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 It was a quiet sleep, but my granddaughter's toes wiggled from time to time. At the same age, 4 weeks into his life's journey, her father's toes were shaped differently. But they wiggled from time to time in his sleep just the same. Perhaps all babies wiggle their toes when they sleep. To have a single fertilized egg developed into a body of 75 trillion cells in 40 weeks is amazing. What influenced this development? My son never crawled when he was a baby. Perhaps he was too happy speeding around the house in his walking chair. Then one day, he took his first baby step and never looked back at that chair. The first time he stepped on sand, he was concerned that he wasn't standing on solid ground and reached out for me to pick him up. I held his hand and he stepped forward. Since then, he has left many foot prints on many beaches… What encouraged and what compromised development? How and how much are we influenced by our early experience? Why are certain life potentials realized and not the others? If life potential is limited by genetic factors and directed by environmental factors, and ultimately shaped by the interaction and interplay of these factors, is there any room for free will? We inherited our genes from our parents, and they imposed certain predispositions. But how the genes are expressed (turn on or off) in each cell is subjected to environmental influences, such as lifestyle factors. This is referred to as epigenetics. The growth of the fetus during pregnancy is also influenced by environmental factors such as maternal nutrition and mood. The influence may have short or long-term impact that include birth outcomes, physiological, biochemical, and behavioural consequences in later years. This is referred to as fetal programming. But the interaction and interplay between genetics and environmental factors is a dynamic process. As an individual grows and develops, he or she can modify environmental factors through everyday choices–what to eat and drink, who to befriend etc. And more importantly, even when certain life limitations cannot be changed, we can still decide how we want to accept or utilize these limitations. For example, Helen Keller turned her blind-deaf disability into a source of inspiration for thousands of people and contributed to the education for the blind and deaf. In his book "Flow: psychology of optimal experience", author Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi reminds us that we cannot decide how tall we grow or what instructions are contained in our genes. But happiness does not depend on what we have, only on what we make happen. "The most joyous moments happen when we stretch our body or mind to their limits in a conscious effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile." We are born with the toes that we have. We walk on grounds that may be concrete or soft. But each step heads toward a certain direction, and they can be light or heavy steps. Foot prints, happy or sad, are ours to mark. Only we live our life, nobody else does. In this issue of WellnessOptions, we discuss some of the factors and practices that influence early development, such as maternal stress, nutrition in pregnancy, and breastfeeding. We also discuss how our health and behaviour in later years may be affected by early development. Some of the other topics include early non-medication intervention for ADHD, midwifery, and the sense of touch in babies. Hope you enjoy this issue and the path you choose to take. Lillian Chan, Editor |
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