Study: Ritalin linked to stunted growth

New research bolsters evidence that stimulants like Ritalin used for attention deficit problems may stunt children’s growth, but it does not address whether the effect is permanent.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4668038/

It’s a tragedy that so many of our young children are being drugged with powerful stimulants without first trying healthier alternatives. For example, exercise. One 12-year-old client is in “health” right now and gets no exercise during the school day. The sedentary style of virtually all classrooms today is enough to leave any person feeling fidgety. How many parents would find it difficult to sit in a desk all day long, often listening to unenergizing lectures? ADD and ADHD are now being diagnosed for kids that are simply frustrated and angry that they are wasting their lives. Worse, in my opinion, is that schools who keep the kids for most of the day now expect even elementary-age kids to do significant homework, further reducing the time they spend in free, creative expression in playtime.

I know ADD and ADHD are complicated issues. The drugs do help many children to be successful in school. Yet, we ignore both the exercise aspect as well as the need to train each of our nervous systems to focus in a relaxed manner through age-old practices such as meditation, mindfulness, yoga, tai chi, the martial arts, and massage. Instead we work, work, work the cognitive brain. We cram it chock full of facts without providing a balance. No wonder so many kids need Ritalin, a stimulant!, to burn off the excess energy they have so they can sit passively and Be a Good Boy.