Improve Emotional Regulation In Just 7 Minutes Per Day!

Emotional regulation is the ability to effectively manage and respond to an emotional experience. People unconsciously use emotion regulation strategies to cope with difficult situations many times throughout each day.

When a child experiences dysregulation they aren’t able to diffuse their negative emotions.

These emotions can take control leading to over-the-top reactions, outbursts, or meltdowns. This is extremely common for children with complex behavioral challenges however, we are seeing more of this behavior present itself due to the current stressful situation families are facing in lockdown.

Emotional regulation can be achieved in two ways.

• Self-regulation means you can regulate your emotions on your own.
• Mutual regulation (sometimes called co-regulation) means you need someone to help you regulate your emotions.

Most kids need help sometimes, or even all the time, with emotional regulation.  However, you can improve their ability to achieve emotional regulation in just 7 minutes per day with exercise.

The exercise needs to be intense. Short intensive bursts provide better results than longer durations of exercises with less impact.

I want to share with you all a 7-minute workout, designed to be fun for kids and high-impact for maximum benefits – mums and dads feel free to join in!

How Does Exercise Improve Emotional Regulation?

It’s amazing how this works.

Our mind, brain, and body are all interconnected.

When your child is dysregulated, their brain produces high levels of the stress hormone, cortisol. It also produces adrenaline. An increase in cortisol spikes anxiety and dysregulation.

When this occurs, functional and social communication skills decrease – because the brain can’t access the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that controls executive functioning.

This is what leads to meltdowns which cause a huge spike in adrenaline due to the fight or flight response being triggered.

Exercise has been proven to reduce cortisol and adrenaline levels. In other words, it helps improve emotional regulation.

This lessens anxiety and results in increased dopamine and other endorphins. These are the brain’s natural mood lifters. Less cortisol and more dopamine mean self-regulation is much easier.

The benefits don’t stop there though – the increased dopamine levels improve the functions of synapses in the brain. As a result communication ability improves, as does the ability to retrieve information.

This means that overall the brain is in a better state for learning.

7 Minute HIIT Workout for Emotional Regulation

For this workout you will need:

• An interval timer (I use an app literally called Interval Timer)
• Water
• Comfortable shoes like trainers
• Music
• Optional: kids yoga mat

That’s it. You can do this exercise anywhere.

Shove some furniture out of the way if you need to make a little more room.

A great time to do this would be before you start to do your “home schooling” however due to us having heightened anxiety levels as well as a lot of extra free time during this lockdown period feel free to try this at different times of the day – your children will still benefit! These exercises provide unparalleled stimuli, making an environment where the brain is ready and willing to learn, as well as support general emotional regulation.

Before You Begin

Set your interval timer for 7 rounds of 45 seconds of work, and 15 seconds of rest, totaling 7 minutes.

Get your child’s favorite upbeat music on and get ready to go hard. Your child (and you! You’ve got to model what you want to see!) should be doing as many of these exercises as possible in 45 seconds. 

You actually want to be tired, breathing heavy, and heartbeat elevated at the end of this 7 minutes.

These exercises are all animal themed by the way to make them fun for kids!

Instructions

Frog Hops

These are exactly what they sound like. Hop back and forth, like a frog. Depending on how much room you have, you may need to hop in one place.

Bear Walk

Place your hands and feet on the floor. Your hips and butt should be in the air, higher than your head. On all fours take two steps forward and two steps back, then repeat.

Gorilla Shuffles

Sink down into a low sumo squat and place your hands on the ground between your feet. Shuffle a few steps to the left and then back a few steps to the right. Maintain the squat and ape-like posture through the entire movement.

Starfish Jumps

These are jumping jacks! Do as many as you can, arms and legs spread wide like a starfish!

Cheetah Run

Run in place, as fast as you can!

Crab Crawl

Sit with your knees bent and place your palms flat on the floor behind you near your hips. Lift your body off the ground and “walk” on all fours forward and then backward.

Elephant Stomps

Stand with your feet hip-width apart and stomp, raising your knees up to hip level, or as high as you can bring them up. Try to hit the palm of your hands with your knees.

And You’re Done!

Take some time to cool down slowly.

Do some stretches or yoga poses and allow your heart rate to return to normal. Those 7 minutes will give you and your kiddos a boost that will leave you feeling great for hours!

The animal theme makes this work out enjoyable for kids. Encourage them to use their imagination and make this work out feel like play.

REMEMBER!

I am still here to support you and your family throughout this lockdown period. I am aware that many families are facing unprecedented challenges and stresses and I just wanted to remind all of our Camphill families that Jigsaw is here to support you all the way through! Please do not hesitate to contact me – no problem is too big or too small, even if it is just for a friendly chat for those feeling particularly isolated. I will endeavor to respond to all calls and messages within 24 hours Monday to Friday excluding school holidays.

Stay Safe

Claire

07933500708

claire.murphy@barnardos.org.uk