Improving Your Child's Intelligence Through Breath Improving Your Child's Intelligence Through Breath

It is a well known fact, that for a child to be a good student, the child has to be healthy and in good shape. Many parents, though, ignore this fact. They teach their children reading at an early age, work with them on recognizing colors, phonetics, writing... but they neglect physical activity. n In this series of articles I will explain the connection between the lungs' function, and the intelligence of your child, and give you some ideas how to increase your child's intelligence by improving his body. n If you pay attention to the way your child reads, you will notice that there is a connection between your child's breath, and his attention span. People tend to hold their breath when they concentrate on new idea, when they perform an assignment, when they read a sentence. When your child's breath is too short, it affects his attention span, and his reading. When your child has a long breath, his attention span is improved, and with that his ability to learn, his ability to focus, and his performance in school. Many children who are labeled ADD or ADHD could benefit from working on the length of their breath. n When you watch a child who has a cold and a stuffy nose, you will notice that the child has difficulty performing learning activities. The reason? - Shortness of breath!
How can you improve a child's length of breath? n The first activity the doctors recommend when talking about improving lung capacity is swimming. Swimming is a fabulous activity, one that strengthens all body muscles, without causing strain. The damage to joint sometimes occurs with other kinds of sports does not exist in swimming. Injuries are rare, when supervised by a qualified adult, and in general is a lot of fun. In addition to all these advantages of swimming, this sports develops strong lungs, and increases lung capacity. Many of the swimming champions, who achieve medals at the Olympics say that they started swimming after being diagnosed with Asthma as children, and being advised by the doctor to take up swimming. n The best time to start teaching a child to swim is shortly after birth, when you can start bathing your baby. Babies spend their time before birth in the Amniotic fluid, therefore they are very accustomed to water. A very young baby will benefit from swimming lessons, and will enjoy them. This will help develop the baby's muscles, coordination, neck muscles and first and foremost, the lungs!
Here I have to say some words of caution: never leave a child in a body of water unattended. Even the least deep water can cause injury and even death. Watch your child at all times! For young babies, make sure the water is very clean, and at the right temperature. Babies' bodies are still developing their ability to regulate temperature, so keep the baby warm, and the water lukewarm. n You can start a baby at home in the bath tub. For a tiny baby, the bath tub is big enough to accommodate the baby and you. When I started teaching my son to swim, at the age of one week, I have held him in the bath water, while kneeling next to the bath tub. If that is too strenuous for you - just get into the water with your baby, and support your baby, while the baby is floating on his back. This will make it possible for your baby to move his arms and legs freely in the water. Also, let your baby float on his belly, while you support his chin and make sure the baby can move freely his arms and legs. n This activity will keep your baby feeling safe and comfortable in the water, increase coordination and strengthen muscles. However, in order for your baby to start improving lung capacity, your baby has to learn how to hold his breath. n The following technique will work with very young babies, as well as toddlers. For the first time you do this, hold your baby while the baby's face is close to your face. Count "one, two, three", then blow on your baby's face. You will notice that the baby holds his breath and closes his eyes. Do this several times, so that the baby learns that every time your count - following comes the blow of air. Then you can count, blow, and dunk your baby's face in the water, just up to baby's lips. Do not dunk the baby's face and mouth in the water yet. n Watch your baby, to see that the baby has a good time, and is comfortable. If the baby cries or reacts to being blown in the face, just stop, and try again later. If the baby is comfortable, you can proceed and dunk baby's mouth next time.
I suggest to advance very slowly. You want your baby to have fun, and definitely not have a scary or negative experience. Be calm and relaxed, and watch your baby for any signs of discomfort. Stop, hug your baby and comfort it if you see any signs of discomfort.
Doing this, gradually and slowly you will be able to count, blow on your child's face, and dunk the baby until baby's face is under the water for a split second. If you do this slowly, calmly and happily, your baby will learn that every time you count you blow, and then the face gets dunked under the water. The baby will learn to hold it's breath just in time. n Detailed instructions of how to teach your baby to swim, you can find in "The Manual Your Child Should Have Come With - How to Develop Your Child's Genius". n In many places you can find swim schools for babies, those are great. Just visit there first, and make sure that the water is kept at the right temperature, and is clean. Many community centers and YMCA centers also have special swim classes for babies. n If your child is a toddler, and you have access to an indoors swimming pool or any save and clean pool in the summer, you can use the same technique as explained above, or use any other method. Many people use inflatable wings, that give the child the capability to float in the water, and only later teach the child to hold his breath and put his face in the water.
Children around the age of 12 months, if not acquainted with the water before, tend to develop a fear of the water. If your child is apprehensive of the water, just wait for a while longer, until you can get your child to spend time in the water comfortably and without fear. n For older children, who already know how to swim, I recommend getting them involved in swim teams and swim practice. Many swim clubs around the country are open to children from the age of 5 or 6. A child who practices swimming regularly will be healthier, stronger, better coordinated - and more intelligent. n Swimming is an excellent sport for kids of all ages (and for adults too). However, one activity is even better - swimming under water. Win Wenger, a known expert, recommends swimming under water in order to improve lung capacity. He explains that as a result of swimming under water, the Carotid Arteries permanently expand. These are the arteries that supply blood to the brain, and when they expand, they are able to provide more oxygen and nutrition to the brain. This is a bonus, in addition to the increase in breath length. Children who get the chance to play at the swimming pool, love to swim under water. This is a very healthy activity, provided that they are kept safe. Never let your child swim or dive by themselves, unattended. You must keep an eye on your child at all times. n Another activity that helps your child's breath is yoga and breathing exercises. One of the most basic and most beneficial breathing exercises is "yoga breathing". Teach your child to inhale to the count of 7 and exhale to the count of 7. First you start by "breathing into your stomach". Tell your child to put his hands on his belly, and breath into his belly. He will feel his belly expanding. Then tell him to slowly start filling his lungs from bottom to top. At the very end he will have filled his lungs completely. Then he should hold his breath for one count, and start exhaling in opposite order. 10 to 15 breaths like this at a time should be enough for the beginning. This will strengthen your child's lungs, and also have a very good effect on his ability to focus and concentrate. For school children, having a fair amount of homework to do every day, in addition to sitting at their desks at school, many children develop the habit of breathing in a very shallow style, using just part of their lung capacity. Practicing Yoga Breath, the child can develop the habit of deep breathing, using the diaphragm and then the rest of his lungs. n Other breathing exercises involve measured held breath, for example inhaling to the count of 7 (and gradually increasing it), holding breath to the count of 3 or 4 - and exhaling to the count of 7. As the child gains better control over his breathing, he can change the count to 6-3-9. n The "sh-sh-sh" game - counted breathing exercises are appropriate for older kids, but you can play this game with your toddler: you breathe in as deeply as possible, and then make the sh-sh-sh sound as long as you can - before you breathe in again. You can play this game making the sounds together, having fun. This exercises the lungs and increases control and also the strength of the diaphragm. n An activity that improves lung capacity is playing wind musical instruments. According to the age and ability of your child, you can encourage your child to play the flute, a clarinet, a trumpet or a trombone. In addition to the musical talent, your child will also improve lung capacity and control over his breathing. n To conclude, if you combine all the activities mentioned above, your child will develop strong lungs, good lung capacity and good control over his breathing. All these contribute to high intelligence. n To your success!
Esther Andrews nn