Working in Movement

Scaredy-rats die young in Nature Science Update reports on a study that says shy rats die at a younger age than those who are not shy. That's the equivalent of 10 years in humans. But the study was on rats, not humans, and the investigators don't generalize to humans. But one of them does say that the shyness might give an animal the advantage of avoiding life threatening situations in the first place.

So what's interesting about this? If the study is valid and it is found to apply to humans, it begs the question "can anything be done for the 15% of children who are neophobic? They have higher levels of stress hormones, and these might compromise the immune and other systems. Not good for the prospects of longer life.

Could body awareness skills help? Perhaps enhanced body awareness skills would give the neophobic (or anyone else in common, but very stressful situation) some options they might not otherwise have. For example, upon recognizing the stress reaction, the person might be able to make the choice of avoiding the situation altogether. Or, there might be the option to modify the situation to a less stressful one--say taking a trusted friend along. Even if these choices are not available, just recognizing that the situation as stressful might at least tone down the reaction. See On Auditioning at Learning Methods contains an approximation.

In the meantime, how do you teach body awareness skills to young rats?