The Impact of Poverty Food Insecurity on Personal

The Impact of Poverty & Food Insecurity on Personal & Emotional Wellbeing

The Facts: v v Poverty damages: it damages childhoods it damages life chances it damages society. Children from poorer backgrounds lag behind at all stages of education & learning. Poverty is associated with a higher risk of lifelong illness and premature death. Children living in a poor community are almost twice as likely to live in bad housing.

How Poverty affects Brain Development v v Poverty results in various acute & chronic stressors. The effects of the 9 months a baby spends in utero are far from negligible. The brain, made up of billions of neurons, is developing very quickly.

What are Neurons? Neurons are made of a cell at one end, with dendrites around it, then a long transmitter called an axon with a terminal at the other end.

How do neurons develop complexity? The more connections made across the dendrites, then the more a child learns.

What happens when a brain doesn’t get much stimulation? This Diagram shows the difference between a brain that has not had much stimulation: with one that has had a lot of stimulation:

Daily Parent-Child Speech Interactions Source. Adapted from Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experiences of Young American Children, by B. Hart and T. Risley, 1995

The Emotional Keyboard

Healthy Emotional Development To grow up emotionally healthy, children need: v v a strong reliable caregiver who provides consistent and unconditional love, guidance and support. safe, predictable and stable environments. many hours each week of harmonious reciprocal interactions…. this is crucial in the first 6 - 2 4 months of infant’s lives to help them develop a wider range of healthy emotions, including gratitude, forgiveness and empathy. enrichment through personalised, increasingly complex activities.

Important Areas of the Brain

Stress in Relation to Brain Development v v v In response to overwhelming stress in young children: The brain drives the "fight or flight response" and release of stress hormones. The young child has limited capacity to manage this overwhelming stress and experiences increased fear and anxiety (physical and emotional sensations). Excessive anxiety & high levels of cortisol (stress hormone) affect the brain’s ability to regulate stress, and to complete higher ordered functions. Significant early adversity can lead to lifelong problems (physical and mental health).

Stress as children become teenagers Drug abuse starts early & peaks during the teen years. This increased risk is partly due to adolescents’ heightened sensitivity to social influences (friends) and their still developing brain; particularly areas critical to judgement and impulse control.

Malnutrition: a stressor

The Hidden Nutrient Revolution

The Malnutrition Conundrum OBESITY ? BOTH OR UNDER NUTRITION ?

The Food Scandal

Omega 3 The myelin sheath is mostly made from Omega 3 oils If you suffer from high cholesterol, high blood pressure, eczema, acne or psoriasis, chances are you are suffering from an omega-3 deficiency.

Vitamin D

Foods to make us wary Daily allowance of salt: 1 -3 yrs: 2 g 4 -6 yrs: 3 g 7 -10 yrs: 5 g

Life Chances related to lifestyle.

Sugar……. . which sort?

Seeds of change Alexandra Rose Vouchers

And Finally…………