Breathing exercises as a means of hardening and improving the health of preschool children
Shafikova I.M. Breathing exercises as a means of hardening and improving the health of preschool children // Sovushka. 2018. N2(12). URL: https://kssovushka.ru/zhurnal/12/ (access date: 01/18/2022).
Order No. 110417
Breath is life!
Breathing is the most important source of life. A person can live without food and water for several days, but without air, at most, a few minutes. Modern medicine believes that developing proper breathing is the key to good health. Therefore, it is important to pay great attention to developing proper breathing. The respiratory system of children is imperfect, and the smaller the child, the narrower all the respiratory tracts are, and the mucous membrane lining them is very delicate, easily inflamed, even under the influence of dust particles; at the same time, the already narrow passages become even narrower, and it becomes difficult for the child to breathe. The smaller the child, the smaller the vital capacity of the lungs, the smaller, and the need for oxygen is high, so the child breathes frequently and shallowly. That is why it is necessary to include breathing exercises in a complex of physical education and health exercises. Breathing exercises strengthen the respiratory muscles, develop chest mobility, promote deep breathing and stability of the breathing rhythm, and increase the vital capacity of the lungs. They contribute to the full physical development of children and prevent diseases of the respiratory system. Breathing exercises in preschool age are aimed at increasing the child’s overall vitality and the resistance, hardening and resistance of his body to diseases of the respiratory system.
Let's look at what are the positive effects of breathing exercises on the human body.
First of all, breathing exercises affect metabolic processes in the child’s body, improve the drainage function of the bronchi, restore impaired nasal breathing, promote the resorption of inflammatory formations, and the straightening of inflammatory formations. Breathing exercises help saturate every cell of the body with oxygen. And a person’s ability to control breathing contributes to the ability to control oneself. In addition, breathing exercises are simply necessary for children who often suffer from colds, bronchitis, as well as those recovering from pneumonia or suffering from bronchial asthma.
In order to systematically use breathing exercises, they must be included in complexes: morning exercises, physical education classes, swimming lessons, outdoor games, physical education, finger exercises, sound breathing exercises.
Techniques for performing breathing exercises for children
- take in air through the nose;
- do not raise your shoulders;
- exhalation should be long and smooth;
- after exhaling, stop for 2-3 seconds
- you need to make sure that your cheeks do not puff out (to begin with, you can hold them with your hands).
- do not strain the muscles in the neck, arms, abdomen, chest; Do not raise your shoulders when inhaling and lower them when exhaling.
With children, breathing exercises should be carried out every day in a well-ventilated room, at any convenient time of the day, excluding 20 - 30 minutes before meals and sleep and 1 hour after meals. Before gymnastics, you need to clean your nose. The duration of the lesson is from 10 to 20 minutes. It depends on the age of the children, their individual capabilities and well-being. When conducting breathing exercises with a group of children, it is necessary to take into account the condition of each child: if necessary, pause, change the pace of the exercise to a slower one, reduce the dosage in the exercise. If you feel slightly dizzy, you can suggest doing the exercise while sitting on a chair, or skip it altogether, adhering to the main principle “Do no harm.”
To teach a child to do an exercise, the teacher first needs to master the technique of performing it himself and conduct gymnastics in a playful way: by playing with the kids the exercises, “turning” into a beetle, a bee, a hedgehog, an airplane, a steam locomotive, a clock; not just by doing a breath-holding exercise, but by offering to “dive into the water,” hold your breath, hide from geese, swans, wolves, etc.
To maintain interest, you should combine exercises into a complex with a single plot, changing game techniques and motivation, for example: go on a journey through fairy tales, go to the village to visit your grandmother. To maintain the interest and attention of young preschoolers when organizing game plots in the educational process, we use visual aids - decorations, costumes, various attributes and physical education equipment.
When developing complexes, it is necessary to take into account:
— the effectiveness of each exercise for strengthening and improving the health of children;
— an accessible degree of difficulty of exercises for children of different ages;
- the degree of influence of exercises on strengthening the respiratory muscles, ventilation of all parts of the lungs, etc.
For example, I propose a set of exercises for developing nasal breathing.
- Close your mouth tightly, pressing one nostril with your finger, slowly inhale and exhale air through the other (and vice versa).
- Inhale through one nostril (the other is pressed), exhale through the other (the first is pressed).
- Inhale slowly through the mouth, exhale jerkily through the nose.
- Inhale and exhale through closed lips (the corners of the mouth are stretched).
- With your lips closed, puff out your cheeks, then, pressing your fist to your cheeks, slowly squeeze out the air through your clenched lips.
- Inhale through your nose. As you exhale, slowly pronounce the sound “mm-mm.”
For children who are often and long-term ill, I recommend using the following breathing exercises:
"Watch"
Standing, legs slightly apart, arms lowered. Swinging your straight arms back and forth, say “tick-tock.” Repeat 10 – 12 times.
"Trumpeters"
Sitting on a chair, squeeze your hands into a tube and lift them up. Exhale slowly while pronouncing the sound “p-f-f-f-f” loudly. Repeat 4 – 5 times.
"Flap your wings like a rooster"
Stand straight, legs apart, arms down. Raise your arms to the sides and then pat them on your thighs. As you exhale, say “ku-ka-re-ku.” Repeat 5 – 6 times.
"The porridge is boiling"
Sitting on a chair, place one hand on your stomach, the other on your chest. Pull in your stomach and
draw air into your chest - inhale, lower your chest (exhaling air) and stick out your stomach -
exhalation. When exhaling, loudly pronounce the sound “f-f-f-f”. Repeat 3 – 4 times.
"Pump"
Stand straight, legs together, arms along your body. Inhale, then tilt your torso to the side. Exhale, hands slide, while loudly pronouncing “ssssss!” Straightening - inhale, bend in the other direction and repeat the sound. Repeat 6 – 8 times.
"On the horizontal bar"
Standing, feet together, hold a gymnastic pack in both hands in front of you. Raise the pack up, rise on your toes - inhale, lower the pack back onto your shoulder blades - long exhale while pronouncing the sound “f-f-f-f-f”. Repeat 3 – 4 times.
"Adjuster"
Standing, place your feet shoulder-width apart, raise one arm up, and move the other to the side. Inhale through your nose, then change the position of your hands with an extended exhalation and pronounce the sound “r-r-r-r-r”. Repeat 4 – 5 times.
"Balls are flying"
While standing, raise your hands with the ball up. Throw the ball forward from your chest. As you exhale, say a long “u-h-h-h.” Repeat 5 – 6 times.
"Grow Big"
Stand straight, legs together, raise your arms up, stretch well, rise on your toes - inhale. Lower your arms down, lower your entire foot – exhale. Say “u-h-h-h-h.” Repeat 4 – 5 times.
"Skier"
Simulation of skiing. Exhale through the nose while pronouncing the sound “mm-mm-mm”.
Repeat for 1.5 - 2 minutes.
"Pendulum"
Standing, place your feet shoulder-width apart, hold the stick behind your back at the level of the corners of your shoulder blades. Tilt your torso to the sides. When bending over, exhale while pronouncing the sound “t-u-u-u-x-x-x”. Repeat 3-4 bends in each direction.
"Geese are flying"
Slowly walking around the room. When you inhale, raise your arms to the sides, when you exhale, lower them down, pronouncing a long sound “g-u-u-u”. Repeat for 1 – 2 minutes.
From all of the above, we can conclude what a huge role breathing exercises play in the hardening and healing of children and how important it is to approach this task thoughtfully and responsibly.
Literature:
- Gorbatenko O.F., Kardailskaya T.A., Popova G.P. Physical education and health work in preschool educational institutions: planning, classes, exercises, sports and leisure activities. Volgograd: Teacher, 2008.
- Podolyanskaya E.I. Forms of health improvement for children 4-7 years old: kinesiological and breathing exercises, morning exercises. Volgograd: Teacher, 2009.
- Yakovleva L., Yudina R. Preschool education. 1997. No. 2. P. 14-20.
“Features of using breathing exercises in the process of physical education of preschool children”
It is necessary to concentrate children’s attention on the breathing exercise, which increases its positive effect (the teacher himself must be fluent in the technique and control the correctness and quality of the children’s performance of the exercises)
You need to breathe slowly, this is necessary to saturate the body with oxygen (this rule does not apply to exercises of paradoxical techniques, for example the Strelnikova technique).
Each exercise should be performed no longer than it gives pleasure (it is important for the teacher to see each child and be able to correctly determine his well-being in the process of performing the exercises).
You need to breathe through your nose.
The number of repetitions and the number of new exercises should be increased gradually as they are mastered and the stage of age-related development.
Older preschoolers should be expected to consciously perform breathing complexes (the teacher should clearly explain to children the benefits of this or that exercise and encourage children to take a responsible attitude to the activity).
It is advisable to perform the exercises against the background of slow music (this not only improves respiratory function at the cellular level, but also provides deeper relaxation, which is very important in the process of rehabilitation of children with motor disorders).
To enhance the beneficial effects of breathing exercises, you need to:
- before starting the lesson, clean the nasal passages (younger preschoolers learn to use handkerchiefs, older preschoolers can rinse the nasopharynx with water or a weak saline solution); - all exercises are easy to perform, naturally, without unnecessary effort and tension (the main thing is that the child does not get tired or out of breath after performing the exercises); - be in the stage of deep relaxation (only muscle groups directly involved in the respiratory movement work); - ensure that the air enters and exits the lungs in one continuous stream, and that inhalation and exhalation are equal in strength and duration and smoothly transition into each other (unless any change in the acts of inhalation and exhalation is specified in the note, according to the technique used ). In order to prepare children’s nasal passages for breathing exercises, they need to be taught how to “blow their nose” correctly. To do this, ask the children to put a handkerchief on their palm and bring it to their nose. Close one nostril with the index finger of the other palm and clear the nose with gentle short exhalations, mouth closed. Repeat with the other nostril. Make sure that exhalations are not sharp, otherwise children may injure the nasal mucosa. Another way to cleanse is to rinse your nose and gargle with salted water (0.5 teaspoon of salt per glass of water at room temperature). In this case, not only the nasal and oral cavities are well cleaned and disinfected (the development of caries, runny nose, and throat diseases are prevented), but also an excellent hardening effect is achieved. Gargling is available to middle-aged children, and nasal rinsing under the supervision of an adult can be started with older preschoolers. It is important to adhere to medical recommendations and take into account the individual characteristics of children. Breathing exercises are carried out in any position, in any conditions (standing, lying, sitting, in motion), but it is advisable to learn new movements while sitting. Each breathing exercise consists of six consecutive stages:
