Many studies have been conducted on children to reveal the effects of sports on growth and development, and the effect of regular sports activity on the child's height and body weight has been investigated. As the age of starting sports for the purpose of sporting success is gradually decreasing, discussions about the effects of training or exercise on muscles, growth-stimulating hormones and growth plates that have not yet closed remain current.
Regular physical activity, participation in sports or training, It has not yet been fully demonstrated that the height reached and the rate of height growth affect time and speed of height growth. However, it is observed that children who engage in sports such as swimming, tennis, basketball and rowing are taller and heavier than their peers. This suggests that some types of sports may be advantageous. Early maturation, especially in men, in sports such as football, swimming and rowing; Late maturation can be an advantage, especially for girls, in sports such as gymnastics, skating and arts such as ballet. For this reason, it is useful to take into account the effects of training on maturation when making sports-related choices. It is seen that the performance age in international organizations is gradually decreasing in some types of sports. This situation causes people to start sports at an earlier age. There are few studies on the negative psychological effects of starting training at a young age. In addition to the psychological effects, there is no physical problem unless one-way and heavy training is applied. Long-term endurance exercises may not be suitable both psychologically and because muscles, tendons and joints are subjected to repetitive strain. Since children's mechanical efficiency is not good, they consume more oxygen and get tired more quickly while doing the same job. This will improve with age. However, training should not be too long and frequent rest intervals should be given. In addition, efforts should be made to teach the basic features of that sport by including game-based activities rather than a competitive environment. During physical development, height elongation is achieved by the growth plates of the bones called epiphyses. Excessive physical load and impacts to the growth plates It may cause the tissues to close prematurely. While it is recommended to include exercises with medicine balls and exercises with body weight in time during school childhood, additional weight training should be postponed until the age of 15-16.
Many studies have been conducted on the effects of sports on the development of children. According to some researchers, physical activities increase nitrogen retention and protein synthesis in the organism, and as a result, stimulate lateral growth.
Research on the effect of sports activities on bone development has shown that limited stress is beneficial to bone growth. While inactivity is detrimental to bone growth, excessive and severe stress can also cause fractures. While throwing, jumping or lifting creates undesirable results in bone tissues for some children, this may not be the case for other children. While exercise increases bone width and mineralization, inactivity reduces it. While exercise performed for an optimal duration and intensity has a growth-stimulating effect on the growth-related part of the bones called the epiphysis, long-term intense exercise may harm rather than benefit growth. In conclusion; Physical exercises that are done consciously, do not exceed a certain period of time and whose intensity is compatible with the child's age group have a growth-stimulating effect.
The sensitivity of a tissue develops in proportion to its growth rate. For this reason, children are at greater risk of overload injuries in physiologically incorrect training practices compared to adults. This situation is even more important for children in the transition period during adolescence, because they face the danger of orthopedic overload.
Tissue damage may occur immediately or later in one-way and unprepared loads on the developing organism. . In developing children, it is necessary to avoid overloading the vertebrae. Because excessive loads can lead to deformities and bone deformations in the spine, a halt in growth and a decrease in mobility.
Too much secretion of growth hormone in a growing child causes him/her to be very tall, and too little secretion causes short stature or short stature. dwarfism It causes . If growth hormone is secreted excessively in adulthood, a condition called "Acromegaly" occurs, characterized by abnormal sizes of the bones of the hands, feet, jaw and skull. During exercise, an increase in growth hormone is observed depending on the intensity of the exercise. The fact that this increase in growth hormone is higher in exercises that require endurance is attributed to the fact that growth hormone has an effect that increases the use of free fatty acids as an energy source. Therefore, growth hormone is a hormone that affects performance mostly in long-term submaximal exercise. Since growth occurs in the skeleton and muscles due to the anabolic effects of this hormone, some athletes use growth hormone for doping purposes to increase their muscle mass. During the recovery period after a tiring exercise, growth hormone returns to normal faster in athletes.
Main benefits of regular exercise during childhood:
Weight control:
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In our country, the rate of overweight children is 11.6% in boys and 13.2% in girls. This situation increases the risk of hypertension, high levels of harmful blood fats, hypertension, Type 2 diabetes, growth hormone secretion disorders, and respiratory and orthopedic problems. 40% of obese children and 70% of those who were obese in adolescence become obese as adults. For this reason, the fight against obesity in childhood and adolescence is considered very important for health in adulthood.
Psychological relief:
The patient feels better psychologically, depression and reduces anxiety symptoms.
Strengthening the heart and lungs:
When exercise is done regularly and consciously, it strengthens the heart muscles on the heart and increases the contractility of the heart. enhancing effect occurs. Increasing the contraction power of the heart allows the blood pumped to the body and lungs to enter the circulation more easily, making it difficult for long-term complications, that is, side effects, to occur, especially in diseases such as Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (diabetes mellitus). Damage to the microvascular system By preventing or postponing these events, the risk of damage caused by the disease, especially to organs such as the eyes and kidneys, is reduced.
Other purposes of exercise during adolescence are as follows:
- Physical exercise, health and well-being, ensuring growth and development
- Creating an active lifestyle in adulthood
- Increasing bone mineral density and reducing the risk of osteoporosis in the future
- Reducing the incidence of overweight or obesity and the risk of chronic diseases in adulthood
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