InBrief: Connecting the Brain to the Rest of the Body

Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University

This brief describes some of the "compelling evidence that the foundations of lifelong health" are built in the early years of life, "with increasing evidence of the importance of the prenatal period and first few years after birth." The brief reviews some of the detrimental impacts of toxic stress on the brain and, in turn, the body's biological systems, and points to the need for responsive relationships between young children and the adults who care for them.

File