Institute For The Future

Writing Stress into Children's Brains and Genes

As a review article in JAMA from last year notes, a growing body of research shows that environmental stress, pollutants, and exposure to other such things in early childhood dramatically increases the likelihood of adult diseases and other lifelong mental and physical health issues. Although a lot of this is old, the more demonstrable biological effects of stress and pollution suggest that, at some point, moving toward more resilient notions of wellbeing should theoretically, at least, prompt a much greater focus on early childhood and prenatal health.

 

More realistically, I think this also suggests a lot of possibility for citizen activism and other responses at community levels.

 

See, for example: Shonkoff, Jack P., et al. “Neuroscience, Molecular Biology, and the Childhood Roots of Health Disparities: Building a New Framework for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention.” JAMA. June 2, 2009.