From mid-June, millions of students will blacken their patent, baccalaureate or college copies in order to obtain a diploma that will determine their future. Stress, sleep disorders, fatigue, over-consumption of screens… Find out how to help them naturally and without medication, by doing with their physiology rather than once morest it.
A survey conducted in 2018 on the health of French students aged 11 to 18 reveals that their daily habits are less than optimal to promote full health, essential during exams. Nearly two out of three teenagers do not eat enough nutrient-dense foods, and 30% feel tired almost every day when getting up in the morning.
Students also undergo aincreasing pressure “, which is accentuated until the baccalaureate, and say more stressed by schoolwork than previous generations. In higher education, more than half of students feel exhausted or stressed, and 40% suffer from sleep disorders. More than ever, we – parents, grandparents or close entourage – therefore have a role to play in supporting them. It starts with understanding what storms sometimes stir under their caps.
A brain still under construction
As revealed by Dr. Daniel Siegel, child brain expert and author of Your Teen’s Brain (ed. Les arènes), “ it is not the hormonal upheavals of teenagers that make them “freak out” but those due to their brain development “. In effect, the human brain matures up to 25 yearsand has, during this period, a tendency to make us underestimating the risks ».
This can, for example, cause a teenager to “talking late at night on the phone the day before an exam without measuring the consequences. Despite the tense aspect of these behaviors, Dr. Siegel urges parents to understand that this brain function makes encouragement much more effective than prohibitions (read “Managing screens and rest periods”).
All doped?
More and more students would consume psychostimulants to boost their intellectual abilities:
- 5 to 30% of high school students take medication to improve their intellectual performance.
- 16% of high school students say they have taken a product (drug or food supplement) as part of preparing for an exam.
- 30% of medical students use stimulants : 30% from over-the-counter products (energy drinks, caffeine tablets, etc.), 7% from prescription products (such as Ritalin derived from amphetamines) and 5% from illicit drugs (cocaine, ecstasy).
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“There is no such thing as a lazy child”
The psychologist Jeanne Siaud-Facchin, author of But what prevents him from succeeding? (ed. Odile Jacob), believes that it “there is no such thing as a lazy child » and invites « dencode the real message behind recalcitrant behavior: a lack of motivation isalways linked to a difficulty “, either psychological (anxiety…) or “technique (learning disorder). She explains that amotivation efficace “is intrinsic, it”belongs to the child:I’m happy to have this grade, I’m proud of myself “is better than”I do it to please my parents ».
This motivation, which comes from the “pleasure we get, the interest we take in what we do” would be more effective in providing the necessary efforts to succeed (read box below), which we propose to discover in this file.
Threatening, encouraging? The art of motivating your child
« By asking our children to be motivated, we have it all wrong. One cannot compel anyone by reason or by explanations to be motivated! […] Let’s prefer the dialogue around his desires and the importance that he finds in him a motivation, by insisting on the idea that we cannot do it for him. The more we try to instill external motivation, the more we risk preventing the child from finding his own sources of motivation.. […] Blackmail, which is too often used, must be banned… You don’t put your children to work by threatening them, but by encouraging them! »
Jeanne Siaud Facchin inBut what prevents him from succeeding? (ed. Odile Jacob).
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Under no circumstances is the information and advice offered on the Alternative Santé site likely to replace a consultation or a diagnosis formulated by a doctor or a health professional, who are the only ones able to adequately assess your state of health.
