It’s been a crazy summer. An election campaign has ended and a new Labour Government with a big majority is in power. They can enact real change – if they want to.
In respect of wellbeing, the story is more depressing. When we look at physical, mental, and financial wellbeing in the UK things are dire. Obesity is an epidemic in the UK and there is some talk that the UK now has higher levels than the US (as a percentage of population). Mental health is dire and mental health services are extremely difficult to access with a waiting list of c. 1 million. Most people have so little in savings that a minor financial shock would almost put them into ruin. With a supposed £22 billion black hole in the budget, taxes will likely need to go up and there won’t be money to splash around on the endless problems that we need to fix in any area, but especially wellbeing.
There is one place where we might start to embed long term change in our population. In our schools.
The most effective tool we have in our kitbag is prevention. However, it is hard to get adults to act preventatively as they have got into bad habits and struggle to change them. In addition, with the Americanise-ation of UK Culture in to accepting the cult of individualism, we also find it harder culturally to support and push a behaviour change message in wellbeing as people tell us they’ll never give up their sausage rolls or whatever as the nanny state is the real threat to democracy in the UK.
Kids, however, are more open minded. Without stepping in to brain washing territory, how might we go about getting them to help support a preventative revolution in the UK via the educational system?
- Massively Increase Exercise In UK Schools
When I was a lad, our school had a massive field with multiple pitches to play sport on and several days devoted to sport. I went to a London comprehensive. Those sports fields have since been sold off, as was the school grounds. Let’s start our revolution by making exercise an essential component of the school day, preferably every day.
Exercise not only helps with physical wellbeing, but it also helps with mental wellbeing. Team sports also help with social wellbeing by helping to create connections socially.
By introducing exercise like Pilates, yoga, or tai chi; we can also begin to help young people develop meditation and mindfulness techniques as well as potentially introduce them to alternative life philosophies (although it is equally possible to minimise this component of these exercises classes if required).
As a martial artist, kids might also benefit from the discipline and focus these arts teach, giving some of the feistier pupils a physical outlet for their aggression.
There is a vast private physical health infrastructure that we can tap into which can support schools with these initiatives. The local gym, martial arts schools or various types of wellbeing centres would all be interested in tapping into a generation of talent and customers at a reasonable price or even for free.
Another part of this is continuing to encourage kids to walk or cycle to schools. We have to break this habit of car usage for even the smallest distance and get back to walking and cycling locally.
- School Meals for All
Alongside exercise, nutrition is a cornerstone of physical wellbeing. We should expand the School Meals programme so that every child who wants it can have a healthy breakfast and lunch at school.
Nutrition is critical for young body and minds. Providing a healthy meal will not only help them physically, but also mentally. There is some evidence that it can also help with energy and mood during the school day, improving attention and performance.
Combining the offer of free or heavily subsidised healthy meals will not just help hard pressed families with their weekly food budget, but when combined with a programme of education around how to make healthy meals and the importance of eating healthy, we can help kids to understand the importance of this approach.
- Banning Smartphones and Social Media Education
Jonathan Haidt has made a powerful case for the dangers of the use of smartphones by those under 16 in our society. Social media is the biggest unlicensed psychological experiment in our history. Young people can access material that it would be extremely difficult for them to get hold of 20 years ago – from violent imagery to pornography. Whilst Social Media access and the rise in young people’s mental health problems, including big increases in self-harm, depression and suicide, cannot be directly linked and there are some trends that show that this may be a new technology learning curve that will right itself as kids become more savvy, in my view waiting for the evidence to roll in to categorically prove it will leave at least one entire generation badly harmed.
So, as a minimum, it would be good to see smartphones capable of providing access to social media banned in schools, if not wider society. Alternatively, we should look at kids not being allowed to set up an account on social media until 16 or older. Initial evidence shows that as long as more than 50% of kids in a group do not have social media access, that they are okay without it as the social pressure and FOMO dissipates the less people who are using it. ‘Dumb’ phones still allow for calls, texts, and access to the internet in a simpler form, so they can still be contacted by worried parents or in an emergency. Plus, snake is still cool as a game.
There is already a UK movement around this topic that is gaining ground and showing some initial signs of a positive impact.
- Managing Stress
I found being a kid far more stressful than being an adult and my parents were great – loving and supportive. The constant rota of exams and assessment take a toll along with an underlying sense of the results setting the trajectory of the rest of your life.
A few schools are bringing the techniques of mindfulness, meditation, and other anti-stress tools into the classroom. Early signs are that these techniques are helping kids to better handle the stress of school as well as life outside of school.
- Learning to Budget, Save and Invest
Financial Wellbeing is a big trend at UK employers, but there is relatively little evidence of success. Again, once you are in employment, many of your habits and trends are set in place and thus difficult to change.
However, financial wellbeing is also making a splash in education. A few providers have offered courses on budgeting, saving and investment in schools. There is also a small niche market for financial wellbeing books for kids. Of course, there is also scoped to teach these lessons as part of practical aspects of economics and maths in the classroom.
Conclusion
I can understand the nervousness of bringing a preventative strategy to UK classrooms and schools, even if elements of it are happening already. However, if we embed exercise and nutrition in kids, they are more likely to continue these good habits throughout the rest of their lives. Provide them with the tools to help deal with stress, handle social media, and build good relationships and they should have better lives as adults. Teach them how to budget, save and invest – especially the magic of compound interest – and we could help create a generation of millionaires as they build up some formidable savings over 40 years!
But even better than all these things, if we can teach our kids all these good habits, they may even be able to help educate us to make some positive changes to our behaviour as well! And so, the learner becomes the master…
