The second life changing book that I read this Summer is "The Deepest Well" by Dr. Nadine Burke Harris. Everyone needs to read this book. I'm going to have the link to Dr. Nadine's TedTalk on the subject available so that you can get a preview. Dr. Nadine is a Pediatrician who has done ground breaking work to help us understand the impact that Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) can have on a person's growth and development, physical health, and long-term well-being. The results are mostly consistent across races and cultures. The questionnaire that she initially used has ten questions and each "yes" gets one point. If you score 6 or more on this survey that asks questions about your life experiences to before you were 18 years old, your life expectancy is 20 years shorter than people who have no ACEs. Children with 4 or more ACEs are 32 times as likely to have learning and behavior problems. The result of the stress on our bodies, especially during childhood, is what we see showing up in our society. We see it in our schools, our prisons and our healthcare system. The child's brain forms more than one million neural connections every second during the first years of life. High doses of maternal stress are related to premature birth, low birth weight, and increased rates of miscarriage. What can we do? Dr. Nadine shares that many people with overactive stress responses don't know what is happening to their bodies. They start chasing down symptoms instead of getting to the source of the problem. She recommends six things for adults and children with toxic stress - sleep, exercise, nutrition, mindfulness, mental health and healthy relationships. It turns out that if you have even one attentive, loving and caring caregiver, children are able to deal with stress better. "ACEs and toxic stress thrive on secrecy and shame, both at the individual level and the societal level." People with high ACEs are shown to be at higher risk for depression, anxiety, asthma, autoimmune disease, food allergies, cardiac disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, migraines, fibromyalgia, stomach ulcers, the list goes on and on. What are some of the questions on the survey you ask? If your parents are separated or divorced, you get a point. If you live with a problem drinker/alcoholic or someone who uses street drugs you get a point. If someone in your household is depressed or mentally ill, you get a point. If you have a parent or adult in your household that swears at you, insults you or humiliates you, you get a point. This book spoke to me because of my personal experiences and what I see everyday in those we care for. I know my family history. This book spoke to me because some in my family, including me have high ACE scores. We have to acknowledge that what we are doing is not working. Our children are suffering. Our society is suffering. Some of the experiences that we have had that we look at as "normal" are not normal. Some of the things that we have exposed our children to are harmful. We have to make some changes.
How childhood trauma affects health across a lifetime | Nadine Burke Harris
Ted Talk
Find out your ACE score: https://www.theannainstitute.org/Finding%20Your%20ACE%20Score.pdf
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