The three needs of well-being

Your children have three physical needs that must be met for well-being and they can usually be met with lifestyle changes, not drugs:

Sleep - Dr. Timothy Roehrs, Director of the Sleep Disorders Research Center at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, did a study on young people and found when they get enough sleep, their sensitivity to pain was reduced to the same degree as a tablet of codeine and they were much happier and alert.

Diet - Harvard Medical School professor of psychiatry Dr. Andrew Stoll has found that eating fish can be just as effective as prescription drugs in elevating moods.

Exercise - "I like to say that exercise is like taking a little Prozac or a little Ritalin at just the right moment," says John J. Ratey, MD, an associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and author of A User's Guide to the Brain. "Exercise is really for the brain, not the body. It affects mood, vitality, alertness, and feelings of well-being."

Sleep, diet and exercise are the trinity of good physical and emotional health in children. Make sure these three are priorities before resorting to pharmacology.

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