Better treats for children

In this episode, Greg Dickens and I discuss how a baby’s experience of labour shapes their stress responses in childhood, and why that matters. We talk about how a few minutes of movement affect how children perform in school. We then talk about treats - what they are, what they could be, and how we can set them up differently. Finally, we answer a listener question about how we respond to research that suggests that we or our children might be at higher risk of health problems in the future.

To read more about creating better treats, see here:

https://guenbradbury.substack.com/p/how-to-get-kids-to-crave-healthy

Topics covered

* Does a child’s experience of labour affect their later response to stress?

* How does a few minutes of movement affect children’s school performance?

* What makes a treat?

* Why might we want to think differently about treats?

* How might we respond to research that suggests that we are at higher risk of health problems?

These other podcast episodes cover related topics:

Notes

Evolved birth physiology meets modern birth practice: Sustained effects of planned cesarean delivery on child hair cortisol in Brazil https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2519365122

The behavioural, cognitive, and neural corollaries of blunted cardiovascular and cortisol reactions to acute psychological stresshttps://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0149763416304614

Acute 3.5-minute light-intensity exercise enhances executive function and psychological mood in children: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-27358-2

Hello! My name’s Guen. I’m a veterinarian by background and I’ve worked in health innovation for a decade. I spent eighteen months living in traditional villages across Africa and South America, learning from communities that raise children in very different ways. My passion is helping parents, doctors, and teachers identify small things they can do to set children up for better long-term physical health.

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