mentalhealthhqcicIt was mid-morning when a Year 10 student rushed into the medical room, panic written all over her face. Tearful and terrified, she gasped, saying she couldn’t breathe, her throat tightening as if it were closing up. She had recently seen her doctor for chest pain and was anxiously awaiting an ECG. In the meantime, she had been prescribed anxiety medication.
This situation is a powerful reminder of the deep connection between our emotional health and its physical effects. As a therapist and school nurse, I’ve always encouraged young people to understand the bodily sensations that arise from their emotions. But moments like these show there is still a long way to go in building that awareness.
Recognizing Physical Signs of Anxiety
When we experience intense emotions, particularly in stressful situations, our bodies react in various ways. This “fight or flight” response can bring on physical symptoms. This will be things like a racing heart, nausea, sweating, and the all-too-familiar feeling of butterflies in the stomach. These are known as somatic signs, and learning to recognize them is the first step toward managing them.
How Can We Help Calm the Body?
Acknowledging emotions when talking to our young people is crucial. Emotions serve a purpose, like anxiety, which can protect us in certain situations. However, anxiety can sometimes spiral out of control. There has been a big increase in referrals to services for anxiety over the last few years. If our emotional health is unmanaged, it can lead to school refusal, for example. Teaching young people to manage their emotional responses, especially in high-stress scenarios like exams, can have long-lasting benefits.
One simple but effective tool is controlled breathing. Over-breathing, often a result of panic, can lead to light-headedness and chest tightness. Slowing down the breath, especially the out-breath, helps calm the nervous system. Diaphragmatic breathing, or “belly breathing,” is a great technique to introduce. It can feel a little strange at first but is highly effective with practice.
As Human Givens therapists, we often suggest breathing in for up to seven seconds, and out for up to 11 seconds.
For younger students, a fun way to practice this is by imagining a balloon in their stomach—asking them to inflate and deflate it with each breath.
Or, use the simple analogy of “sniffing a flower, then blowing out a candle” to guide their breathing rhythm.
The Bigger Picture: Sleep, Nutrition, and Emotional Regulation
Beyond breathing exercises, other factors contribute to a young person’s well-being and impact their emotional health in the longer term. Many students I work with struggle to get enough sleep, often staying up late on social media, or talking to friends. In addition, they skip meals during the school day. This happens for several reasons, such as time constraints or lack of money or body image. Missing meals can wreak havoc on mood and energy levels at a time when they are growing and changing.
Lack of sleep, exercise, and poor nutrition can directly impact emotional regulation. Teen brains are wired to be more reactive, making it even harder to control emotions when tired or hungry.
By opening up conversations around emotional health and equipping young people with the tools to manage their feelings, we can empower them for life. The earlier we start, the better the outcomes will be.
This approach encourages a holistic understanding of mental health and its physical manifestations, showing young people that managing their emotions is a skill they can develop and carry with them into adult hood
If you would like to get in touch to book a counselling session, fill in the form below
