TBRI Tip #16: Physiological Strategies

Is it difficult for you to concentrate when you’ve missed a meal?? Or maybe you feel more agitated and low energy. Most of us would agree that we’re not at our best when we haven’t eaten for a while. Yet we usually know we’re hungry and so can do something about it. Kids from hard places more often don’t feel hungry and aren’t aware that they need to eat. Many who were malnourished or exposed to alcohol in-utero, have insulin receptor sites that have been dramatically altered. TBRI Empowering Principles-Physiological Strategies, points out that even minor shifts in blood glucose levels can lead to behavioral episodes and changes in ability to think as well as mood, concentration and aggression. The brain suffers greatly when the body is hungry since it utilizes about 60% of the body’s blood glucose. In addition to blood glucose shifts, dehydration can also cause significant behaviors in kids. A lack of water causes an excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain called glutamate to become overactive. Too much glutamate is associated with aggressive behavior. Dehydration also causes changes in thinking, mood, concentration and learning. Like with being unaware of being hungry, kids from hard places often aren’t aware of being thirsty since they likely didn’t have a caregiver who offered them water regularly. These two physiological states wreak havoc on a child from hard places in particular because their system is more fragile and therefore more susceptible to behavioral meltdowns due to just minor internal shifts.

Teach and Apply TBRI Physiological Strategies 

Fortunately, the solution to the problem of misbehavior due to these changed internal states is simple. TBRI Physiological Strategies suggests giving your child food every two hours-a healthy snack of protein and carbohydrates or a meal and water every two hours. Sounds simple but can be hard to implement, so it’s important to have a strategy on how to anchor these two interventions into your child’s day. Whether you use an alarm on your phone, a check off calendar or things you do each day to pair with having a snack and drinking water, you need to be the one to remember and encourage your child to eat and drink every two hours. A couple ways to help are, giving them a fun water bottle or cup to use, letting them pick out their snacks at the store, and making it an enjoyable time by engaging with them as they stop to sit and eat and drink. Remember if you’re going away for a while to pack a few healthy bars and water. Also have snacks and water in the car to prevent meltdowns if you’re out longer than you thought you’d be. It’s best to use the intervention of eating and drinking water every two hours proactively. But it’s also a good idea to offer these things to a child during the meltdown, when they are dysregulated. It may seem counterintuitive to offer a snack and water when your child is melting down, but it may be just what they need to regulate themselves, and it will certainly help you to connect with them during the behavior, which is so important. Try it out and see if it makes a difference in your child’s behavior!