Given their vulnerability and dependence, children’s physiology is especially susceptible to the emotional states of their caregivers. Young kids’ stress hormone levels, for example, are heavily influenced by the emotional atmosphere in the home, whether outright conflict or bristling tension.[9] Asthma is a well-studied example: the inflammation of the child’s lungs is directly affected by the mother’s or father’s emotions.[10] In the words of a recent review: “It has been consistently shown that parents in an unfavorable mental health state such as ‘depression,’ ‘anxiety,’ ‘stress,’ or
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