Children are in a critical period of growth and development, and exercise can promote their growth and development. Swimming, as a common sport loved by parents and children, has multiple benefits in promoting physical, intellectual, and psychological development.
1、 Long term swimming improves physical function
1. When swimming, the resistance of both arms to breathing movement through water allows the pectoralis major, intercostal external, and intercostal internal muscles to be fully exercised, resulting in an increase in chest size; The resistance of water to the body leads to the development of muscle fibers and an increase in muscle weight in children; The mechanical stress of water on bones promotes the deposition of calcium salts in the bones, resulting in an increase in bone density.
2. Swimming can stimulate digestive function, increase appetite, promote bowel movements, and promote weight gain. Increased intestinal peristalsis and exercise consumption, as well as increased secretion from the digestive tract, enhance children's digestion and absorption of food.
3. Beneficial for the flexibility and agility of muscles and skeletal systems. Swimming is a whole-body exercise that allows muscles, joints, and ligaments to stretch, stimulates bone and muscle development, and helps children grow taller.
4. Make the heart stronger. The beating of water waves and pressure on the heart during swimming can massage the peripheral blood vessels, providing better exercise for children's hearts.
5. Improve lung capacity. When swimming, the pressure of water on the chest increases lung capacity and has a good effect on the development of the chest.
6. A certain intensity of swimming training can also improve children's fine motor coordination, gross motor coordination, and enhance their sense of balance.
And by exploring the potential of children's growth and development through swimming, it will not have toxic side effects on the body like some drugs and nutritional supplements. Therefore, it is recommended to use swimming as an important means to promote children's physical development, and to give full attention and utilization to it at all stages of children's growth and development.
2、 Swimming promotes growth hormone secretion
For a long time, exercise has been considered a more effective factor in promoting growth hormone secretion than diet or sleep.
The mechanisms by which exercise promotes height growth can be divided into endocrine effects and muscle mechanical tension effects. Exercise is beneficial for bone development. A survey of children who exercise regularly and infrequently found that the average height of children who exercise regularly is significantly higher than that of children who exercise infrequently. Exercise can promote the secretion of growth hormone. Growth hormone acts on the epiphyseal cartilage, accelerating the division, proliferation, and ossification of epiphyseal chondrocytes, leading to the growth of long bones and continuous height growth. At the same time, muscle tension and bone stress promote blood to move towards the epiphyses at both ends of long bones, increasing blood circulation in the epiphyses and accelerating the division and proliferation of epiphyseal chondrocytes, thereby promoting height growth.
Swimming, as an aerobic exercise for stretching, can accelerate blood circulation, strengthen the body's metabolic process, promote the secretion of growth hormone, accelerate bone tissue growth, and help with overall bone extension and lengthening.
3、 Swimming promotes children's intellectual development
Neuroscience research shows that childhood, especially 0-6 years old, is the period of the fastest human brain development. In recent years, China has made rapid progress in research on neuroscience and intellectual development. Foreign investigations have found that no investment has greater social and economic benefits than investing in developing children's brains. A study on the impact of early swimming on the intellectual development of infants and young children in China has confirmed that early swimming exercise in infants can enhance their sleep quality and immunity, stimulate digestive function, promote their growth and development, improve their intellectual development and stress ability, and promote the excretion of fetal stool, reduce intestinal and hepatic circulation, and decrease bilirubin reabsorption, among other advantages.
Professor Gardner, a renowned educator at Harvard University, proposed the theory of multiple intelligences, which states that individuals with higher levels of athletic intelligence have a greater ability to control their limbs and body. These individuals with strong abilities are generally distributed among surgeons, dancers, and athletes. Swimming promotes the development of children's motor intelligence and lays a solid foundation for their long-term development in life.
4、 Swimming promotes children's mental health
When swimming, the massage effect of water can soothe children's bodies, make them feel comfortable and relaxed, eliminate their fear emotions, and also generate a sense of pleasure. This is a good psychological state generated through exercise. The pleasure generated during swimming can have a significant impact on children's emotions and feelings. Through swimming, children can achieve energy bursts and release pent up unpleasant emotions. During swimming exercise, children's blood flow and oxygen intake continue to increase, which has a good stimulating effect on their central nervous system and forms a virtuous cycle. At the same time, the secretion of adrenaline will continue to increase, which is also helpful for relieving depressive emotions.
5、 The application of swimming in the medical field has also been confirmed. Through literature review, some studies have shown that swimming is beneficial in improving asthma symptoms, promoting neonatal jaundice resolution, improving motor function in children with cerebral palsy, and enhancing physical perception in children with autism.
In short, participating in swimming can benefit children in all aspects, promote their healthy growth, and encourage them to choose swimming as one of the ways to exercise their bodies.