Healthy Enough: Building Wellness in Kids with Mental Health Challenges Merrimack College Podcasts

In this episode we sit down with Dr. Rachel Blaine, founder of Autism Wellness, which is dedicated to providing nutrition help and reducing nutrition hype for parents of kids with autism. As a registered dietician and professor of nutrition, Dr. Blaine walks us through practical approaches for improving kids' nutrition, while cutting through the misinformation around autism "diets."

In this episode, we offer specific tips for changing kids' behaviors in ways that can help lead to better sleep. As always, we start small, stay short, and keep it real. 
 
Resources for Parents from the National Sleep Foundation:
1. What is sleep hygiene?
2. Overview of Common Sleep Disorders
3. Night Terrors4. Sleep Apnea5. Sleepwalking6. Sleep and Kids Behavior7. ADHD and Sleep8. Mental Health, Specific Diagnoses and Sleep

This episode starts our series on how sleep can improve mood and behavior in youth with mental health challenges, and realistic tips for improving sleep when kids struggle with insomnia and other sleep problems.

In this episode we talk about the research into how exercise can help kids with autism spectrum disorder, while also exploring the world of exergames.
 
Resources:

1. Challenging Autism with Exercise Article
2. Exergame Inventory

In this episode of Healthy Enough, we look at some of the common misperceptions around exercise and ADHD, and explain what we really know about exercise and its effectiveness to improve attention and behavior.

On this episode, we listen to one teen's story about mental health during the pandemic and discuss the science and practice of using exercise to prevent and reduce depressive symptoms in teens.
Resources:
16 Strength-Training Exercises for Kids | Parents
Weight Training for Teens | stanfordchildrens.org
Kids get active! Family Couch to 5k Program! | TransFit
Six ways to get teenagers more active – suggested by the teens themselves | theconversation.com