HOUSTON — April is Stress Awareness Month, offering up an important opportunity to talk about the various stressors that people face in their daily lives.
Dr. Ashley Okotie-Eboh, a doctor with Memorial Hermann, points out that one of the significant stressors that kids are facing today is social media.
"A lot of the older generations, we sort of entered into social media a bit later. But we see that kids nowadays are actually starting to dip their toes into TikTok and even Facebook a little bit earlier on than perhaps our generations are," said Dr. Okotie-Eboh. "It certainly can be a cause of stress, especially if there's not good education on filters that are used to alter skin, alter body proportions, alter your body image, and sometimes that can actually set unrealistic expectations for kids and adolescents on what I'm supposed to look like, what I'm supposed to wear, what products I'm supposed to use or even potentially what makeup I should be wearing."
Dr. Okotie-Eboh emphasizes that parents need to be vigilant and monitor their children's behavior for any signs of stress, anxiety and depression. Younger children may show irritability and anger, while older teens and young adults may become withdrawn from family and friends, have changes in sleep and appetite or lose interest in hobbies.
"It's important to have an underlying understanding that the home is a safe space and that kids can be free to express their emotions, their troubles, their difficulties and even their frustration with their parents," said Dr. Okotie-Eboh.
She suggests that mental health starts at the individual level and it's crucial to take care of oneself to build a healthy family. Adequate sleep, regular exercise and following a balanced diet are essential for physical health.
"Making sure that you're periodically seeing a physician or a health care provider or primary care physician, making sure that you're getting baseline labs so the medical side is all checked out," Dr. Okotie-Eboh added.
Mindfulness techniques can help deal with stress and anxiety.
"One easy one, which is called '4-7-8 breathing,' is go into a place where you could comfortably be on your own and taking an inhale over four seconds, holding it for seven seconds, and then exhaling over eight seconds," Dr. Okotie-Eboh described. "Doing that three or four times actually can lower your heart rate and bring everything to sort of a calm focus."
She also mentioned the 5-4-3-2-1 method for coping with anxiety. It involves taking a moment to recognize five things you can see, four things you can touch, three things you can hear, two things you can smell and one thing you can taste.
"It can be helpful to ground our feelings and our thoughts and our senses, our five senses," said Dr. Okotie-Eboh described. "That can actually be helpful for my patients with panic attacks, where a feeling of being overwhelmed and anxiety can roll off and exacerbate into a bigger feeling of panic. So sometimes stopping that overwhelming cascade in its tracks with grounding can be another helpful tool as well."