Parenting for Wellbeing

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Show notes: Resources for strengthening the Six Pillars

Vitality

Exercise: Aim to have your teen exercising 3 to 5 times a week for at least 20 minutes. Key is getting the heart rate elevated.

Nutrition: Our students need to drink more water.

Sleep: Our research shows that many of our teens are not sleeping enough. Aim for at least 7 hours a night.

Mind-training: Need to take time every day for quiet contemplation--this can include meditation, mindfulness, Tai chi, Yoga, Breath-work, prayer, journaling etc.

Very readable book that outlines the key functions of sleep. "Now that I’ve read Matthew Walker’s Why We Sleep, I realize that my all-nighters, combined with almost never getting eight hours of sleep, took a big toll. " From Bill Gates.

We all know that exercise is good for the heart and the body, but is also critical for the brain. Written in an engaging storytelling style, Spark, The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain by John J. Ratey, MD draws upon recent groundbreaking research, to explain how exercise enhances learning, lowers stress and anxiety, and can help the aging brain stay young. More from this review.

While most of our students eat three meals a day, are they eating healthy?? It is clear they need more water throughout the day.

Here is a summary of the rules

We are all, probably, breathing in ways that are not only not optimal, but may be harming us.

Interview with James Nestor

Author of Breathe: The New Science of a Lost Art.

During this conversation, we cover some of the fascinating – objective – insights James has uncovered in his research. He explains the benefits of nasal breathing, the importance of masticating and how diet affects the skeletal development of our children’s mouths. James reveals how learning to chew more, chewing on one side and using mouth tape at night has changed the structure of his own mouth. His airways – and his wellbeing – have never been better. We discuss the long list of conditions breathing may improve; how athletes can benefit. And James reveals the therapeutic process behind some ‘super breathing’ techniques.

Box Breathing: 4 seconds each of inhale, hold, exhale, hold

Engagement

Flow: Key to engagement

When students have experiences that they become intensely emerged in, lots of good things happen. Here is a summary of the power of flow:

Needs to be a task you find intrinsically rewarding
Need clear goals
need clear feedback
Challenge much match student skills.
Intense focus on present moment.

ISKL has a rich set of offerings beyond the classroom. Your teen should involved in at least one. Check out Peter Benson's Sparks: How Parents Can Ignite the Hidden Strengths of Teenagers.

Strengths: Key to Engagement

Given that all students have taken the VIA character strengths assessment, we can leverage this to find activities and hobbies that feed their strengths. Strengths are those elements that energize us.

Have you taken the VIA Character Assessment? Check it out--it is free and and available in many languages.

Perseverance

Angela Lee Duckworth outlines the significance of perseverance. Yes, grit can be learned and cultivated. Read the book here.

Optimism

Optimistic people not only live longer, but are also luckier. And optimism can be learned. Read Martin Seligman's excellent book.

Connectedness

Other people matter. Having a best friend at school (or work) is key to engagement and satisfaction.

Happiness and positive emotions

Aim to cultivate three positive emotions for every negative emotion. Positive emotions help us broaden and build.

Check out Dan Gilbert's Ted Talk on the Surprising science of Happiness and Shawn Achor's the Happiness Advantage

Learn about the tips we offer the students to improve their wellbeing.

Engagement

Perseverance

Optimism

Connectedness

Happiness

Take responsibility for your own wellbeing

Measure your own

PERMAH Wellbeing survey not only gives you a score, but a plan to improve your wellbeing. Developed by the same people who created the EPOCH profiler.

Tips for navigating stress

Panoramic Vision

Taking your eyes off the screen and looking to the horizon while soften your gaze (ie not focuses on anything) is a relatively easy and fast way to help reset our nervous system and calm us down.

Go for a walk

or bike ride or even a car ride

as your eyes respond very well to the moving landscape--what neaursurgeons call Optic Flow

Neuroscientist explains these tips

Stanford Neuroscientist, Andrew Huberman explains breath-work and panoramic vision and how it helps to regulate stress.

Here are a couple of excellent interviews with Andrew on Tom Bilyeu, and Joe Rogan

Check out our Counseling Newsletter: Parenting to the 3rd Culture

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