I don't know if you haven't noticed, recently opened the phone, can see a lot of information about "spring growth".
If Baidu "spring, children grow taller" and other keywords , there are actually up to 12 million search results.
Almost all of them will tell you that spring = great opportunity for kids to grow taller.
It also seems to say that if you don't catch this spring, your child will be "inferior"!
Spring, is it really the golden season for children to grow taller?
There have been studies that have proven that children grow faster during certain seasons.
Seasonal variations in growth and body compositions of 8-11-yr-old Danish children
The 1886-1971 study said: children grow fastest in height in the spring and summer; in fall and early winter periods, weight gain was faster.
After 1971, however, this conclusion became somewhat less tenable.
Over the 16-year period from 1959 to 1975, the differences in height and weight gain between seasons became smaller and smaller, and even disappeared in 1982-1984.
Interestingly, in the 1990s, two small studies from the United Kingdom and Sweden noted that the accompanying seasonal differences in height reappeared!
However, due to the small size of the experiments, the results of these two studies are not representative.
In the end, academics have not been able to come up with a definitive answer to the question of whether or not there is a difference in growth rates between seasons,
Since it's not easy to be taller in the spring,
This is why it's so difficult to convince people to grow up in the spring.
This is the first time I've seen this.
Instead of obsessing about which season is the best, let's look at what really affects your child's ability to grow taller.
The three elements of the pyramid that determine a child's growth before puberty are: exercise, diet, and sleep.
Let's go through them in turn.
Element 1: Exercise
Studies have shown that exercise helps height growth by increasing the production of growth hormone.
Insulin-like growth factor-I and growth in height, leg length, and trunk length between ages 5 and 10 years.
What exercises are better for children? How long is the right amount of time to exercise?
I looked up the Exercise Guidelines for Preschoolers (3-6 years old) and pulled some suggestions from them.
(1) Recommendations for exercise time
- Minimum of 180 minutes of exercise per day and a large number of studies have shown that the greater the total amount of time that children spend being active each day, the greater the health benefits.
- Two hours of outdoor activity per day has been recognized by national and international researchers as the easiest and most effective way to prevent myopia in children
- Preschoolers should reduce sedentary behaviors every day. The cumulative amount of screen time should be no more than 60 minutes per day, and the less the better.
(2) Recommended Types of Exercise
The main types of exercise for preschoolers include daily activities, play and games, and sports, as shown in the table below.
I also encourage parents to engage in parent-child sports with their children in their daily parenting life, to cultivate children's interest in participating in sports, and to build a healthy lifestyle.
Element 2: Sleep
Experiments have shown that adequate sleep promotes the secretion of growth hormone, which in turn contributes to physical development.
(1) Recommended sleep time
Sleep Guidelines for Children
(2) Guidance for the sleep environment
Twenty minutes before bedtime, arrange for your baby to do 3 or 4 sleep activities including washing up, reading stories to your baby, and so on.
It is not recommended to place electronic devices such as TVs, cell phones, and computers in the bedroom to create a quiet and comfortable environment for your child to sleep.
Try to develop the ability to fall asleep alone, rocking and cuddling are not recommended.
Mothers and fathers can put their babies to sleep in a crib alone when the child is drowsy but not asleep, and allow the child to fall asleep holding his or her favorite small toy.
Element 3: Nutrition
Nutritional intake directly determines how well a child develops physically.
A study in Chengdu analyzed the effect of nutritional intake on the height and weight of young children.
The experiment divided 96 preschoolers into a excellent group, a normal group, and a downtrodden group, based on the children's diet and intake.
I think you can guess what the results were.
There was a very significant difference in height and weight between the three groups, with the excellent group being significantly taller and heavier than the normal and low groups.
So what exactly do you eat to make sure your child is getting enough nutrients?
We can refer to the "Balanced Dietary Pagoda for Infants, Toddlers, and Preschoolers" given by the Chinese Nutrition Association for nutritional matching.
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Every season is a golden season of growth for children as long as they get the right nutrition, sleep and exercise.
We don't even have to worry about how we're going to make the most of spring so we don't delay the growth of our children.
Not to mention the fact that those on the market, claiming to "help children grow growth stickers", in addition to this thing to meet the parents of a moment of peace of mind, what is the use of nothing.
At the same time, to give the child to eat health care products, playing growth hormone and so on the plucking type of "help" is harmful and unhelpful.
Spring is here, please take your child out for a walk, do some exercise with your child after work, put some thought into your child to make a nutritious and tasty meal, and tell your child a bedtime story , so that he or she can go to sleep with a beautiful dream.
These are the best ways to help your child grow.
In the end, I hope every little angel is tall and healthy.
References
, S., Ritz, C., Larnkj?r, A., Damsgaard, C., Petersen, R., S?rensen, L., . Michaelsen, K. (2016, February). Seasonal variations in growth and body composition of 8-11-Y-OLD Danish children. Retrieved April 12, 2021, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ pubmed/26488554;
GB/T 579-2017, Sleep hygiene guidelines for children aged 0 to 5 years [S];
Rogers, I., Metcalfe, C., Gunnell, D., Emmett, P., Dunger, D., Holly , J., & Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents Children Study Team (2006). Insulin-like growth factor-I and growth in height, leg length, and trunk length between ages 5 and 10 years. The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism, 91(7), 2514-2519. https://doi.org/10.1210/jc.2006-0388;
Hongyan Guan, Xing Zhao, Sha Qu, Jianxin Wu, Yufeng Yang, & Jianjun Guo et al. (2020). Exercise guidelines for preschool children (3 6 years old). Chinese Journal of Child Health 2020, Vol. 28, No. 6, pp. 714-720, ISTIC CA;
Ma Jun. (2018). Child growth and development and nutrition. Chinese Journal of Child Health Care, v. 26; No. 195(09), 10-12;
Shi Xuefeng, Li Caixia, & Yuan Yamei. (2017). An investigation of the effect of swimming on height and weight in infants and young children. Medical Information (8)