The Effects of Nutrition and Exercise on the Mental Wellness of Preschool Children

When it comes to mental health, young children are often not researched and their tantrums or mood swings are not taken seriously, when in reality these small behavioral issues could be pointing to a larger issue. Children are the most overlooked when it comes to mental health diagnosis and treatment, unless the child begins to display extreme behavior (Philpott et al., 2019). However, preventative mental health care is arguably more pragmatic and less taboo than diagnosis and treatment. While there is research to support the use of exercise and nutrition in mental wellness, there is still not enough done within the children demographic to implement this in a strategic and routine way (Philpott, 2019). Some research has shown that teaching kids healthy habits, such as exercise and nutrition, can be effective as a preventative or treatment measure (Philpott et al., 2019). However, to our knowledge, no research has looked at multiple variables systematically (i.e., nutrition vs. exercise vs. nutrition + exercise) (Goddu, 2015).