Pupils widen. The heart pounds. Stress hormones flood the body. Lungs expand, and every muscle sits on the verge of action.
This describes the stress response, a normal reaction to a normal emotion. However, when a child experiences this response in a strong, frequent or prolonged way due to adversity, without the support of an adult, it can cause health consequences lasting into adulthood. This phenomenon is called toxic stress.
As a pediatrician at UF Health, helping children grow and develop into happy, healthy, productive adults is my priority. Toxic stress creates a barrier to this happy outcome and can occur in many different forms. These include exposure to physical or emotional abuse, chronic neglect, caregiver substance abuse or mental hardship, exposure to violence, parental divorce and the accumulated burdens of family economic hardship. These stressors are called adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs.
ACEs have a cumulative effect, meaning that the more ACEs a person has, the more likely they are to develop a wide array of chronic health conditions. Prolonged toxic stress exposure can affect a person’s ability to learn and reason. As your ACE score increases, you are at increased risk of obesity, smoking, substance abuse, depression and missed work leading to lost wages. Your risk of diabetes, heart disease, stroke, cancer and broken bones also increases.
[For more of this story, written by Brittany S. Bruggeman and Zach Spoehr-Labutta, go to http://www.gainesville.com/opi...ience-in-gainesville]
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