Wellness Unmasked: Raising Resilient Kids: Anxiety, ADHD, and the Power of Mindfulness

Summary

Podcast Summary: Wellness Unmasked: Raising Resilient Kids: Anxiety, ADHD, and the Power of Mindfulness

Podcast Information:

• Title: The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
• Host/Author: iHeartPodcasts
• Episode: Wellness Unmasked: Raising Resilient Kids: Anxiety, ADHD, and the Power of Mindfulness
• Release Date: June 3, 2025

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Introduction

In the episode titled "Wellness Unmasked: Raising Resilient Kids: Anxiety, ADHD, and the Power of Mindfulness," hosted by Dr. Nicole Safire, listeners are guided through a critical examination of the rising trends in ADHD and anxiety diagnoses among children. Dr. Safire is joined by Nikki Robbins, a seasoned childhood development specialist, to explore the complexities of these mental health challenges and to discuss effective, non-medication-based strategies for fostering resilience in children.

Rising Trends in ADHD and Anxiety Diagnoses

Dr. Nicole Safire opens the discussion by referencing the recent MAHA report released by Secretary Kennedy of the Department of Health and Human Services. She highlights the alarming increase in ADHD diagnoses, noting that "ADHD diagnoses in children increased by 43% between 2007 and 2016" (22:00). Safire underscores that by 2020, nearly 10% of children in the United States were diagnosed with ADHD, with approximately 62% of them receiving medication. This surge coincides with the COVID-19 pandemic, exacerbating mental health issues as reported by the CDC.

Overprescription of Medications

The conversation delves into concerns about the overprescription of stimulant medications like Adderall and Ritalin. Safire points out, "The FDA required these medications to carry black box warnings because of an increased risk of suicide in children and teens taking them" (35:00). She emphasizes that while medications can be life-saving for some, their long-term effects on developing brains remain uncertain. Safire expresses concern that the overuse of these medications may leave those who genuinely need them struggling to access necessary treatments due to high demand.

Nikki Robbins on Non-Medication Strategies

Nikki Robbins introduces herself as a specialist with extensive experience in emotional regulation and mindfulness for children. She outlines her approach to building strong emotional foundations in children through simple, everyday actions that promote calm and connection before considering clinical interventions.

Natural Strategies to Foster Resilience

Robbins shares a comprehensive "top 10" list of natural methods to help children manage anxiety and build resilience:

1. Time in Nature: Exposure to green spaces releases phytophtytoncides, natural chemicals from trees that lower cortisol levels. "Being out in nature boosts our alpha brain waves, which are associated with relaxed attention" (28:00).

2. Time by Water: Listening to and observing water can activate the brain's default mode network, aiding in reflection and calming nervous thoughts. "The rhythm and sound of water activates our default mode network" (27:54).

3. Movement: Physical activities like walking, dancing, or playing catch increase dopamine and serotonin levels, which regulate mood and focus.

4. Cold Water Splashing: Activating the dive reflex by splashing cold water on the face or wrists can slow the heart rate and calm the body. Robbins explains, "Splashing cool water on your face activates the dive reflex, which slows down our heart and calms our body" (29:39).

5. Sensory Engagement: Using sensory tools such as sour candies or soothing scents like lavender can promote relaxation. Robbins notes the effectiveness of sensory experiences in calming children (29:51).

6. Connection with Others: Emotional safety through eye contact, warm tones, and physical touch can help regulate a child's anxiety. "Anxiety can be contagious. If we have it, our kids can pick up on it" (32:00).

7. Acts of Service: Engaging in acts of kindness raises oxytocin levels, combating loneliness and boosting self-esteem.

8. Journaling: Encouraging children to free-write enhances self-awareness and reduces the intensity of their emotions through affect labeling.

9. Mindfulness Techniques: Practices like the 5-4-3-2-1 method and mindful listening shift focus away from anxious thoughts, promoting logical reasoning and calmness.

10. Avoidance of Overprotection: Allowing children to face manageable challenges fosters growth and teaches them that anxiety is a finite experience. Robbins emphasizes, "Avoidance is making us feel good temporarily, but it prevents growth and strengthens anxiety over time" (35:30).

The Role of the Vagus Nerve and Breathing Techniques

The discussion highlights the vagus nerve's critical role in regulating the body's relaxation response. Robbins explains that intentional breathing, such as diaphragmatic breathing and long exhales, stimulates the vagus nerve, helping to deactivate the fight-or-flight response. "Intentional breathing can slow your heart rate and calm your nervous system" (37:30).

When to Seek Professional Help

While natural strategies can be highly effective, Robbins acknowledges that persistent fear and anxiety may necessitate professional intervention. She advises parents to watch for signs such as sudden behavior changes, declining academic performance, social withdrawal, and expressions of hopelessness. Seeking help is portrayed as a strength and a form of care rather than a failure, with therapies like cognitive-behavioral therapy offering significant benefits.

Conclusion and Takeaways

Dr. Nicole Safire and Nikki Robbins conclude by reiterating the importance of addressing the root causes of anxiety and ADHD in children through holistic, science-backed methods before considering medication. They advocate for a balanced approach that includes lifestyle changes alongside, or even prior to, medical interventions. Safire emphasizes, "We have to try some things before jumping to solutions that come with significant risks" (40:17).

Robbins adds, "Understanding what works for each child and helping them develop healthy coping strategies is essential in navigating the increasing stresses of modern life" (42:41).

Notable Quotes:

• Dr. Nicole Safire: "The MAHA report highlights a significant increase in ADHD diagnoses among children with over 3.4 million currently on medications for it" (22:00).
• Nikki Robbins: "When your brain feels safe again, this is instead of the sympathetic. It's the parasympathetic nervous system…we want to get our kids from this fight or flight back into rest and digest" (25:45).
• Nikki Robbins: "These are the moments that allow them to grow. These are the moments that allow them to strengthen" (33:33).

Final Thoughts

The episode of "Wellness Unmasked" serves as a crucial resource for parents seeking to understand and navigate the complexities of their children's mental health amid rising diagnoses of ADHD and anxiety. By emphasizing natural, actionable strategies and advocating for mindful, informed approaches to mental wellness, Dr. Safire and Nikki Robbins provide valuable insights into raising resilient and emotionally healthy children.

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This summary provides an in-depth overview of the "Wellness Unmasked" episode, focusing on the substantive discussion between Dr. Nicole Safire and Nikki Robbins while omitting advertisements and non-content segments.

Transcript

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[Dr. Nicole Safire]

Welcome to Wellness on Mass. I'm Dr. Nicole Safire, your host, mom and forever truth seeker. And today I want to dive into something really important to all of us. I'm sure you have heard the headlines or seen them a little bit about the recent Maha report that came out, put out by Secretary Kennedy, the HHS secretary. It was met with a lot of fanfare. A lot of people were excited about it because he made a lot of promises before he dropped out of his own presidential campaign race to join President Trump. But he has been talking about something that for parents, physicians, just humans, we all should be interested in, and that's chronic illness in our country. Now, I don't want to get into the entire report because that is more than just one episode, but there was one aspect of the report that I thought was really interesting that I absolutely wanted to touch on. One of it was talking about the rise in ad, ADHD and anxiety diagnoses in our children. And more specifically about how much we're actually medicating children. And not just medicating children. Because obviously if there is a proven benefit to treating someone you want to do that, if you have good outcomes and well documented benefits, then what is the concern? Well, the problem is the benefits of some of these medications, especially in children, sometimes have more risks than even benefits. And the overall benefit or success isn't the best documented. So I think it's a really interesting point that they're bringing up now. Mind you, what this report was was just pointing out problems. They threw out a whole bunch of fancy statistics, some of which I could probably argue for and a few I could argue maybe against. Maybe there was a little bit of misrepresentation of some of the data. But overall, the concept of what they're saying holds true and it's not new. This is something that we've kind of known for decades. This is just the first time that our federal institutions are saying, we're going to do something about this. So right now they're pointing out the problems. They have a couple of months to turn those problems into some solutions that are actionable by the government. Now, obviously, that does take a little bit of A pause because we want to make sure we don't have so much government oversight and intrusion. We are already have a ton in the doctor patient relationship. We don't want there to be even more. But I always think that doing deep dives and looking into the data, especially when it comes to our children, is very important. So let's talk about the basic facts. The MAHA report highlights a significant increase in ADHD diagnoses among children with over 3.4 million currently on medications for it. So the report expresses concerns over possibly over prescribing of these stimulant medications and other psychiatric drugs for children, suggesting that this trend may actually be contributing to a broader public health issues. When we talk about the over prescribing, well, what are the numbers? Well, when you say ADHD medication. So ADHD is attention deficit hyperactivity disorders. Now, this diagnosis, just like autism spectrum and has broadened over the years. So while we see a rise in the incidence or the diagnosis of it, we also have to know that we have a broader diagnostic criteria so more people fit in to the diagnoses. So the medications commonly used for ADHD are stimulants, like with the names of Adderall and Ritalin. Now, these have seen a dramatic rise in use. Between 2007 and 2016, ADHD diagnoses in children increased by 43%. That's according to JAMA Network. This isn't just, you know, RFK Jr saying something on the fly. This is actually documented in scientific literature. And in 2020, about 6.1 million children in the United States alone. That's nearly 10% of all kids in the United States have been given the diagnosis of ADHD, with 62% of them taking medication. So about 10% of our children have been diagnosed with ADHD and nearly 2/3 of them are actually on medications for it. And this is from the CDC. Prescriptions for stimulants among adolescents rose by nearly 25% between 2020 and 2021, with the biggest spike seen in teenage girls. Well, this is based off of a CDC report that came out in 2023. I don't think anybody is surprised by this. What happened during that time? That was Covid. We had data during COVID By August 2020, Fair Health actually put out reports showing a rise in kids and adolescents going to the emergency room not for broken bones because they weren't outside playing, but for mental health crises. So we knew the kids were not okay. They already weren't okay before COVID and it's getting much worse. Since then. And we can point fingers all we want. It's from the use of technology, it's social media, it's the bullying, it's Covid, it's all of these other things. So in addition to the stimulants for ADHD, a 2022 study in the journal Pediatrics found that antidepressant prescriptions for adolescents, or, you know, kids aged 12 to 17 increased by almost 40% from 2015 and 2019. And that was before COVID During the COVID pandemic, there was a dramatic spike in new antidepressant prescriptions among teenagers, again, particularly girls, up over 60% from 2020 to 2021. I'm sorry, guys, but this is a devastating number. Our kids are not okay. And we have to take a pause for a second. What's going on? Yes, there has to do with our rise in technology. Absolutely. There's also underlying social, environmental, even dietary issues that may be being overlooked. And maybe we should be focusing on these a little bit more before we're jumping in to the medication based solutions. Because the long term effects of psychiatric medications in developing brains actually remain quite uncertain and understudied, despite the fact so many kids are on them. I can say that there are black box warnings on these medications because they themselves have a risk of suicide with them. The FDA required the medications to be putting black box warnings because of an increased risk of suicide in children and teens taking the medications. We're giving these kids medications to try and make them better, in a better place mentally. Yet the very medications we're giving them come with a black box warning of suicide risk. And when suicide is one of the leading causes of death for those 15 to 29 globally and the second leading cause of death for kids 10 to 14 and 15 to 24 in the United States. This is a problem. Maybe we're giving too many kids too many medications. Now, I'm not saying we should just do away with these medications altogether. Absolutely not. In fact, for some families, these medications are complete lifesavers. They make a child be able to be successful in school, successful on after school programs and social activities, and going on into their professional activities. Sometimes the brain needs help with medications. It's just the way it is. Our brains are not all formed the same, but not all. Every case is alike. And while one child may truly benefit from these medications, I guarantee not everyone needs them. Certainly not everyone who's been prescribed them. I am in the RFK junior camp on this one. I think we're over prescribing our kids these medications. And is that because the parents are rushing to the doctors to get the medication? Is it because the doctors are rushing to prescribe? I don't think there's anything nefarious going on. I think parents are worried for their children. They're probably. They've probably exhausted other. Other things to do. They probably have a friend with a kid on medication or maybe a school has approached them and said, you should talk to the doctor about medication. Someone has put the bug in that family's ear that maybe my kid should be on medication. And let's be honest, doctors are overworked these days. After the Affordable Care act, they're essentially turning over patients like some mass factory just over and over again. They don't have time to really dive deep into all of the intricacies. They don't have time to educate the families, the patients themselves, on things that they can try and do before they go to medication. Sometimes by the time the kid gets to the doctor, so much time has passed that the kid potentially is getting kicked out of school, they're failing school, whatever it is. So the family and the patient are desperate, and the doctor is like, okay, let's just prescribe medication. And that is the environment that we're in right now. So I listen. I am not a child mental health expert by any stretch of the imagination. I'm just a mom of three kids, and I observe a lot of children. And yes, I did go to medical school, but not for this. I am not. This is not my specialty. But I want to talk to someone who this is their specialty. And I want to talk about what, as the parents, can we be doing to maybe help our children and maybe help ourselves too? Because we all deal with levels of anxiety and depression throughout our lives. Sometimes they come and go, sometimes they're with us for life. What are things that we can do that's scientifically proven to work on us, not just mentally, but physically as well? So I'm very excited to have Nikki Robbins, who is a child developmental specialist, with us who has extensively studied some natural ways to try and help our children before we introduce medication to them. 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[Dr. Nicole Safire]

I'm so excited to bring on our guest, Nikki Robbins. She's a childhood development specialist. Nikki, thank you so much for being on Wellness Unmask.

[Nikki Robbins]

Thank you for having me, Nicole.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

So, first of all, when I say childhood development specialists, some people may know what that means, but a lot of people don't. Tell us a little bit about your background.

[Nikki Robbins]

Okay. I hold an undergraduate degree in Child Development and Family Studies. And then I went on to get a dual master's in Early Childhood Education and Special Education. And in addition, I have two certificates that address sort of emotional regulation and mindfulness in children from kindergarten to the end of high school to 12th grade. And for the past five years, I've taught emotional regulation and mindfulness to kindergarten age children. And I would say my focus is really helping children and Families to build strong emotional foundations before they get to the point where clinical help is needed. So just sort of like the simple everyday things that they're probably already doing and how they're more powerful than they realize and that these small actions can really help to build a healthy foundation and then just sort of understanding the science behind why what they're doing works.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

And so that's one of the things that we're talking about here today, is ADHD diagnoses are on the rise. Rise. Anxiety, depression, this is all on the rise. Not just in adults, but our kids are feeling it too. Especially since COVID We saw those numbers go up. What is happening inside of the child's brain when they are feeling stressed?

[Nikki Robbins]

Okay, so when they're feeling anxious or overwhelmed, I'll talk a little bit about the structure of the brain, but very simply, this is probably something that everyone has heard before. Their brain activates what's called fight, flight, or freeze response. This happens when the part of the brain, it's called the amygdala, which basically acts like an internal alarm system inside of our brain. It's always scanning for danger and sending distress signals when something feels unsafe, even if that something is just a big feeling or a new experience. So I've heard it explained like a smoke alarm in your house. If you blow out a candle under your smoke alarm or if you burn a piece of toast, the smoke alarm still goes off. So that's what happens with fight or flight. Like your internal smoke alarm is going off and it feels the same, it sounds the same as if you're running out of a house fire. So once that is activated, fight or flight, it turns on something called the sympathetic nervous system, and it's basically emergency mode for kids. And what it looks like physically inside of kids is a racing heart, shallow breathing, sweaty palms, and I think most importantly, trouble thinking clearly. So this is why when a kid is in a state of panic, we can't reason with them, we can't logic with them. They're not absorbing our words. So, you know, I remember when I was little, if I was upset, someone would be like, calm down. That's not really effective because we don't. I'm not.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

If someone tells you to calm down, you don't just calm down, right?

[Nikki Robbins]

It's not. It's not going to work. So it's like feeling like you need to escape house fire. And someone just being like, calm down, take a deep breath. And that's basically the prefrontal cortex of our brain is the part where we use to problem solve, to reason, to logic. That's where our emotional regulation comes. That's where our impulse control comes from. And that is shut off when we are operating from our fight or flight or like from our amygdala, basically.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

You know, one thing that's interesting because what you're describing is a lot of like those feelings of anxiety or anxiousness. But some people are thinking, well, my kid was diagnosed with adhd, not anxiety. But the reality is, as we have seen the rise in incidence and diagnosis of adhd, a lot of kids are actually being misdiagnosed, in my opinion of adhd, because ADHD shares a lot of symptoms for, with anxiety, trauma, sleep disorders, and even giftedness. I mean, there are some children with true adhd. And that is, you can see it, it runs in families. There are specific genes that are linked to adhd, some environmental factors like prenatal or early brain development, like a premature birth, low birth weight, brain injuries, all of this. But what you're describing is something that a lot of kids are experiencing right now are these feelings of panic and worry. Like, I feel like our kids are just so worried right now.

[Nikki Robbins]

Yep. And I would say two points there. One is that there's a lot of overlap between the way things like ADHD and depression and anxiety present themselves. So, like, spot on. They can look exactly like the same thing, but they may have a different root cause. And then I would say the second piece of it is that anxiety wears many masks. So like my early understanding of anxiety was sort of this, like nebbishy, complainy, like, cannot handle the world, human being and that it, it doesn't look like that in everyone. You know, it can look like a super achiever. It could look like somebody who shows up to everything early. It could look like somebody who avoids anything that makes themselves uncomfortable and their world gets smaller and smaller. So even in our kids, worry and fear and anxiety can look very different in all of them.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

So you have kind of created an itch. You have done a lot of research. You're not opposed to medication in some children and some people, but you really focus on some tools to calm the brain.

[Nikki Robbins]

Right. So I would start by saying, like, knowing that the fight or flight is activated, what, like, what can we do to calm it? And then I can kind of give you like a top 10 hit list of what we can do in our homes without medication, without seeking clinical assistance to help get up and out of these kind of situations. And when the brain feels safe again, this is instead of the sympathetic. It's the parasympathetic nervous system, and it's called rest and digest. Not eating, digesting, but like being able to digest what's coming in around us. Our heart rate slows back down, our breathing slows back down, and it turns on thinking and connection again. So we want to get our kids from this fight or flight back into rest and digest. Later on, you'll hear me talk a little bit about the vagus nerve, which is a key player in helping that to happen. It's the longest cranial nerve in the body. It runs from the brainstem down through the heart, the lungs, and your gut. And stimulating this nerve is basically telling your body, I'm safe now, I'm safe again. So we'll talk more about that when we talk about breathing stuff. But I'll go into maybe like the top 10 tools and a little bullet point on each about what's the science behind it.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

Sounds great.

[Nikki Robbins]

And what I would say to families before I get started is just when it comes to helping kids with anxiety at home, you're probably doing more than you realize already. When you do things like go for a walk, share a laugh, a tight hug, pause, and breathe, you're literally shaping your kid's brain for calm and for connection. And a lot of this stuff is really, really simple, tiny actions that can help them to set the way that they deal with anxiety going forward. So the first one is just time in nature or green space. I don't know, like, if you've ever taken a walk in the woods yourself or with your kids, and there's something like, you get in there and it smells like a cedar forest, and you just take a deep breath and everything just sort of calms down. And the science behind that is that trees actually release something called it's phytophytonicides. I don't know if I'm saying it right. I just know what it does inside of me. But it's actually a natural chemical that trees release that lowers our cortisol. So as strange as it sounds, what the trees are breathing out actually calms down our own personal stress hormone. So, I mean, I think we innately know something smells great, but it's smelling great and it's calming us down. And then the second part is that just being out in nature boosts our alpha brain waves, which are relaxed attention. So if you ever observe a kid sitting in the forest, like on a tree stump, staring at something really intently, that is pure presence and calm, and that is great for them. The Second one is time by the water. If you ever take your kids to walk by a stream or by an ocean or by a lake, even a pool, looking out a window at water, and you realize at some point along the way, all of that, your brain has quieted down. Their brain has quieted down. The rhythm and sound of the water activates our default mode network.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

So that why we hear ocean sounds like part of the white noise machine that helps us sleep, too.

[Nikki Robbins]

Yes, yes, yes, exactly. It activates daydreaming, reflecting. It can calm nervous thoughts. It can certainly calm a screaming baby. I remember plenty of times turning it and standing in the bathroom with the shower running. Movement in general. So not just being outside, but any movement at all is incredible. That increases dopamine, it increases serotonin. These are the brain chemicals that regulate our mood and our focus and then cross lateral. So crawling, dancing, anything catching a ball with different hands just helps us with emotional control. Okay, so another one, number four. Growing up, I had my mom and then I had my best friend's moms, like mom two and mom three. And I can remember one of them saying, just splash cold water on your face. And there's actually some science to it. So splashing cool water on your face or your wrist activates what's called our dive reflex. And it actually slows down our heart and calms our body. So again, going back to that vagus nerve, like, if our inner alarm system is going off, we can't think straight. And so something as simple as you're at home, there's some panic going on. Like just splash some cold water on your face or on your wrists. And this is particularly effective for young children. Anything sensory with young children, so even like sucking on a sour candy or a soothing scent. So there's actually some clinical trials on the calming effect of lavender oil.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

I've seen those. We have them in the hospital. We did one ourselves at my hospital. And we put little scented patches with lavender lavender. And it showed that before biopsies, those that had the lavender had better experiences.

[Nikki Robbins]

Yeah.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

And you know me, I love my natural herbs, specifically lavender. It's one of them. It's a great calming herb.

[Nikki Robbins]

Being on an airplane with two very young children and someone in front of me, same thing. And I think she must have used a little, like, peppermint and lavender oil for her child who was screaming. And it was just like a sensory experience, first of all, changing the situation. But it also engages some receptors in our brain that promote relaxation. Another one that I think parents are already Doing that's a great one, is just connection with others. Anxiety can be contagious. If we have it, our kids can pick up on it. My dog can pick up on it, anybody can get it. So keeping ourselves calm, eye contact, warm tone, touch, like a firm embrace, can help. It's called co regulation. So if we're calming ourselves down, our kids are calming down with us and just that relationship and emotional safety. I have like two more. One is a little bit bigger than what we can do at home, but it's acts of service, so there's a lot of studies around. Helping others raises our oxytocin, so it strengthens our sense of belonging to go out. And it also for kids these days, I know there's a lot of talk about how much screen time they're having and it's sort of isolating and lonely. And going out and doing acts of service combats loneliness and low self esteem which can also contribute to anxiety. Journaling is another one. Just have your kids free write for five minutes. One page does not matter what comes out on the page. It just improves self awareness and particularly if you can get them to name what they're feeling. So that just reduces the intensity of what they're feeling. It's called affect labeling. The last one is mindfulness techniques. I'll give you two that are really effective. One is called 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and it goes back to the senses again. So if a child is having panic attack, having trouble separating, anything like that, and you need to calm down their body first, use 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and all the senses. So tell me five things you see, tell me four things you hear, tell me three things you feel, two things you smell, and one thing you can touch. And it just takes them out of that state of continuing to have this thought over and over again and shifts them to a different part of their brain. And the second one is mindful listening, which you can do anywhere. Mindful looking is like look around this room and tell me something you've never seen before. Mindful listening is like stopping for maybe 60 seconds and listening what's right in front of you, what's in the room next to you, what's outside to the point where they're hearing a bird outside or a train station. And again it's just interrupting where they are thinking from and bringing them back into like logic and reasoning. And then I would say, you know, the one thing that I didn't say is to avoid things that make your children feel uncomfortable, which just doesn't hold on.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

Well, so isn't it okay sometimes for your kids to feel uncomfortable? Like.

[Nikki Robbins]

Yes.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

You know, my mindset is. I mean, you don't always want to put them in uncomfortable situations that can breed, like, insecurity and. Because we're talking about anxiety and stuff. But isn't it okay for them to be uncomfortable sometimes? Because the exact opposite of that is we turn those helicopter parents and our kids are not able to go out into the world.

[Nikki Robbins]

Yes, exactly. So if they avoid it, it's not growth for them. It does not allow for real practice of the tools that they're collecting. These are the moments that allow them to grow. These are the moments that allow them to strengthen. And I would say of all the things that I listed, some work for some kids, some don't. So it's a chance to pract, like, what works in what situations and what's effective. Avoidance is basically telling us that we are avoiding. It is making us feel good. But you get. You get better at what you practice. Right. So if you avoid it, you're practicing. I can't do what I'm afraid of. And I think when that happens, their worlds tend to get smaller and smaller and smaller. So if there's anxiety around going to a birthday party, they don't go. And then it's going to a play date with one, you know, it continues to get smaller. So some level of stress is healthy and it allows us to get outside of our comfort zone and to grow and then to practice what happens when there is anxiety. And there's some lessons in this, I think, that kids learn. One of them is just that it's. It's finite. Right. Like these waves of panic or fear don't last forever. It's a feeling that comes and then seven minutes later, it's gone. And during it, having an understanding of what works for them gives them a little bit of sense of control. It doesn't stop the anxiety, but it gives them control over what's going on. And the more control, I think, the less occurrence that you see.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

And you said something earlier about this science. You mentioned the vagus nerve, which, you know, piques my attention. So tell me a little bit about. You know, they're actually when people say to you just breathe. It can be obnoxious.

[Nikki Robbins]

Yeah.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

But they actually might be giving you some really valid advice if you use it wisely.

[Nikki Robbins]

Right, exactly. So breathing is one of the fastest ways to calm down the body. But not all breathing is created equally. So, like when we're talking about calming kids or Using your breath. It's called intentional breathing. And basically there's a couple, you know, like we always say, breathe into your belly. The science word for that is diaphragmatic breathing. And it stimulates the vagus nerve that we talked about. So if you take a deep breath and instead of like your chest expanding, it's almost like your belly is expanding when you breathe and your belly comes in and out. And that just doing a few deep belly breaths can slow your heart rate and can calm your nervous system. So it's not solving the problems outside of what's going on with you, but it is turning off your alarm inside and allowing you to think clearly about what's going on. The second one is just long exhales. So almost like think about, like, if you like took a huge sigh, it's a signal to your brain from the inside out that the danger has passed. So if you try inhaling for four and then exhaling for six, that's an easy one. And you can count it for the kids, or they can count themselves breathing in through the nose and then out through the mouth. Just slows their breath down. So it's like if you've ever seen someone that's really panicking, a lot of times they feel like they can't breathe or their breathing is very shallow and very quick. And it's the idea of just slowing that down to turn off their internal alarm. And then the last one is humming or singing. So you'll notice sometimes anxious kids, you'll see them just humming a lot. And it's actually stimulating their vagus nerve by vibrating their vocal cord. And there's some devices out in the world, they're called biofeedback devices. And they actually, like, you can kind of click it on your finger or click it on a child's finger and, and have them take these deep breaths and you can actually watch their pulse drop and drop and drop. So they can see it and understand that they're in control of what's going on.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

So, Nikki, you know, we talk about all of these, you know, ways that we can maybe try and help our children and ourselves. I think these translate to adults as well. But there are some families out there, there's some parents who they've done everything, they've tried everything, maybe everything that you've said, plus some. But things still are not okay. Like when should a family seek help from their clients?

[Nikki Robbins]

Yeah, I mean, these at home strategies are powerful, but sometimes they need more support. And I would say persistent fear and anxiety can affect Kids learning it can affect their development. So signs to watch out for are when it's really affecting daily functioning. If there are sudden behavior changes, grades, sleep, eating, social withdrawal, any signs of hopelessness or self harm, or if the stuff that worked before isn't working anymore. Therapists use techniques like cognitive behavioral therapy that really help to change negative thought patterns and unhealthy behaviors. And seeking help is not a sign of failure at all. It's a strength. It's care. There's certainly a lot that we can do at home. I would say we talked about a lot of it. And like I mentioned, not everything works for everybody. I have two children and a walk in the woods for us. One is sitting on a fallen log staring into the water, and one is climbing a tree and climbing a cliff and jumping. And both of those are ways to regulate. And it's fine. It's just a matter of identifying what works for us and what works for our kids and then helping them to draw from that when they need it. And also I would say kind of keeping a healthy level of stress and anxiety in the everyday because life throws us curveballs and it's not always so pleasant. So when that happens, if you are healthy and you are taking care of yourself, it's easier to deal with when stress really does arrive. And that includes, which I know you've talked about on your podcast before, what we feed ourselves, what we're eating, the sleep that we're getting, what we digest from social media and from news, it all adds up.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

Yeah. And so I think when people listen to this, if your child's on these medications, it doesn't mean that you failed at something or that they're a, a bad physician for prescribing them. But the reality is, and this was highlighted in that MAHA report that just came out, is that while there are some benefits to adolescents, specifically using stimulants for severe ADHD and also for depression anxiety at times. Truly, if you look at the data, there's a lot of gray areas where the evidence is actually very weak or even controversial. Specifically mild depression. Most of the research finds that for children with just mild depressive symptoms or even mild anxiety symptoms, these SSRIs or the other medications we're giving them have little to no benefit over placebo. Yet there are a ton of kids on these medications. I mean, depression has a big scale. We also don't have a lot of long term effects data on these kids. You know, most of the studies are 8 to 12 weeks. So there's a Lot of limited research on this. And also, you know, one of my biggest things is you have broad use of these medications without therapy. So physicians are prescribing these medications, but they're not doing it with concurrent psychotherapy or behavioral changes or, as you're mentioning, dietary issues, because we are what we eat, as I've said at nauseam. If you aren't having your child eating the healthiest they possibly can, how can you possibly expect their brain to be as healthy as possible if their body's not as possible? I know I've already mentioned black box warnings on these medications that could increase suicide risk in kids. And so not saying you don't go to these medications, I'm just saying you have to try some things before, especially because there are probably some kids that don't need to be on it. And unfortunately, because they're so overused, the children who truly, truly would benefit from these medications are having a hard time getting access to them because the supply is not there because the demand is so great. And so those are some of my concerns. I'm so grateful, Nikki, that you came on today and gave us these foundational tools that we can use as parents to help out our kids before jumping to seeing the doctor and going straight to the medications. And, you know, maybe we do need medications in the individual case, but as long as you're doing it with the lifestyle changes as well, that's the best we can really hope.

[Nikki Robbins]

Absolutely. And like I started with, I think just, you know, having parents and families know that they are probably already doing more than they realize and just, you know, understanding what it is that they're doing when they do things like go for a walk or give their kid a hug or take deep breaths. And that there is science behind it, that it can be incredibly effective. And that all of this is helping their kids along the way to develop healthy coping strategies as life gets more and more stressful. And thank you so much for joining me on.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

Thank you. Well, we're going to focus on not medicating away symptoms. We have to address the root causes, do everything we can naturally try and address it, and then only then consider medications. Thanks again for coming on Wellness Unmasked. Nikki.

[Nikki Robbins]

Thank you.

[Dr. Nicole Safire]

More coming up on Wellness unmasked with Dr. Nicole Safire.

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[Dr. Nicole Safire]

Was an extremely informative conversation with Nikki Robbins. I am so grateful that she was able to come on and give us some of her wisdom. When it comes to this, all of us mothers, fathers, family members, just humans, all we want to do is what's best for our children and sometimes medication is the answer. But wouldn't it be great if we could take a step back, take the time and use science backed methods to try and decrease our levels of anxiety and depression and panic that we all kind of feel sometimes? I mean, we're living in a very fast world from social media and the digital connectivity and the instant gratification and the shortened attention spans and all of that to just take a moment and pause, take a walk in nature and it sounds kind of silly sometimes, but taking deep breaths as we talked about, it's not just about taking a breath, but what's the science behind that you're actually treating yourself and not with stimulant medication or any other medication that comes with a black box warning, something that is actually beneficial to you and you didn't even need a prescription for it. Thanks for listening to Wellness unmasked on America's number one podcast network, iHeart. Follow Wellness unmasked with Dr. Nicole Safire and start listening on the free iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And we'll catch you next time with.

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