A Parent’s Guide to Holistic Anxiety Treatment for Kids

As parents, it’s easy to recognize that during childhood, feeling worried, anxious or scared from time to time is a normal experience. However, when these feelings become constant and overwhelming they can interfere with daily life. Estimates suggest that significant anxiety can affect up to 20% of children, making it one of the most common mental health conditions affecting them.

While you don’t want to overlook standard treatments like therapy and medication, many families are increasingly aware of the benefits of a more comprehensive, holistic approach. These additional strategies often work well alongside conventional treatment for supporting your child’s mental well-being.

There are a number of practical ways to help your anxious child feel calm, more confident, and better able to handle life’s ongoing stress.

Understanding Childhood Anxiety

Some of the more common types of childhood anxiety include:

• Generalized anxiety disorder: Almost constant excessive worry and fear
• Social anxiety: Fear of social situations and interpersonal interactions
• Separation anxiety: Distress due to being separated from caregivers
• Specific phobias: Intense fear of a particular object or situation
• Panic attacks: Sudden, overwhelming fear that is associated with sweating, shortness of breath, and heart palpitations

Children can develop anxiety for numerous reasons: academic or social pressures from school, family dynamics, genetic susceptibilities, sensory sensitivities, and nutritional factors. Unlike adults, children often have difficulty identifying and describing their feelings of anxiety. Anxiety may be expressed through other means, including:

• Headaches or stomach aches
• Problems sleeping or nightmares
• Irritability and anger
• Avoidance of activities, places, or situations
• Excessive clinginess
• Difficulty focusing and concentrating
• Behavioral problems and regression

Recognizing and understanding how your child expresses anxiety and fear is typically the first step toward helping them learn how to manage and overcome their problems.

Nutrition for Calming the Nervous System

The food that your child eats directly impacts how they feel. Research has increasingly found correlations between nutrition and mental health, with deficiencies of specific nutrients correlating with mental health symptoms. Consider these nutritional strategies:

Foods to emphasize:

• Omega-3 rich foods: Wild salmon and other seafood support brain health
• Magnesium-rich foods: Leafy greens, avocados, nuts and seeds all contain magnesium which can help to sooth the stress response
• Adequate protein: Lean meats, eggs, nuts and seeds helps balance blood sugar and promote neurotransmitter synthesis
• Complex carbohydrates: Whole grains and other fiber rich food can help to keep blood sugar stable and provide a more steady source of energy

Foods to limit:

• Sugar: Sugar is known to have detrimental effects on children’s mental health
• Caffeine: Caffeine can overstimulate and contribute to anxiety in susceptible individuals
• Artificial colors and flavors: Artificial ingredients can contribute to worse mental health
• Highly processed foods: Processed foods are typically empty calories and lack the nutrients needed for healthy brain function

Proper hydration is also important! Dehydration can worsen mood. Encourage your child to drink water to stay hydrated. Avoid sugary beverages like soft drinks and fruit juice.

Emotional and Psychological Support

Work to create a supportive space for your anxious child to increase their confidence and develop coping skills:

Validate their feelings and experiences:

• Statements like “I understand that you’re feeling worried” or “It’s okay to be scared at times” helps a child to feel heard and understood.
• Avoid being dismissive by saying things like “There’s nothing to worry about” or “You just need to relax.”

Explore mindfulness and relaxation exercises. Even children can learn simple mindfulness techniques:

• Use the “five senses check-in”: Have your child name five things that they can see, four that they can feel, three that they can hear, two that they can or would like to smell, and one that they are currently tasting or can imagine tasting
• Belly breathing: While having your child lay down, have a favorite stuffed animal on their belly and help them to watch it rise and fall with each breath
• Progressive muscle relaxation: Starting at the toes and working upward, have your child tense and then relax each part of their body

Implement child-friendly techniques to address thoughts and fears:

• Help your child to identify their anxious or fear-based thoughts and practice replacing them with more positive thoughts
• Create a “worry box” where your child can write down their concerns and symbolically set them aside in the box
• Use role-play exercises to explore anxiety-provoking situations and help defuse them

Encourage your child to express their emotions through:

• Journaling or drawing
• Creating art that represents how they feel
• Storytelling with characters that overcome similar fears and anxieties

Movement and Physical Activity

Physical activity has shown numerous benefits for mental health. Regular movement:

• Releases endorphins, the body’s pleasure molecules that can improve mood
• Reduces excess energy to help keep anxiety at bay
• Improves sleep

Recommended activities for children include:

• Yoga: Combines gentle movements and stretching, abdominal breathing, and mindfulness
• Swimming: The rhythmic movements and the water itself can have calming effects
• Dance: Allows for individual expression through movement
• Martial arts: Improves focus, physical strength, and confidence
• Nature hikes: Combines exercise with being in nature

Play or activities that stimulate the senses can also be quite calming for anxious children. Consider:

• Playing with sand
• Working with clay
• Jumping on a rebounder
• Swinging or other playground activities

Have a goal of at least 30-60 minutes of physical activity daily. Keep in mind that it can be broken into shorter spans for convenience.

Sleep and Relaxation Strategies

Anxiety is often a cause of sleep problems. This can become a vicious cycle with anxiety making it harder to sleep, and poor sleep worsening anxiety. Breaking this cycle is often key for helping an anxious child.

Have a consistent bedtime routine:

• Include relaxing activities like story telling, gentle stretching, or quiet talk time
• Keep the bedtime routine consistent each night
• Be consistent with sleep and wake times, even on weekends

Create a sleep-friendly environment:

• Keep the bedroom appropriately dark, cool, and quiet
• Use white noise to cover outside sounds if necessary
• No screen time the hour before bed
• Make the bed a comfortable, safe space with favorite stuffed animals

Natural sleep supports:

• Chamomile or lavender tea
• Relaxing bedtime stories
• Simple breathing exercises or progressive muscle relaxation
• Taking a warm bath before bed

Alternative Therapies for Anxiety

Holistic and complementary therapies can also support anxious children.

Nutritional and herbal supplements: A health-care provider trained in integrative medicine can help to identify additional treatments that may be useful for your anxious child.

• Nutrient deficiencies are common and can often contribute to anxiety and low mood. Testing for and treating any nutrient deficiencies can help to improve symptoms.
• Dietary factors may play a part in a child’s symptoms and a health-care provider may help your family to craft a more effective dietary strategy to reduce anxiety.
• A number of different herbs or supplements are known to be calming while also being quite gentle. A knowledgeable health-care provider can help to suggest herbal strategies that may also provide support.

Hands-on therapies:

• Pediatric massage therapy can help to reduce stress
• Child-friendly acupressure can be soothing by targeting acupuncture points without needles
• Techniques like Reiki, craniosacral, or therapeutic touch may help some children feel more relaxed and balanced

All of these therapies work best when implemented through practitioners with experience in working with children.

Creating a Calm and Supportive Environment

Our surroundings can influence anxiety levels. Consider these potential adjustments:

Reduce sensory overload:

• Minimize clutter and keep the living space reasonably picked up and organized
• Have a dedicated space for your child if they are feeling overwhelmed
• Keep noise levels low, reduce harsh lighting and strong smells
• Allow fidget toys or stress balls for children who need sensory input

Manage technology wisely:

• Have specific limits on screen time
• Reduce blue light exposure from electronic devices in the evening
• Balance screen time with other types of play
• Monitor content for anxiety-provoking media

Teaching Coping Skills and Resilience

Anxious children can benefit from practical strategies to manage their feelings.

Problem-solving skills:

• Help your child to voice their specific concerns
• Brainstorm potential solutions with your child
• Evaluate the pros and cons of all solutions and choose one to try
• Reflect on what worked or didn’t

Positive thinking strategies:

• Identify and challenge negative self-talk
• Create positive affirmations with your child around their fears
• Practice gratitude by naming three good things each day with your child
• Focus on their progress, celebrating successes

Self-regulation techniques:

• Create a “calm down kit” with items that engage your child’s senses
• Develop a “calm down plan” for your child with steps to follow when they feel overwhelmed or anxious
• Help your child to use simple statements such as, “I can handle this” or “This feeling will pass”
• Practice these skills regularly, not just when anxious

Partnering with Schools and Educators

Children often spend a lot of their day at school, collaborating and working with educators can be crucial.

Effective communication with school staff:

• Discuss your child’s needs with supportive school staff
• Provide information about about your child’s challenges and effective coping strategies
• Maintain open communication through email or other check-ins

Potential accommodations to discuss:

• A safe space to go when feeling anxious or overwhelmed
• Extra time for activities or tests
• Advanced warning for changes to the standard school routine
• Permission to use stress balls or other calming items
• Modified assignments when anxiety is acute

Preparing your child to ask for help when needed:

• Role-play with your child on how to ask for help
• Develop simple statements that they can use to express what they need
• Consider creating a system with teachers for discreet communication

Supporting Parents and Caregivers of Children with Anxiety

As a parent, your own well-being also matters and can influence your child.

Manage your own stress:

• Children are influenced by their parents emotions
• Maintain your own self-care routine for reducing stress
• Model healthy coping strategies
• Seek your own support as needed from friends, family, or health-care professionals
• Join a parental support group
• Practice self-compassion

Create family rituals that foster understanding and family connections:

• Have regular family meals together
• Engage in fun activities that everyone enjoys on a regular basis
• Consider morning check-ins to prepare for the day

Conclusion

Always remember that supporting a child who is struggling with anxiety requires patience, consistency, and flexibility. The holistic strategies above can complement standard treatments and help address anxiety at its core.

Keep in mind that every child is unique: what works for one child may not help another. Be willing to adjust your approach based on what works and what doesn’t.

While holistic approaches can be effective, don’t hesitate to seek professional help, as some of the treatments outlined require assistance from a knowledgeable health-care provider. A comprehensive approach could include working with a pediatrician, a psychologist, a nutritionist, or other specialists.

With the right support, your child can learn to manage their anxiety and develop the confidence needed to thrive.