Regular exercise is as important as breathing

While breathing is critical for survival, there is also such a thing as proper and improper breathing. Improper breathing increases stress and weakens the immune system.

When teaching proper breathing, the first step is to get your kids to breathe through noses. The second part is to get them to breathe from their stomachs rather than their chests.

What happens when you breathe this way is that the stomach expands outwards, causing your intestines and other innards to move out of the way, and to make room for the diaphragm to pull the lungs down to their fullest capacity. As a result you get the largest breath of air possible.

Deep breathing has many implications for learning. It can control nervousness. So in future, whenever your children are in a stressful situation, encourage them to take deep breaths from their stomachs. Within a few breaths, tension will ease and clarity of thought will return.

Wise Up To Exercise:

Exercise is good for you and your children. Kids who exercise regularly are less prone to allergies and colds and miss fewer school days. They are also less likely to develop diseases. Exercise also increases their ability to concentrate and memorize. It’s a natural stress buster.

So, be sure that your children spend at least one hour daily doing some type of strong physical activity. Exercise can consist of any type of activity that gets the lungs and heart pumping — skipping rope, cricket, badminton, football, dancing, swimming, etc. There is no end to the list.

Stretching It Out:

Due to our somewhat unnatural lifestyles, our bodies get contorted into strange positions that they were never intended to be in, resulting in the muscles getting constructed and the blood flow slowing down.

Teaching your children to stretch regularly is a practice that will benefit them immensely in their school-going years — and into their adult lives as well. It removes sleepiness, increases concentration, and reduces stress and tension.

Our Bodies Need Rest Too!

Sleep and rest are intrinsic to the learning process. Some children believe that by increasing study time, they’ll be able to learn more. But the fact is there are diminishing returns on certain investments — and studying is one of them.

Rest provides with time to shuffle and organize new information, as well as stock up on and create fresh supplies of brain cells.