythm. An immediate risk with insufficient sleep is the attention system. Sleep-deprived people are irritable, inattentive, forgetful, disorganized and generally not fun to be around. Sleep-deprived drivers test as impaired, much like those with alcohol and/or drugs in their system. Think about inexperienced and sleep-deprived teenagers driving to and from school and work, often in the dark.

Kids, and we adults, need unstructured time. Most of the adults present had a creative hobby or two, and we all agreed that it takes time to shift gears into that hobby. It’s hard to walk in the door after work and immediately pick up a paintbrush, or guitar, or journal, or woodworking tools, and be in flow. The segue into creativity requires a sort of almost boring downtime – something many adults and children avoid compulsively through electronics. 

I can’t tell people what sacrifices have to be made for their family to have a healthier life. It varies from family to family, and it is never easy. It might be simple or quite complex, but it is never easy. However – after the white-water part, when you aren’t on nature’s roller coaster, there are always some smooth, easy times ahead. Thank you to all the parents who go for it – who strive to be sure their children to have the range of experiences they need to grow up resilient, curious and confident.

Hard Changes

Most of us have some changes to make. And most changes are not so easy. That’s why people postpone them, or poke at the edges, or just pretend the problem will go away by itself. Sometimes people convince themselves there isn’t even a problem, really; that it just depends how you look at it. Maybe so. But maybe there’s something that needs changing.

Let’s say you have a teenage child, or a child approaching the teens. S/he is cranky, sullen, uncooperative with chores, sulks during family meals and resists being on time for school and other appointments. S/he wants to spend time alone, in the bedroom, with electronics. The child is depressed and/or anxious and/or obsessive and/or perpetually angry. You know the situation will change, one way or the other. Everything changes. If you do nothing, you are gambling that your child will continue down this road and somehow, at 18 or 19 or 20, wake up, shake themselves off like a wet Golden Retriever and come out of their bedroom, smile and say, “Wow! How could I have been so wrong?!”

Yeah, I doubt it, too.

If you have this situation and need to take it on, it can be hard to know where to start. Here’s a suggestion: if the situation is not a crisis, then the most practical first step may be to start with yourself.

You will have to change. Perhaps you have to start the change process by being sure that all the adults in the house are on the same page in your expectations. Perhaps you need to get yourself on the right path.

You go first. You get enough fresh air, and time in nature, and sleep, and healthy nutrition, and balanced physical activity. You strive to do interesting and challenging things in what little free time you have. You will, quite naturally and incidentally, spend less passive screen time. You’ll be leading from strength rather than being a target for adolescents’ favorite criticism: that we adults are hypocrites. You’ll be in a much better stance to steer positive changes for your tween or teen.  

Stress…And a Lesson From Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBTi) helps people with insomnia via examining and, where appropriate, helping them change their behaviors and thoughts surrounding the issue of sleep.  One important factor we explore are called “Sleep Safety Behaviors.” These are habits which people believe are helpful for sleep.  Some sleep safety behaviors are in fact very helpful, such as avoiding screens for a couple of hours before bedtime, using soft, warm light sources in the evening, and avoiding upsetting discussions before bedtime. Other sleep safety behaviors are counter-productive, but if a person is convinced that they are helpful the anxiety around giving them up ends up disrupting the process of falling or staying asleep. The objective is to have positive habits around sleep, not unhelpful sleep safety behaviors. It is not as easy or obvious as it might sound.

For example, many people use alcohol as a type of sleep safety behavior. They believe it helps them relax and unwind, and seem to either not know, or disregard, that it actually is a sleep disruptor. Alcohol-fueled sleep usually involves waking up in the middle of the night as the effects of alcohol wear off. It also disrupts the quality of sleep. However, the person convinced that they “need” a drink to sleep may become so anxious about going without the drink that they have difficulty falling asleep, which they attribute (wrongly) to the absence of alcohol.

In the same way, don’t most people have some sort of “stress safety behaviors” to cope with stressful situations or extended times of stress? Some are helpful and constructive, and others are terribly unhelpful and even destructive.  Some are fairly neutral until taken to excess; an ounce or so of chocolate as a snack is one thing; a pound is another. Odds are, you know someone who clings to a stress safety behavior even though it is clear as day that it is unhelpful and even harmful. You may have encountered the futility of trying to convince the person that the extra drinks, the avoidance, the angry outbursts to vent over and over, merely get in the way.

Imagine a person for whom life has delivered a set of one-two punches – illness, a hurricane or two, unexpected car repairs. There are all sorts of paperwork and bills to tackle, and after a long day of work it is all too much. He takes an evening off to binge watch a favorite series, and then, the next day, everything is one more day behind, one more day piled up, and even more overwhelming – too much to be tackled, again, after a long and wearying day. Surely there is a half a season or so of something that will distract from the looming piles of paper.

Perhaps the person doesn’t binge-watch. Perhaps she enjoys a glass of wine, or two, or three, or, heck, why leave only one glass in the bottle? She adds poor sleep and the three days it takes for the full effect of alcohol to leave the brain to the problems still piling up on the table. Perhaps he gets caught up in a vortex of videos about things he cannot afford – certainly not at this moment – and adds envy and resentment to the problems at hand.

Odds are, too, you know people who have some good “stress safety behaviors.” Those habits reinforce resilience. You might notice some people seem to surf through the ups and downs of stressful times without falling apart or adding to the trouble at hand. If you are that someone, that’s wonderful; stick with it. If you know some people like that, but are not one yourself, perhaps you might give some positive stress safety behaviors a try.

If I were making an official list of Stress Safety Behaviors (which I am not at the moment), I’d probably include these:

Sleep: getting regular and adequate sleep – not feast or famine approaches to the weekly rotation, where you pretend you can “get by” on four hours during the workweek and really make it all up to your brain with a long sleep on Saturday.

Move regularly and adequately. Exercise, appropriate to your overall health and physician’s guidance, is essential. The machine needs regular movement to function properly.

Limit exposure to negative influences. Don’t feed your envy, your insecurities, or your bad habits.

Minimize exposure to media and people that encourage you to compare yourself to other people.  Do you think it’s a coincidence that so many magazines and websites feature articles about improving oneself – and a surfeit of advertisements for products that will, in theory, improve those things?

Treat Sabbath time seriously. Set aside one day each week for renewal. Pray, rest, read, enjoy time with family and friends, play, create.

Journal. There are lots of ways to journal. There’s the quick “5 things you’re grateful for” at bedtime journal. There are prayer journals and journals that are brief paragraphs on the events of the day. Maybe it’s that annoying journal assignment your therapist gave you. The act of writing – more than just “thinking about it” – brings more of your brain into the process. This way, for example, you benefit more from noticing good moments during the day, recollecting them in the evening, writing them down, and seeing your words on the page.

Positive stress safety behaviors are simple, common sense…but they can appear to be just one more thing to keep you from getting things done. If you think, for example, that a short walk is just a waste of time, that you’d be better off using those fifteen minutes for the big mess at hand, well, that might be true if that were, in fact, what would happen. But if the thing that would actually happen was a big sigh or a venting of angry frustration and the welcome distraction of a text message from a friend – well, then, the short walk to breathe deeply, move quickly and focus yourself for action might be less of a time-waster than it seemed.

If you’ve taken a look at the task manager window on your computer, you know there are dozens of programs running even though you may be only engaged in one. Start clicking on random programs to turn them off and watch the warnings pop up that this will interfere with the proper functioning of the computer. It’s the same with these sleep and stress safety behaviors. The people who do these things do them consistently, even when things are smooth and rolling along just fine.  These habits operate like a background program, always running. They keep the system working properly but without a big fuss. Turn off, or pause, those background programs and the system stops working properly, or perhaps just shuts down entirely.

Even good programs need updates. Taking that weekly break gives you a chance to notice if you need to make changes to the routine. Ignoring necessary updates usually makes the whole system a bit glitchy.

7 Things to do When Life Is Crazy

Sometimes, life just goes horribly sidewise.  This week, like most weeks, I spent time with people who have lost their homes to natural disasters, lost their job, had loved ones die, and sometimes are grappling with multiple serious problems.  The world seems crazy, you can feel like you’re going mad, and it is oh-so-easy to slide into attempts to numb the pain that are ultimately harmful.

It’s easy to advise people on what NOT to do – don’t drink alcohol. Don’t use drugs. Don’t eat a lot of junk food. Don’t let yourself scroll through social media and/or your newsfeed for extended periods of times. It’s easier, though, to “do” than to “not do.”  Anyone who has tried to break a bad habit knows that; it’s easier to “eat an apple” than to “not smoke/drink/eat a bag of cheesy poofs the size of a pillow.”

So, here are seven things to do – and keep doing – when life is crazy

  1. Say grace. Say grace when you get to sit at a table and say grace – together – when you eating a granola bar in the shade after another few hours of trying to make sense of the debris that used to be your home.  Say grace when you are out on a hike, just about out of water, and have miles to go. G.K. Chesterton famously noted he said grace when he sat down to write, to draw, etc.  A moment of gratitude shifts the focus from the mud to the mountaintop.
  2. Put the social media/news scrolling down and, instead, watch something that will make you laugh, preferably either an episode of a sitcom or a funny movie. Why? These require sustained attention, will bring a focus on characters who have ups and downs, and have the potential to make you laugh. Laughter releases dopamine – that feel-good chemistry that helps you heal.  Make it better and share that humor break with someone else. Sharing laughter with the person you love helps that sense of connection that seems strained, or even lost, when life has gone crazy.
  3. Eat food that is good for you. Ongoing extreme stress causes havoc in your body, including your brain, and getting decent nutrition is essential to your well-being, now and later.  I did the price comparison:  a precooked chicken, a bag of salad, some fruit and a little something else healthy, for example, feeds two or four people far cheaper than most or all fast food. Your brain will thank you.
  4. Listen to music that is soothing: piano or guitar, instrumental jazz, classical, baroque:  as tempting as it may be to listen to “angry” music because you feel so angry about what’s become of your life, that will only reinforce your distress.  Let peace soak into you, however slowly it may come.
  5. Check in with other people every day. Reach out to someone to see how s/he is doing. It helps us get out of our own heads, our experiences, and feel less alone.
  6. Get outside, preferably in the morning, for natural light exposure. You don’t need to bake in the sun; just get out there. Take a walk if you can.  Early natural light helps the brain regulate the sleep/wake cycle, setting you up for a healthy rhythm of melatonin production over the course of the day.
  7. Ask God to show you where He is at work in the events of your life, because when life goes crazy, the fog can make God’s loving presence hard to detect. Ask for the grace to notice the helping hands, the kind words, the moments of clarity.

I’m sorry if life has gone crazy. It is scary, and lonely, and disorienting when disaster strikes. If you find that you are sinking, reach out for help:  call your local helpline (in Pinellas County, FL the number is 1-888-431-1998, for the new Care About Me program that helps match those in crisis with an appropriate mental health provider).  Call a friend, a family member, or, if you are feeling unsafe and considering suicide or plan to harm yourself or others, go seek immediate help via 911 or go to an emergency service location.  When life has gone crazy, it is natural to feel frightened, confused and even helpless, but remember that none of us were designed to “handle it all.” We are, in fact, designed so that our strengths are distributed so that each has something to offer but none has every gift and ability.  Please reach out for help if you feel you are sinking.

An Alcohol Dilemma

Alcohol can be a touchy subject. Addictions, generally, are frequently considered to be only something other addicts, including those in recovery, can help with.  Someone like me, who never drank regularly and now, since surgery a few years ago that included a bad anesthesia reaction, can’t drink any alcohol except, oddly, 3 or 4 ounces of Guinness on a couple of holidays each year, is automatically considered ineligible to be helpful. Despite my ineligible status, in a previous post, I included the life lesson that, for many, alcohol is not a friend.

This assertion flies in the face of much research, perhaps most famously Blue Zones data, which includes moderate alcohol use as a generally positive factor for long life. On the other hand, avoiding alcohol is well-supported by substantial research in the medical field.  Shake or stir in my non-drinker status and, well, it seems like I am a fun-killing fuddy-duddy looking for an excuse to ruin my clients’ good time.

What are the benefits of alcohol? Much research has focused in particular on resveratrol and relaxation.  There ways to get antioxidants and relaxation that don’t carry the risks of cancer, liver and brain damage, and some of the regrettable behaviors that alcohol can carry along. This might be a worthwhile topic of discussion with your healthcare provider. Eating grapes, prayer and meditation, physical activity and laughing might hit all the right keys on this.

If you are misusing alcohol – relying on it to “unwind” after the day, to “help you sleep” (it doesn’t, actually), or to get through social situations (there are ways to deal with social anxiety that don’t interfere with functioning) – please seek help. Other signs your relationship with alcohol is unhealthy? Using more than the recommended amount – 1 serving max per day for females, 2 for males. Feeling anxious if you run out, or worrying you will run out. If you worried more about stocking up with booze than water, batteries and nonperishable food for the past two hurricanes, that’s a bad sign, too. Any binge drinking is a danger sign. Binge drinking raises your blood alcohol to .08 in two hours or less, usually four or five single drinks. Any changes in your functioning at home, work, or socially are likewise danger signs. Pretending that these signs don’t apply to you is itself a sign.

Where to go for help?  Go to an AA meeting. Call a therapist. Call 866-210-1303, or 211, or another helpline. See your physician. Tell someone you trust you’re ready to make a change. Just take that first bold step towards help. There are good people eager to help you change the course of your life for the better, preferably before it becomes unmanageable.  

Why Ask Me That? Third in a series on questions in the therapy room

Someone who is struggling with anxiety just wants to feel better. It’s understandable; anxiety feels awful. The physical symptoms, so often hovering just below full-blown fight-or-flight; a mind that won’t rest, a brain that hops from topic to topic like a rabbit in a vegetable garden. Add to this the fear that so many people have when they come to therapy:  will the therapist tell me I’m crazy?

No; no, I won’t tell you that, but I am probably going to annoy you with a lot of questions that may seem to be irrelevant to your suffering. My paperwork asks about your history, decade by decade; your losses; job satisfaction; health issues; your alcohol and drug use; your prescribed medications; your exercise and sleep patterns. I ask about screen time, social memberships, supportive relationships. I ask a lot of questions, and I can tell who thinks those questions are irrelevant by who leaves them unanswered, handing me incomplete paperwork and acting surprised when I follow up on the many blank places.

All these questions are important, and here’s a short discussion on just a few aspects and the explanation.

Your sleep patterns, and any difficulties, can both contribute to, and be worsened by, anxiety, stress and depression. If you need more, or better sleep (and most people do), figuring some ways to improve your quality and quantity of sleep can help across many categories of your life: focus, memory, energy, stress level, and mood. When these improve, relationships can often improve, as you might expect when you can pay attention and be less cranky.

If you have major health conditions that are not properly managed, these may contribute to problems with sleep, anxiety, or mood. For example, poorly managed diabetes, besides being physically very dangerous, impacts focus and mood. I would refer you to your physician to see if there are problems that require medical attention.

Social isolation is a recipe for loneliness and depression. Social media use tends to make this worse – something that seems weirdly contradictory. Lonely people eventually withdraw, and this creates more loneliness, isolation and possibly anxiety and depression. We need to explore ways to enter back into activities with others.  From my guidance counselor days: children who are isolated suffer. If you ask a child if s/he has friends, and then ask him/her to name those friends, and there is a flash of hesitation, you know you are dealing with a child suffering social isolation. Just so, adults who cannot identify some supportive relationships and what is good about those relationships is an adult who is emotionally isolated.

I ask questions that make sense to me; if they don’t make sense to you, please ask why I’m asking. Thanks!

Why Ask Me That? Part 1 of a Series on Questions in the Therapy Room

“It’s a lot of paperwork.” 

Yes, I agree, it is. And all that information is helpful and useful for me in what I presume is a shared project: making positive change in some aspect – or many aspects – of that client’s life. 

The number of people who simply skip sections, as if they were optional, or not relevant, is significant. This gives the opportunity to have some conversations about those questions, and their relevance.

For example:

If someone routinely shortchanges their sleep, health problems will develop. In the short term, irritability (which tends to mess up personal and work relationships), less efficient short-term memory (ditto), distractibility (ditto) and impulsivity (mega-ditto) are possible contributors to whatever the primary complaint may be.  So maybe we should address that, too!

If you are extremely extroverted and are working remotely and living alone, you have created a perfect petri dish for restlessness, depression, and dissatisfaction. Those are psychological and emotional factors that create problems across domains. Deliberately arranging adequate real interactions with others will be essential to meeting that basic need.

If you don’t have five or six people who you can identify as part of your social support system, such as friends, family, a mentoring colleague, etc., there may be a heightened risk for depression and anxiety.  That doesn’t mean you confide personal problems with all those folks; you might have someone who provides support and encouragement in career-related areas, some people you can pray with, people who you play sports or exercise with and enjoy lighter conversations.

There are no questions on my paperwork that are not rooted in helping the client and me have a grounded understanding of the client’s strengths, struggles, and emotional resources for making positive change. Just ask me.

Life-Changing Hacks

Confession: I really dislike the term “hack.” It sounds awful, like a data breach somewhere, drenching the dark web with the personal info of thousands of people. It also used to mean someone whose work was poorly done and usually rushed, or the work itself. Somehow it became slang for “something you can do to make things easier/simpler/better.”

So be it, then.  In the spirit of openness (in which I score extremely high in personality tests), here are seven “hacks” for a happier life:

  1. Spend at least 15 minutes a day sitting in silence. For me, it is prayer time. This is a powerful early-day practice. If you are religious, this is a good time to sit with Scripture, a devotional book if you use one, and a small notebook in which to write a brief response as part of your prayer. For some people of faith, opening with a short Scripture reading and sitting silently in a contemplative mode of prayer is better.

If you are not religious, use it as quiet meditation time, focusing on breathing in a way that feeds relaxation and focus.

Why it works:  The research on the benefits of such a meditative practice is robust: brain health, heart health, reduced depression and anxiety symptoms. For people of faith, it becomes an opportunity to listen and reflect on God’s presence in their lives and how they are called to live. Taking a few moments to formulate your thoughts and write to God can help anchor you into the experience. The act of writing – words of gratitude, questions, fears – helps with focus and invites you to be in dialogue.

  • Go on a news fast.  If something horrible that actually requires your attention happens or is imminent, like a hurricane or other disaster, you’ll find out about it. Otherwise, just skip the news for a week, or two, or more. Then titrate your dosage:  15 minutes a day, checking into two or three varied sources.

Why it works:  repeated exposure to what are often the same events, or people discussing those events, has the neurological effect of repeated distressing experiences and amplifies your stress level. By quickly reading, rather than watching and listening, you will be better able to glean information without being overly stimulated emotionally.

  • Once a week, avoid all electronics except:
    • Live interaction with loved ones at a distance
    • Shared experiences with family or friends such as watching a movie together, which you can then discuss over a meal.

Why it works:  you will necessarily be spending more time in the real world, either resting, being creative, or otherwise having your life rather than passively observing others’ lives.

  • Go outdoors every day, preferably in the morning.

Why it works:  Morning daylight helps with brain chemistry; it contributes to a better mood and improved sleep by getting your melatonin system set properly.  It is also a good time of day to get your beneficial Vitamin D exposure (check with your physician) and to take in the benefits of exposure to nature: the sky, the sights, sounds and smells of plants, the sight and sounds of animals.

  • Clean up your diet.  Experiment with giving up highly processed junk foods. If you are a “one toe in the water” type, pick one change at a time and stick with it. Add a small change a week. If you are a “cannonball into the pool” type, go all in: get rid of the chips, the fast foods, the super-sweetened snacks.  See how you feel after a couple of weeks, after the worst of the withdrawal has passed and your tastebuds start to recover.

Why it works:  junk food is addictive, hijacking your dopamine system; it leads to erratic moods both because of the direct up and down of dopamine and the very complex relationship between the gut and the brain. The research here is abundant and easy to find; simply put, you’ll feel better. Your energy level should be more stable, helping you feel more energetic and, without that brain/body overstimulation from processed snacks in the evening, you may even sleep better, which leads to number 6:

  • Be religious about sleep.  If you are a 7-hour-a-night person, get those 7 hours; if you are a 9-hour person, get the 9.  Since you will be consuming less electronic media you should be able to squeeze out the time.

Why it works:  Sleep is essential. It is when your brain, and the rest of your body, does a lot of its clean-up and repair work. Your brain uses sleep to sort out information, store memories, and do important work such as using your new, improved, healthier diet to rebuild your stress-and-junk-damaged hippocampi, amygdala, etc.  Try to go to bed and get up at around the same time every day. If you are skeptical, then be scientific about it: do this as a four-week experiment and then assess the outcome.

  • Be committed to a daily exercise routine appropriate to your health requirements.  Your physician can give you info on recommended guidelines and any limitations or considerations you need to bear in mind.  There is no one routine for everyone, but unless you are on doctor’s orders to remain resting and sedentary, there is something you could do in this area. You may have to start slow; you may have to scale back because you are burning out; you may need to add variety so you are addressing cardiovascular health, strength, flexibility and balance.

Why it works:  Well, look at the data!  We are engineered to move, not to sit for hours.  Regular exercise is good for physical and mental health, can help with social well-being for those who exercise with or around others, afford time in nature, and help with sleep and digestion. 

So, there you go.  Seven simple hacks for a happier life.  Most of them cost nothing; even healthier eating could start with a money-saving switch of water in lieu of sugar- or artificially-sweetened prepared beverages. So – all simple, all potentially free. Since it doesn’t cost anything – what’s the harm in giving it a one-month trial run?  If one month of free, simple changes could mean more well-being in multiple areas of life, that seems like a great bargain – cheaper than coming to therapy and paying me, or someone else, to tell you the same thing.

I could tell you, but you’re not going to like it: Anxious Youth

As you know, this column isn’t intended as psychotherapy or professional advice. It’s information and entertainment, and, I hope, the spark for some conversation with someone who can help with a problem. The problem here is anxiety in all its forms.

According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, about 31.9% of youth have some sort of anxiety disorder.  This would include diagnoses such as generalized anxiety, separation anxiety, panic disorder, and trauma disorders. It’s hard to believe this is accurate; if it is, then as a culture, things have gone horribly wrong. 

We know a lot about what works, and what doesn’t work for anxiety.  Isolation, the vortex of doom the internet can be, the misguided or malevolent support of random strangers online, endless social networking, and a sedentary, sleep-starved, junk-fed existence don’t work.  Overscheduling doesn’t work. Avoidance doesn’t work. Irresponsibility doesn’t work. So do the opposite.

Get off the devices except for schoolwork.

Get enough sleep. Go to bed at a set time, get up at a set time. Every day, even weekends.

Cut down on activities.

Read real books. Learn about other people’s interior lives via good fiction (that’s a primary reason that we read classic literature in school; to understand more about how other people think, feel, and respond to life’s events). Then talk about them. That means parents should read them, too.

Get physical activity.  A healthy young person needs at least two hours of activity a day, and ought to be standing, moving around, and active a big chunk of the rest of the time.  

Learn useful skills.  For example, everything it will take to manage one’s own money, car and home.

Socialize in person, often while doing something purposeful (whether that’s a sport, volunteering, or other activity).

Spend a lot of time in nature. If it can’t happen just about every day, plan a four- or five-hour chunk on the weekend.

Have chores and responsibilities for young people.  No, “school is not their job” and therefore nothing else is to be done around the house. How are they going to learn necessary life skills? Plus, who wants a spouse or roommate who thinks going to work covers them for any contribution to home and family life?

Learn mindfulness meditation skills, to slow down the stress response and “step back” from anxiety-provoking thoughts. This facilitates the cognitive restructuring of cognitive-behavioral therapy, in which new ways of thinking and behaving are identified and rehearsed.

…and try cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), preferably with at least one parent learning, too, to be coach and to help the parent. Anxious parents tend to teach their children fear-fueled ways of thinking and behaving, and anxious parents are apt to facilitate avoidance.  Avoidance is like jet fuel for anxiety. Find a licensed mental health professional who will work with you as a family to teach the skills. Keep in mind that CBT will work much better if the other parts of life are in healthy, working order – proper sleep, nutrition, exercise, etc.

To expand on an earlier point: parents, often your anxiety feeds your child’s anxiety. If you are behaving as if the world is a terrible, dangerous place, do not be surprised if your child responds the same way.  Making changes together to have a healthier, less anxious lifestyle will help the whole family.

I could tell you #3: Screening the Screens

#3 in a series: I can tell you, but you’re not going to like it.

Once again, I’m the fun-killer, offering information for your recreational purposes that you might not like hearing.

Thus far, I’ve discussed getting more sleep and more physical activity as ways to help children who seem restless, unhappy, unable to focus (except for electronics, usually).  If you have been experimenting with those changes – perhaps for your children, perhaps for yourself – and a few weeks have gone by, I suspect you have noticed a few changes.

You may be sleeping better and waking up more rested and alert. You may be naturally less reliant on caffeine and high-sugar foods to wake up or to get through your day.  If you were tracking it, you might also notice that you are spending less recreational time with electronics. If you were managing these changes for a child, you experienced some degree of pushback, possibly to the level of an addict being denied their drug of choice, because the brain becomes addicted to the rewards of social media, video games, etc., and it will take time to replace that addiction with healthy patterns.  If you were able to persist, within a few weeks you probably noticed positive changes in mood and behavior.

Some studies have supported the approach of adding positive changes before taking things away. For example, if a person needs to quit smoking, eat healthier and exercise, success is most likely to accrue if exercise is added first. This becomes an additional reward and incentive, and can help buffer the withdrawal from nicotine as well as withdrawal from addictive, highly processed foods. In that spirit, it seems it could be easier to have begun helping a child heal from the cultural damages that contribute to anxiety, depression, attentional problems, etc. by adding positive things (sleep, exercise and play) before directly taking away negative things (specifically, the largely unsupervised world of the online universe).

If your child has any unsupervised screen time, it is almost guaranteed they are seeing things you do not know they are seeing or want them to see. End of story. You think you have adequate controls, and firewalls; and somewhere far away, people with far more expertise in technology than most of us are busily creating pathways to circumvent parental controls.

As I have shared in other columns, one of my little escapes in a long work day may be a two to four-minute clip off the internet of some old movie: a dance scene from Mary Poppins, a short scene from Much Ado About Nothing, a few moments of Branagh’s Henry V, the latter not cheery but stunningly well done and quite grounding, as examples. These are my typical fare: dancing penguins, singing suffragettes and Shakespeare, but sometimes up will come next some horrible thing – R-rated, violent, hideous – so terrible that even shutting it down immediately is too much exposure.  From this I hypothesize that if you think your kiddo is happily watching perfectly clean children’s videos and do not supervise, you don’t know. You do not know whether some horror or corruption that was carefully created and marked with the right key words to intrude on that corner of the market is slipping into the stream.

Under the best of circumstances, if it were an hour or two of tap-dancing penguins, it is on too much time to surrender to passive entertainment without being selective. Most people will not just absent-mindedly pick up any book and read it for a couple of hours and then look up, surprised and resentful, when interrupted for food or water or homework. The internet, however, is something else: the endless parade of “talking” kittens, so-called “influencers” and worse contrive to steal time every day from many people. It’s not all bad, of course; I listen to educational lectures when I’m on the stationary bicycle six days a week. I’ve encouraged people to watch “The Chosen.” I’m in favor of well-researched educational programming. I’ve done car repairs under the tutelage of a mechanic on Youtube and am still stumbling through beginner Spanish with the internet, too.

If you are unconvinced about the use of the internet, watch the documentary, “The Social Dilemma.”

Cutting back on tech time is hard. You’re probably not, initially, going to like it, and odds are your child will fight you – hard.  We’re talking about your child’s well-being: their physical health, mental health, intellectual development and social skills. It’s worth the trouble. Try adding the deliberate reduction of entertainment with electronics to the improved sleep and physical activity habits.  Then see what happens.