Confinement has left great consequences in our lives in its wake: anxiety begins to materialize, sleep and even growth can be affected by this confinement.

Confinement is a very stressful situation for anyone, but when it comes to how it affects a family with one or several children with disabilities, we are talking about a challenge . Perhaps the first weeks can be a terrifying moment but in the adaptation process we bring out the best in each one because that is what survival is all about. When time stretches we begin to notice the consequences of confinement. Anxiety, stress, low mood, anger, boredom, confusion... As always at VICON Method we know the realities of our families well so we are going to do an “x-ray” first to become aware of what is happening, what is going on. to happen and what we can do to remedy or prevent the consequences from being negative.

1. SLEEP: Changes in sleep rhythm, lack of activity, change in sleep rhythm... Did you know that one in three children has sleep problems and that in most cases it is insomnia? Neuropediatricians say that sleeping poorly, little or changing the sleep rhythm can cause fatigue, drowsiness, irritability and character changes in children, but something that is less known is that childhood sleep disorders can affect development . This is because at night, during sleep, a series of metabolic processes in our body and brain develop that regulate learning, cognitive development and growth. For this reason, it is very important to continue with good routines, promote rest and good activity to facilitate the activation of the body and mind.
2. SCHEDULE: A stable schedule and constant hours of sleep each day. This does not mean that you have to wake your child at the same time every day, but that you be consistent in the approximate wake-up and sleep time , sleep the hours he needs and do not end up with completely inverted sleep.
3. FOOD: Food is another aspect to control during confinement. These days, your child will spend 24 hours at home and, like you, he will be bored at many times. That boredom will lead you to look for something that will make you feel better and all too often it will be food. It is not just a question of the quantity of food, but of taking care of the quality of the food.
4. ACTIVITY: In relation to exercise, it is probably one of the most difficult points to take care of when it comes to children with disabilities. When you're stuck at home, the biggest limitation is space. They can't run, they can barely jump and the most they can do is move around the house. Eating too much and poorly, having poor quality sleep and doing little exercise are a very bad combination for our children. One of the factors most related to growth is the mechanical effect that the physical activity that children usually do has on the growth cartilages of the bones.
5. GROWTH: Children usually run and jump continuously and the sudden and intermittent pressure that this causes on those bone growth lines is a great stimulus for the production of more cells and, with it, growth. Spend time playing with your child the old-fashioned way. Propose games in which you have to run, jump, go up, go down, cross obstacles... give challenges to reach, climb... Nowadays, most mobile phones have applications that allow you to measure mobility, steps... look for it in the yours, set a goal and start playing. It is very important because otherwise you could lose muscle mass and increase your risk of sprains and coordination problems after quarantine.
6. SUN: The lack of sun exposure from being locked up at home can cause a lack of vitamin D, which is used for many things in our body. With respect to bones, vitamin D is essential for good bone development and mineralization. Furthermore, its deficit is one of the most frequent and least detected among children and adults in our country. Sunlight is necessary for our body to correctly metabolize vitamin D, therefore, do not let your child spend the entire day in their room, locked up, without seeing the sun. Find times to expose it to light, and try to reach as much body surface area as possible . Bring it closer to the windows, balcony or terrace of your house at times of greater solar intensity, with great care, of course.
7. SCREENS: It is not time to prohibit the use of mobile phones or consoles. Quite the opposite! In fact, try to establish a routine with that as well, a game schedule with the console or tablet so that you can disconnect from the reality we are experiencing and free your mind from worries and burdens. Play with him and even talk to the parents of his friends and classmates to organize meetings in which you all participate. You can create groups and compete parents against children.

In general, the children are handling the situation quite well. Problems will begin to arise from now on, where it is possible that many will be more irritable, with more stereotyped behaviors, with difficulties in sphincter control or even crying for no apparent reason . It is essential to put a little order in our lives and to give us security. Maintain a good balance between relaxing and activating activities because now is the time to regulate all this anxiety that is manifesting from confinement. Human beings function better when they maintain a routine . If we keep our times for getting up, eating meals, going to bed and if we do a little exercise we will surely better alleviate the consequences of confinement. It is important to make weekdays different from weekend days. In the long term, in children, it is most likely that there will not be any type of psychological consequences , as long as we maintain the guidelines and follow the recommendations. If we let everything be chaos, if there are arguments every day, if we let everyone do what they want, we will see the consequences of confinement. Well, problems are going to arise there, but how they would arise in a situation in which we can go out on the street, exactly the same.

I hope this article about the consequences of confinement and some recommendations to alleviate them have been useful to you.

Cristina Oroz Bajo