A young child’s brain is a wondrous thing. By age five it contains about one quadrillion neural connections, more than all the links in the entire Internet. But by adulthood one-third of those connections disappear. The pathways used most frequently in childhood are strengthened and streamlined, while those less trafficked simply wither away.
Stress, both physical and emotional, is an inevitable part of life. When buffered by caring and supportive adult relationships, early life stress can be a positive experience, leading to healthy adaptive responses later in life. When stress is chronic and unaddressed, however, it becomes toxic, triggering a cascade of biochemical events that enhance unhealthy neural pathways.
To read the rest of this essay by Santa Rosa pediatrician Mark Sloan, go to: http://www.nbcms.org/en-us/abo...id=729&tabid=747
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