Children, Stress Reduction and the Immune System

Stress reduction can increase children's resistance to recurrent respiratory infections for up to twelve months after treatment.

Prof. Peter Drummond in West Australia undertook two studies of forty five children with greater than ten infections per annum whom he treated with guided imagery and relaxation.

The number of infections and the duration of infections both decreased and this effect persisted for at least twelve months.

Psychological treatment had a definite influence on child's immune function therefore stress reduction is important even in illnesses that are not generally considered to be stress-related.

But formal stress management is not usually necessary.  An important aspect of management of illness is rest and recuperation.  Just a quiet time at home until children feel better.

Young children are the best example of what to do when unwell.  They are not influenced by what they should be doing, just by how they feel.  Their response to viral infections is dramatic.  They just flop and lie around listless for a couple of days.  Then, just when we think that there must be something serious and sinister going on, they bounce back full of beans leaving bedraggled, sleep-deprived parents in their wake.
We would do well to follow their example.  If only we could!

Convalescence, when we rest during and following an illness, is a concept which is completely lost to our society.  We live in an age when there is no time to get sick.  If we do get sick, we want the quick fix so that we can get back to work and on with our lives as soon as possible.  Or better still, not require any time off at all.

We also apply the same rules to our children.

Parents are busy and often both working.  Emergency baby-sitting for a sick child is difficult unless a family is lucky enough to have available extended family or a flexible and sympathetic work situation.  Thus circumstances demand that often, when unwell, children are packed off to day-care, pre-school or school with a dose of pain killers, cough suppressant and nasal decongestant.  When what they really need is a quiet time at home with lots of rest until they are completely well.     

Nowadays, convalescence is often a luxury that many families just can’t afford.