Does your child drink energy drinks? | Integrated Learning Therapy

A recent report published in Public Health and made available by Newcastle University expressed concern about energy drinks being consumed by children.

Energy drinks are those that are advertised as giving a mental and physical “boost” by providing more “energy” than other cooldrinks. They are different to “sports drinks” that might be used to replace electrolytes lost during exercise.

These high-caffeine drinks are associated with an increased risk of mental health issues among children and young people, including anxiety, stress, depression and suicidal thoughts. The study found that consumption of these drinks is more common among boys than girls in the UK, and is also associated with increased risky behaviours such as substance use, violence and unsafe sex. Not surprisingly, such consumers were linked to an increased risk of poor academic performance, sleep problems and unhealthy dietary habits.

The study wasn’t limited to the UK as the researchers looked at data from 57 studies of more than 1.2 million children and young people from over 21 countries.

Experts say it highlights the need for regulatory action to restrict the sale and marketing of energy drinks to children and young people.

“There has been policy inaction on this area despite government concern and public consultations. It is time that we have action on the fastest growing sector of the soft drink market.”

The concern seems well founded as previous research found that up to a third of children in the UK drink caffeinated energy drinks on a weekly basis. In addition, these drinks are sometimes cheaper to buy than bottled water, which helps to explain their popularity. Following a national campaign, fronted by celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, many supermarkets in the UK agreed to ban the sales of these energy drinks to children.

What about South Africa?

Most of the energy drinks freely available in South Africa contain around 35 mg of caffeine per 100 ml. This totals around 105 mg of caffeine in a 300 ml can. A mug of instant coffee contains about 80 mg.

While a number of countries have attempted to regulate energy drinks, there is nothing preventing youngsters from buying them here. It is down to parents to ensure that youngsters know to stay away from these drinks.
Most of the products do carry warnings on the cans, stating that the contents are not recommended for children under the age of 12 years. However, more than 40 health related organisation in the UK are striving for a ban of sales of these drinks to children under the age of 16 years.

Content supplied by Newcastle University
Image supplied by Freepik

← Previous Next →

Martin Doherty, writing for The Conversation, says that at the age of about four, children reach important milestones in brain development.

One of these is a huge improvement in understanding others’ thoughts and feelings. This is the start of empathy. Another is in spatial thinking—understanding how objects are positioned and related. This is the beginning of the ability to read maps.

Martin and his colleague, Catherine Sayer, conducted a study with 175 two to five-year-olds to explore how children are able to use scale models to figure out where something is in the real world. At about four, children are able to use a scale model of a room to work out where something is. We thought that this might result from children’s understanding of how one thing can represent something else. But we actually found that four-year-olds’ ability to use scale models came from their spatial abilities.

At the same age, children start to understand that someone’s behaviour is due to what that person believes, not necessarily what is really the case. This has interesting consequences.

If you’ve played hide-and-seek with young children, you may have noticed that they aren’t always very good at it. They love the ritual of looking in all the wrong places first, but beforehand they may tell you where they are going to hide, hide in the same place every time, or not be especially hidden.

After their fourth birthday, they get much better at hide and seek. They understand that the seeker looks in the wrong places because they don’t know where the hider is.

At about three to four children also start to tell lies. They realize they can make someone believe something that isn’t true.

Understanding symbols

Martin’s earlier research with fellow psychologist Josef Perner suggests that four-year-olds don’t just start to understand how others’ minds work. Figuring this out is part of the development of an understanding of “representation”—that symbols, like thoughts, words, or pictures, can be used to stand for something else.

Children start to think about how words relate to objects. This means, for instance, knowing that “animal” can refer to something you already have a name for, such as “rabbit”. This might help children learn the new word.

Their ability to use a understand the components of pictures also improves around this age. Very young children use a lot of trial and error to complete a jigsaw, picking up random pieces to see if they fit. By the time they are about four years old, they start to use the picture as a guide, trying to connect lines and match bits of colour, while checking the guide picture on the box lid.

Developmental experiments

Another ability children develop at around four is using scale models. A classic set of developmental experiments involved a model of a regular household room. The real room had typical furniture—sofa, table, cupboard and so on—and the model had miniature versions laid out in the same way.

Children were shown where something was hidden in the model and told to find an object hidden in “the same place” in the room. Children of around four can find the object using the identical layouts. If shown a sticker under a particular chair in the model room, for example, they can go straight to the “same” chair in the other room. This is the fundamental understanding required to read maps.

Adults see scale models and maps as representations. Maps represent a town or a country. A scale model of, say, the Eiffel Tower represents the real thing. At first, Martin suspected children’s ability to use scale models is more evidence of understanding representation at this age.

He was wrong. Instead, the researchers found that this ability is based on a development in children’s spatial abilities that also occurs at about four. This is the ability to think about spaces and where objects are within them. Spatial abilities help with maths skills, and good spatial ability is linked to an interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Their experiment was simple. They compared the model room task with a test of understanding how representation works. The two abilities develop around the same age, but they found they were not related. Children who could do one task couldn’t necessarily do the other.

They also had a test of purely spatial ability. Children who passed the model room task also passed the spatial task. So it looks like the model room task relied on children‘s spatial thinking.

They don’t yet know why two important but apparently unrelated abilities arise at the same time. Perhaps it’s related to changes in the growing brain at this interesting age.

Provided by The Conversation.

Image supplied by Freepik.