If sport has many virtues in children, a study suggests that its practice would have an influence on respiratory infections.
Ideal for limiting sedentary lifestyle, the practice of an individual or collective sport is very beneficial for children. It has an influence on the determination and involvement of children but can also have a very positive impact on cognitive health. But this physical activity is also beneficial for the body.
She allows to work on endurance, develop flexibility or even reflexes. However, exerting yourself would also create a barrier against upper respiratory infections. The best known is the common cold, which occurs particularly between autumn and spring.
In any case, this is what emerges from a new study published at the end of January 2023 in the journal Pediatric Research.
A first “observational” study
The study in question did not only focus on the link between sport and respiratory health in children. It focused on all the factors that could have an impact: number of steps taken each day, vaccination or not, exposure to animal hair and tobacco…
To find out if physical activity had a major role, the researchers fitted 104 Polish children with a small armband. The latter contained a pedometer which calculated both the number of steps taken each day and the frequency of sleep. However, the age of the young participants (from 4 to 7 years old) must also be taken into account.
At the same time, the parents of the volunteer children had to inform the scientists as soon as they showed cold symptoms. They also had to indicate the duration of these symptoms. After more than a year of observations in several 60-day phases, researchers have actually found a link between better resistance to colds and the practice of sport in children.
Less risk of getting sick by doing at least 3 hours of sport per week
The researchers noticed a decrease in the duration of cold symptoms per 1,000 steps made by children. Concretely, every 1000 additional steps, coughing attacks or runny nose were present 4 days less. Additionally, the researchers found that the children who fell the least sick did an average of 3 hours of sport per week.
However, they don’t have not yet been able to determine precisely the origin of this resistance. According to one of their theories, moving around reduces the level of cytokines in the body. However, these elements are sensitive to cold viruses and other respiratory infections. In fact, the immune defenses would be able to treat the common cold more effectively.
But this study only involved a hundred children. Additional studies will have to come to bring precisions on this positive impact of the sport on the health of the children.