Hardening of children and adolescents

Health groups and health-improving tactics

For proper planning of loads and procedures, all children are divided into health groups, taking into account the presence of chronic pathology and the degree of functional compensation:

• Group 1: Completely healthy children. There are no restrictions for them in studies, work, or sports. The basis for maintaining this status consists of training and general health-improving measures.
• Group 2 (risk group): Requires increased attention from the pediatrician. It is this category that vitally needs a complex to increase resistance. It includes hardening (air, water, sun), optimization of motor activity, a strict daily routine, and additional vitaminization.
• Groups 3, 4, and 5: Children with chronic diseases. Group 4 represents a state of subcompensation (malaise after exacerbations, a long recovery period). Group 5 represents severe decompensated states with a significant decrease in functional capabilities. These children are under dispensary observation. In childcare facilities, they are shown a sparing regimen, extended sleep, and strict limitation of physical activity intensity.

Assessment of the collective's health also relies on the level of general and infectious morbidity, the structure of chronic pathologies, and the percentage of individuals with normal physical development.

Acceleration and retardation in physical development

When assessing physical development, two opposing processes are necessarily taken into account: acceleration (acceleratio) and deceleration (retardatio).

Acceleration has been observed worldwide over the past 150–170 years and manifests as early as the intrauterine period. Science identifies about 50 of its signs. The main ones are:

1. Newborns have become 1 cm longer.
2. Body weight doubling in infants occurs a month earlier.
3. The change of milk teeth has shifted by one year.
4. Skeletal ossification occurs 1–2 years earlier, due to which linear body growth stops by 16–17 years of age in girls, and by 18–19 years of age in boys.

There are many theories explaining acceleration. They are divided into physicochemical (heliogenic, electromagnetic, CO2 influence), genetic (heterosis, cyclic changes), and theories related to living conditions (alimentary, nutritional, excess information). Ultimately, it is recognized that the process is caused by a complex of factors. Today in developed countries, acceleration is being replaced by retardation.

The role of physical activity regimen and physical education

A child's biological need for movement is called kinesophilia. However, the main problem of modernity is hypodynamia and lack of movement (hypokinesia).

Lack of physical activity leads to dangerous consequences:

• Adaptation of the body to a low level of loads;
• Development of asthenic syndrome;
• General decrease in functional capabilities;
• Formation of pre-pathological and pathological states of the autonomic and musculoskeletal systems.

Excess of activity (hyperkinesia), arising due to early sports specialization, is less common, but leads to exhaustion of the sympathoadrenal system and decreased immunity.

Physical education is designed to ensure harmonious development. Adequate loads activate the respiratory and cardiovascular systems, improve metabolism, and even mental performance. One of the key tasks of such education is improving thermoregulation (hardening), which is necessary to increase nonspecific resistance to cold-related infections and negative environmental factors.

Briefly: answers to topical questions

Class and exam questions

What else to study on this topic

• Criteria and timing of individual medical examinations for children of health group 2
• Organization of a sparing regimen and features of day/night sleep for children of groups 3–5
• Methodology for calculating the health index in an educational institution
• Mechanisms of urbanization's influence on acceleration processes
• Pathogenesis of sympathoadrenal system exhaustion in athletes with hyperkinesia

Other topics in "Chapter 10. Basics of Child and Adolescent Hygiene"

Prepared by WhiteCoat Pro faculty in accordance with the medical school curriculum. For educational purposes only.