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1-Page Summary of Childhood Disrupted
Overview
We all have painful memories from our childhood. Whether it was being in the middle of a divorce, losing a pet or even losing your parents, these experiences can stay with you for life.
Some adversity is good for children, but too much can be problematic. Children who have experienced a lot of stress are more likely to suffer from physical and emotional problems later in life.
Stress is a normal part of life, but it can be dangerous if we don’t know how to handle it. Learning about stress and how to deal with it will help us overcome the effects of stress in our lives.
In this passage, you’ll learn about the body’s reaction to stress; why forgiveness is so important and how it can help with your brain’s ability to deal with stress.
Big Idea #1: Our physical experience of stress has two stages.
Some people experience stress once a week, while others face it almost every day. Stress comes in many forms and at varying levels of intensity. We have built-in mechanisms to deal with stress, though we may not realize it until we’re actually experiencing it.
The human body has two responses to stress: it gets ready for the stressful event or relaxes after the event. When you experience a stressful event, your brain signals other parts of your body to get ready for it. This is called the fight-or-flight response.
Bird Dogs
Imagine you’re in bed when suddenly, you hear a noise. Your heart starts pounding and your body stiffens as you prepare for danger.
A few seconds after you hear a noise, you realize it’s just your son returning to his room for another snack. Your muscles and body relax, the adrenal glands decrease their activity, and the production of stress hormones ceases.
These lightning-fast responses reveal just how capable our bodies are of dealing with stress. However, most people think that any form of stress is bad because they believe it will harm them in the long run. The truth is that moderate amounts can actually increase your ability to deal with stressful situations in the future.
Big Idea #2: While chronic stress is definitely debilitating, moderate stress can actually make you stronger.
Did you have a parent who was overprotective of you when you were growing up? Overprotective parents are advised against these days, but it makes sense to protect your children from stressful situations.
Children are highly sensitive to stress. So much so that stressful childhood experiences can haunt them in the form of chronic stress during their adult lives. Remember how our bodies react when we’re stressed? It’s a two-step process: first, our bodies release hormones like adrenaline and cortisol, which help us deal with the immediate threat; then if those threats don’t go away, they lead to long term changes in our body (like high blood pressure). That’s exactly what happens when children experience more stress than they can handle.
For example, if a child is exposed to stressful situations at home, she will likely have trouble dealing with stress as an adult. However, not all stressful experiences are damaging in the long run.
Researchers at the University of Buffalo found that people who had normal childhoods were just as likely to be disabled by back pain as those whose childhoods were extremely traumatic.
However, those who had experienced only moderate levels of stress during childhood did not have as many back problems. This was because they developed resilience from their experiences.
