The New York Post e-Edition

SUPER KIDS!

Children can take control of their own health after the pandemic ravaged it

By MARY KAY LINGE

STUDY after study has confirmed what parents across the country long suspected: the coronavirus pandemic — not just the disease itself, but the lockdowns and restrictions that governments enforced to combat it — has had a devastating impact on children’s physical and mental health.

“Now we’re seeing the fallout,” pediatrician Dr. Nina L. Shapiro told The Post. “And I don’t feel like it’s over by any stretch.”

A study of more than 400,000 children and teens released by the Centers for Disease Control in September found a “substantial and alarming” increase in obesity since March 2020, when schools and businesses were shuttered to slow the spread of COVID-19. Kids ages 5 to 11 saw the worst of the weight gain, another group of researchers found.

In August, psychologists at the University of Calgary reported that mood disorders had nearly doubled among children worldwide since the spring of 2020, with up to 25 percent showing signs of clinical depression.

And routine childhood vaccinations dropped last year by up to 63 percent in some areas, the CDC disclosed in October, sparking worries that outbreaks of measles and mumps are on the horizon.

The alarming trends are rooted in the severe disruptions American families experienced over the last 20 months.

“We adults felt tremendous fear, which we projected onto our children,” Shapiro said. “We forget how much children, even the youngest toddlers, can pick up on our emotions, our stress and our worries.”

For the millions of kids who missed out on sports and outdoor play, fell into poor

eating habits, spent whole days glued to their electronics, and were beset by anxiety, getting “back to normal” is going to take some effort.

In “The Ultimate Kids’ Guide to Being Super Healthy” (Sky Pony Press), out now, Shapiro, a Los Angeles-based ear, nose and throat specialist, offers a hopeful antidote. She believes that kids as young as 6 can help their families return to healthier habits — if they appreciate how their bodies work.

“They can use real science and real words to understand these issues on a very basic level,” Shapiro said. “And then as they make decisions, they’re going to think about them a little differently.”

Her book convinces children to make healthy food choices by explaining how their muscles and cells use the carbohydrates, proteins and fats they eat — and alerting them to the way different foods may make them feel: energetic and alert, or cranky and run-down. She encourages kids to get at least one hour of physical exercise every day by demonstrating that the heart is a muscle, in need of regular workouts to remain healthy.

But sleep is the hidden post-pandemic health hazard that worries Shapiro the most, especially as the anxieties and upheavals of the pandemic wreaked havoc on children’s bedtime habits.

“Without those ordinary benchmarks of getting up, getting dressed, leaving the house, there was no end of the day,” Shapiro said. “And for kids, poor sleep affects everything: their nutrition choices, their exercise tolerance, their school day, their ability to handle stress.”

In her book, Shapiro teaches children about the sleep cycle, the two-hour block of progressively deeper stages of slumber when our brains process the day’s stimuli and our bodies grow and heal.

Crucially, broken or insufficient sleep is linked to an imbalance in leptin and ghrelin, the “hunger hormones,” causing excess appetite and food cravings the next day — perhaps a contributing factor in the recent childhood obesity explosion.

Children need five sleep cycles, or about 10 hours, of sleep each night for optimal health, Shapiro said.

“And it’s not just the number of hours, it’s the sleep quality,” she added.

Here’s how kids (and their parents, too) can re-establish healthy nighttime habits.

■ “Keep a regular bedtime, even on weekends,” the doctor writes. “Believe it or not, there’s no such thing as catching up on sleep.”

■ Step away from the computer — or the TV, the video game, the cellphone — at least one hour before bedtime. “Being on a screen right before you sleep can disrupt how deeply you sleep and how well you dream,” she explains.

■ No snacks for that last hour, either. “The kitchen is closed,” Shapiro writes. “You can have a snack after dinner but not right before bed.” Try reading — to yourself, or aloud to someone else — as a calming pre-sleep ritual to signal your body that it’s time to settle down.

■ “Lights out!” Shapiro recommends. “Sleeping in the darkness is the best way to sleep.”

■ In short, “sleep is like the best power food, coaching session, and even study session you can get,” she tells kids.

Across

1 The Phillie Phanatic and Bernie Brewer 8 Like some goods 15 Minimal 20 How big dogs may travel 21 Berry, for one 22 Not warranted 23 Commander of primitive fish? 25 Goes (through) carefully 26 Ginseng and rooibos 27 Early hrs. 28 Muslim judge 29 NFL commentator Michael 30 Leave out 32 Longings 34 Open-__ shoes 35 Festival for dugong relatives? 40 Rage 41 Disney’s “__ and the Detectives” 43 Tons 44 Burn lightly 46 Went for the worm 49 Tiny crustacean herald? 54 Lose it 56 Blood system letters 57 Informal clothes 58 Former Yugoslav leader 59 Key next to D 62 Unsurpassed 66 Italian wine region 67 Help for little fish? 71 Words with a hand up, maybe 72 Magician who is a two-time “America’s Got Talent” winner 74 Natural light refractor 75 Eco-friendly certification letters 76 Most stylish 80 Pirate’s cry 81 Jumping, as a joint 82 Reason to go to a seafood restaurant? 88 Danson of TV 89 Disney’s vision of tomorrow 90 Make up (for) 91 Pre-storm state 93 Warrior prefix 94 Crustacean seller? 98 “Terrible” czar 102 Status car 105 Contrary to popular belief, throwing it won’t endanger birds 106 Architect Jones 107 Dispensed, with “out” 108 Bout decision 111 Amazing 114 Actor Quinn 115 Marine mammal in the air? 117 Silly joke response, perhaps 118 Symbol of love 119 Without value 120 Baden-Powell who co-founded the Girl Guide movement 121 Marginal moves 122 2002 Soderbergh sci-fi film

Down

1 Tennis error 2 Opposite of retro3 Reduced-speed road sign symbol 4 Union __, Dow Chemical subdivision 5 Skin, e.g. 6 Shampoo brand 7 What sweeps sweep 8 Discoverer of the first ocean route to India 9 Nails the final 10 High pt. 11 Neighborhood 12 Origin 13 Those, to José 14 Connection letters 15 Vader creator 16 Sukiyaki ingredient 17 Looking up to 18 Sink 19 QBs’ targets 24 “And the people bowed and prayed / To the __ god they made”: Paul Simon, “The Sound of Silence” 28 Nautical pronoun 31 New Age musician John 32 Talk out of, with “from” 33 One reading signs 35 Peace, in Russian 36 Boxer Laila 37 Power source: Abbr. 38 Disaster response gp. 39 Stupefies 42 NYSE, e.g. 44 React to falling prices, perhaps 45 Gradually impart 46 Almost-ready products 47 Word with whiskey or wolfhound 48 Solo’s opposite, in music 50 Comic actor Bert 51 Angle iron 52 Amos at the piano 53 Chips partner 55 Indicate 59 Twill fabric 60 Degree of uncommonness, in some games 61 Pittsburgh’s __ Park 63 Suggestion for a sprain 64 Author Binchy 65 Stopped 68 Many a Prado painting 69 Name near Uzbekistan, on maps 70 Crucifix letters 73 It’s often an attic 77 Jazzy James 78 Demonstrate 79 Besides Mo., the only state that borders eight others 81 NHL Flames’ home 82 Off-road vehicle 83 Yet to happen 84 Got a goal against 85 Lang. of about 200,000 Americans 86 Letters in old dates 87 Old Mideast org. 92 Seat of New York’s Nassau County 94 Prof.’s degree 95 Most developed 96 Earth tones 97 Hang on to 99 More jungly 100 1999 ATP Player of the Year 101 To boot 103 Look parents caution children about 104 __ on the dollar 106 Urge forward 108 “If so ... ” 109 17th-century privateer 110 Folklore fiend 112 Toi et moi 113 Roughly 114 Simile words 115 NFC West team 116 Term of endearment

POSTSCRIPT BOOKS

en-us

2021-12-05T08:00:00.0000000Z

2021-12-05T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://nypost.pressreader.com/article/282342568128858

New York Post