All labor processes are conditionally divided into 2 types:
1) predominantly physical work;
2) predominantly mental work.
This division is very relative, because there is no purely physical and purely mental work - we can only talk about the predominance of mental or physical work.
While performing physical work, a person is to one degree or another loaded with mental activity. According to physiologists A.S. Egorova and V.P. Zagradsky, when cleaning, washing floors and wiping dust, a person is loaded with mental activity by only 0.9%, when working on a machine - by 25%, when driving a car in sparsely populated areas - by 35%, and when typing on a typewriter - by 73 %.
Physiology of physical labor.
Physical activity refers to the amount and intensity of a person’s muscular work associated with work, household work, physical education, sports, etc.
The study of physical activity caused by professional activities, their impact on the functional state and performance of a person is necessary to develop a rational organization of the work and rest regime, to ensure the quantitative and qualitative adequacy of nutrition for people of various professions to increase human performance, efficiency and productivity.
The study of physical activity is important and necessary due to the fact that the development of sensory organs (analyzers) and neuropsychic, emotional stress depend on the motor activity of the body. Over the course of long evolution, muscle tension and emotional tension necessarily accompanied each other. For example, a danger signal (meeting a predator) evoked negative emotions of fear and the need for motor reactions to escape (run away, hide); meeting small animals (food sources) evoked positive emotions and the need to catch up and catch them.
Emotions significantly increase muscle activity. In a state of passion (anger, fear), a person can perform such muscular work that he would never be able to cope with under normal conditions.
Human physical activity consists of static and dynamic work:
1.Static work represents the activity of muscles in conditions of maintaining a stationary position of the body or its parts, as well as holding any load. The muscles contract in an isometric mode, i.e. without changing length, therefore there is no mechanical work in a strictly physical sense.
Static work is the main component of maintaining a person’s working shape and is carried out through titanic and tonic contractions of certain muscle groups. Maintaining any position requires different tension from the muscles.
The simplest pose is lying down; When lying on your back, only the extensors are tense. The least muscle tension occurs when lying on your side with your limbs slightly bent. When sitting, the extensors of the torso and neck are most tense. The standing pose requires tension in many muscles of the torso, neck, and legs.
The amount of static work is determined by the product of the force supported by the muscles and the time during which the tense state occurs. Typically, the greater the tension, the shorter the time during which it can be maintained.
During static work, metabolism increases, energy consumption increases, while energy is not converted into mechanical work, but is released in the form of heat. Energy consumption is proportional to the weight of the supported load and the duration of its support. Static work is more tiring than dynamic work, because... accompanied by a continuous and intense flow of impulses from muscle proprioceptors to the central nervous system.
2. Dynamic work is associated with the movement of the body or its parts in space, i.e. with movements. In this case, muscle activity occurs in an auxotonic mode, which combines both contraction and tension. During dynamic work, energy is spent both on maintaining a certain contraction in the muscles and on the mechanical effect of the work and is measured by the product of the mass of the load and the distance over which it moves. In the conditions of human production activity, it is impossible to calculate work in mechanical units, therefore, to estimate the amount of physical activity, they use the definition of energy expenditure. Energy consumption is proportional to the amount of muscle work.
Thus, the assessment of the severity of work is based on a study of the amount of energy expenditure, the reaction of the cardiovascular system and respiration, thermoregulation and other physiological indicators. At low physical exertion, the pulse rate is 76-100 beats per minute, at medium stress - 110-125, at high stress - more than 175 beats per minute. But an increase in heart rate can also be associated with neuropsychic stress that accompanies a person’s professional activity. Therefore, a more reliable criterion for assessing the severity of physical activity is the amount of energy expenditure, which well reflects the dynamic load.
This principle has become widespread internationally. Based on various physiological indicators and energy expenditure, 4 groups were identified - categories of severity of physical work: light, moderate, heavy and very heavy. According to sanitary and hygienic standards, it is proposed to consider work that requires energy consumption of up to 150 kcal/hour as light work, and the heavy category includes work that requires energy consumption of more than 250 kcal/hour. The physiological norm of physical activity for a person is 180 kcal/hour.
Motor skills are new forms of motor actions developed through the mechanism of conditioned reflexes as a result of systematic exercises. The formation of a motor skill is carried out in 3 stages:
Stage 1 - characterized by a generalized efferent reaction, i.e. All muscles are activated at the same time, so movements are awkward, imprecise, posture and facial expressions are constrained, breathing is delayed.
Stage 2 - accompanied by improved coordination and accuracy of movements; There is some stereotypicality in the movements.
Stage 3 - characterized by a high degree of coordination and automation of the motor act.
In the education and implementation of skills, thinking, motivation, and memory play an important role, which provide trigger information and afferent synthesis. At all stages of skill formation, strength, speed, agility and endurance play an important role. When performing a skill, afferent impulses are sent to the central nervous system from proprioceptors, vestibular, auditory and tactile analyzers, due to which, at all stages of skill development, the compliance of the program and its implementation is monitored.
A large number of muscles are involved in the implementation of most household, work and sports motor skills. Some of them directly implement local voluntary movement itself, while others support the necessary posture, fix joints, etc. Physical exercise causes profound changes in all organs and systems of the human body, with physiological, biochemical and morphological changes occurring.
Due to neurohumoral regulation, functional changes in the autonomic nervous system begin in the pre-working period, i.e. only in preparation for work or physical exercise, continue during the exercise (while the muscle load is being performed) and remain after the end of the work. Autonomic processes are activated by the mechanism of conditioned and unconditioned reflexes. Along with the motor stereotype, a vegetative dynamic stereotype is also formed, which ensures correspondence between the level of various physiological functions and the level of motor activity.
In connection with physical work, the concept of “physiological reserve of the body” is highlighted. Physiological reserve is understood as the ability of an organ or functional system to increase the intensity of its activity many times over compared to a state of relative rest. This ability has developed in the process of evolution and depends on physical training.
The physiological reserve is clearly visible in the example of increased blood circulation in the skeletal muscle during physical work. At rest, skeletal muscles consume 25-30% of IOC, during heavy physical work - 80-85%; MOQ increases from 5 to 30 liters; heart rate (in swimmers, for example) increases from 170 to 205 beats/min. Respiratory reserves are great: its activity during physical work increases 10 times, oxygen consumption increases 15-16 times.
However, in the process of performing his professional activity, a person does not work to the limit of his physical capabilities, because such work does not last long and leads to fatigue of the body. The volume of physiological reserve stands out most clearly in sports, where properly organized training expands the physiological reserve of the body, making it more resilient and resistant to negative influences. For example, Arshavsky’s work has shown that the performance of the neuromuscular system with normal blood circulation can be maintained for a long time (4-5 hours), if the rhythm of contractions is at such intervals that anabolic processes have time to be completely completed. Thus, a motor act that is correctly organized in time can be carried out without signs of fatigue. High performance during physical activity is associated with the use of the aerobic capabilities of the body and with the possibility of long-term maintenance of a stable state of respiratory functions, the cardiovascular system, i.e. transport systems throughout the entire labor process, capable of regulating homeostasis.
Systematic exercise improves the physiological reserve of the body, increases the mass of skeletal muscles, chest volume, vital capacity, and muscle strength. Physical labor and sports in their optimal form can act as a source of increasing the body’s reserve capabilities even in old age, pushing back the boundaries of aging, although the body’s physiological reserves decrease with age. Maximum muscle strength occurs between the ages of 20 and 30, and, on the contrary, with excessive, backbreaking nature of work, it can be the cause of early wear, aging, and withering of the body.
In a well-trained body, the physiological reserve is not used to the maximum, and the changes observed in the body during and outside of physical work are characterized by a certain economization of functions. Thus, the heart rate of well-trained athletes is 40-45 beats/min. at a high level of BSS - 100 ml, - the value of the basal metabolic rate is 20-40% lower than its proper values. This allows the body to use energy resources most efficiently during physical effort.
The economization of functions is based on the following restructuring of the functional systems of the body. Moderate hypertrophy of the heart occurs, the ratio of its mass to body weight can increase by 40%. This is accompanied by the development of a network of capillaries and anastomoses between them, an increase in the content of glycogen and myoglobin in the heart muscle. During the training process, the diastole period significantly lengthens, during which the resynthesis of energy-rich phosphorus compounds occurs in the myocardium. In addition, mitochondria swell and their energy-producing surface increases.
Systematic exercises lead to improvement of the respiratory muscles. The excitability of the respiratory center in a trained person is somewhat reduced, so they are able to hold their breath for a longer time. Athletes are also characterized by a high level of utilization of oxygen by tissues (from 30% increases to 70%), nutrients, and removal of decay products.
In increasing the body's performance, an important role is played by the endocrine glands: hormones of the adrenal cortex, pancreas (insulin), which provide a high level of carbohydrate metabolism, which underlies high performance. Metabolism is also activated by the thyroid gland, adrenal glands, and pituitary gland. High fitness of the body is achieved only with sufficient volitional and psychological preparation.
Physiology of mental work .
For modern practical medicine, the study of the problem of human mental and emotional activity is of great importance. We have already said that work is not limited to physical and mental activity; it is almost always associated with emotional experiences.
The phylogeny of the central nervous system shows that its structure and activity are becoming more complex all the time. At the same time, if previously the brain of most people controlled mainly physical activity, then over the last hundred years, and especially the last decades, the volume of human intellectual activity in all spheres of production has increased enormously. The working conditions of modern man have changed dramatically. Modern man has found himself at a stage of social development that is characterized by a large volume of varied information. The central nervous system experiences a heavy load, and the demands placed on human intellectual activity increase enormously.
In addition to professional characteristics, another important aspect of life that increases the load on the central nervous system is its saturation with a variety of information. This, for example, is an increase in population, especially in cities, an increase in the speed of various types of transport, television, radio, telephone, vast literature, art, and, finally, an increase in the pace of life in general and the complication of relationships between people. All these phenomena, characteristic of our “nervous” age, create additional stress for the intellectual and emotional spheres.
In the sphere of human emotions and mental activity, there is a significant intensification. All this leads to the fact that the modern worker does not have time to adequately and quickly respond to all biologically and semantically significant information. More and more unreacted and unrealized emotions and tasks of various nature accumulate. In this regard, the tension of the regulatory mechanisms of the central nervous system and the homeostatic constants of the body increases significantly.
To think that it is possible to stop scientific and technological progress, scientific and technological progress and the associated increase in nervous overload is naive and unrealistic. There is only one way left - to train the brain, facilitate the perception and processing of various information, and create the necessary optimum activity of the whole organism.
It should be noted that under the influence of chronic exposure to a complex of emotional stimuli, overstrain of the nervous system in mental workers and students can take on a stagnant character and thereby lead to the emergence of neuroses.
Never before during its existence has humanity been in such dire need of solving such problems of the century as mental fatigue, neuro-emotional stress and neurotic disorders.
Emotional stress and nervous tension are not the same thing. Nervous tension is not always accompanied by negative emotions. In this regard, it is very important, firstly, to accurately identify the presence of an emotional sign in a person in each case, because positive emotions in most cases are not harmful and do not interfere with human activity, and, secondly, to know that only the chronic impact of emotional stress on the body is significant in the occurrence of nervous strain, fatigue and neurotic conditions. Constant or repeated emotional stress disrupts the coordinated work of the body's homeostatic constants and increases the excitability of various nervous formations. In the same aspect, the possibility of the occurrence of nervous overstrain of an information nature and information neuroses is considered - in individuals who almost constantly process a large flow of emotionally charged information under conditions of time shortage (student before an exam).
Features of mental and emotional activity of students and
teachers.
In conditions of rapid growth of scientific information, the training of specialists with higher education becomes more complicated every year. Increasingly high demands are placed on them, both in terms of intellectual abilities and physical development.
Students differ from other categories of knowledge workers in that their mental activity is determined by the learning process and is associated with the accumulation of knowledge and the development of intellectual abilities. It is very important to physiologically substantiate and rationalize the study load in order to prevent overstrain or disruption of brain adaptation mechanisms, which in students are still in the stage of development and improvement.
Yesterday's schoolchild, becoming a student, finds himself in new conditions of activity with an intensive academic load, high social activity and new life situations. One of the characteristic features of students is the fact that passing final exams at school and preparing for entering college occur in a short period and very intensively. This plays a significant role in the development of adaptive and compensatory mechanisms of future students’ GNI.
During this same difficult period, the elements of social adaptation of the individual change, a transition is made from childhood dependence to independent activity, the activity of an adult with all his rights and responsibilities. In this regard, significant difficulties, especially for nonresident students, are: distance from their family and a feeling of loneliness, inclusion in a new team, new living conditions, etc. Upon entering college, young people find themselves in new educational conditions compared to the average school (an increase in the number of teachers, unusual teaching methods, high pedagogical requirements, the need to independently plan study time and other issues of student life, a different examination system, etc.) Consequently, there is a violation of the school stereotype and the formation of a new, more complex university stereotype of behavior.
A particularly important place in the learning process is occupied by the information overload of students with numerous academic subjects, the quality and scientific level of which is constantly increasing. In addition, situations of emotional stress, which arise especially during exams, traumatize and sensitize the very labile and still poorly controlled emotional sphere of students.
The workload and intensity of students' work is determined by the conditions of the educational process. According to academic standards, the workload of students at all universities, as a rule, should not exceed 36 hours per week. However, during study, the working week is often 40-43 hours. At the same time, there is an uneven distribution of the teaching load and a violation of the work schedule. Calculations show that the working day of 1st-3rd year students averages 10-12 hours. A survey of junior year students at many universities showed that they sleep no more than 7 hours a day and spend 3 hours daily on independent work. They often do homework in the evenings and on Sundays. (Naturally, we are talking about conscientious students).
Modern complex learning tasks that higher education is called upon to solve place increased demands on teachers. Teachers make up a very significant portion of knowledge workers. Along with high scientific and pedagogical qualifications and good knowledge of the subject, the teacher is required to have high erudition and intelligence, good upbringing, mastery of oratory and artistic skills, neatness, exceptional composure and concentration, kindness and strict discipline. The clinical teacher is also distinguished by his high professional skill in healing.
The most difficult type of work is lecturing, which is accompanied by neuropsychic stress and requires sustained attention, subtle and precise interaction of analytical systems and all higher mental functions: thinking, will, memory, perception, attention, imagination, etc. Lecture work, as a rule, is combined with extensive teaching and educational work, research activities and, most importantly, the formation of the ability to control an audience.
The labor activity of higher education teaching staff can be considered as highly qualified mental work, which is accompanied by nervous-emotional stress and frequent emotional manifestations.
A specific feature of students’ activities can be considered that they do not know how to work. The great potential capabilities of their body are used unpurposefully and irrationally, without the necessary skills. In this regard, a significant study load for students, especially 1st year students, is a significant factor, which causes them neuropsychic stress and a state of frustration during the exam period.
The working day of university teachers, as is known, should be 6 hours. However, their working day often reaches 8-10 hours. At the same time, lecturing and teaching work takes up the most time. In addition to lecture work, teachers conduct scientific research, and clinicians conduct medical work. Specific features of highly qualified teaching work are constant communication with students, as well as careful preparation before each lecture. In addition, if an exam almost always causes emotional stress for a student, then it requires a lot of mental stress from the teacher, intellectual capabilities and the manifestation of professional experience.
Physiological differences between mental and physical labor.
Mental and physical labor are interconnected and influence each other. Mosso (1893) used an ergograph to determine that a professor who gave a lecture to students becomes so tired that after the lecture the muscle strength of his arm decreases by 20%. After a 3-hour exam, a student’s muscle strength drops by 4 times. In turn, under the influence of physical fatigue, the productivity of intellectual activity decreases. At the same time, there are a number of significant features that distinguish mental labor from physical labor.
First of all, it should be noted that overcoming the significant differences between mental and physical labor does not mean eliminating their relative independence. This independence is apparently determined by the specifics of their physiological mechanisms. In addition, even if we say that there is no “pure” mental labor without physical elements, and, conversely, physical labor without mental elements, this should not mean that there is no difference between mental and physical labor.
Kandror (1970) notes that with any type of labor there is a need to separately evaluate the energy and information aspects of the labor process. In his opinion, it is advisable to characterize the first by the degree of severity, and the second by the degree of tension. It is the energy and information aspects of labor activity that primarily distinguish physical labor from mental labor.
Researchers in the physiology of work know well how effective and long-term physical work is ensured, but they still have little knowledge of what means and resources are used to ensure mental work, not to mention the complex structural and functional organization of the brain, which ensures mental activity.
It is known that during physical work there is an intensification and deepening of breathing, a redistribution and increase in the amount of circulating blood, an intensification and increase in heart rate, an increase in the level of sugar and formed elements in the blood. Mental activity, colored by emotions, causes almost the same changes. However, if these peripheral shifts in autonomic reactions are necessary to provide energy to working muscles, or more precisely, to cover energy costs during physical work, then these same shifts that occur during mental, emotionally intense work are far from necessary, because During mental activity, there is no large energy consumption and, accordingly, utilization, i.e. implementation of excess exchange.
Consequently, these vegetative-humoral changes during mental work do not have the same direct purpose as during physical work. Any mental work, no matter how complex it may be, does not require a significant increase in sugar levels, the number of leukocytes, steroid hormones, etc. for its implementation. Hyperfunction of the autonomic organs during emotional work occurs not due to muscle tension and increased oxygen and energy demand from the periphery, but due to the activation of brain structures, especially subcortical, limbic-reticular and thalamo-hypothalamic formations under the influence of mental-emotional work.
Autonomic and humoral shifts during mental work or pre-launch states are conditioned reflex in nature, occur with the participation of emotional accompaniment and are not associated with activation of the motor system.
There is no doubt that mental work involves a greater number of nervous elements than physical work. Based on modern data from neurophysiology and neuropsychology, it must be assumed that mental work is the result of the most complex combinations of nervous processes and histochemical changes in millions of neurons of the cortical-subcortical formations. Mental work differs from physical work, apparently also in that the systemic functioning of the brain during mental activity is not only more complex and highly qualified, but also more extensive and includes a larger number of systems and subsystems than during physical work. There is also more load on the analyzers.
The difference between physical and mental labor is also evident in relation to a number of other indicators. Changes in physiological functions under the influence of physical work are more pronounced than in the case of mental work. Muscular fatigue also has a more or less clear picture, which makes it different from mental fatigue. The first, unlike the second, can be quantitatively measured. When muscle fatigue sets in, the work being done almost completely stops, which is not the case with mental fatigue.
Mental activity can be carried out for a long time; it does not stop after finishing a specific job. If we can stop muscular work voluntarily, then in relation to mental work, especially emotionally charged, it is difficult to do this. Physiological changes that occur during mental labor are eliminated much more slowly than during physical labor, which can be considered as an aftereffect phenomenon. If at the end of mental activity only traces of excitation or inhibition are often observed, then after physical labor late muscle pain is usually characteristic. The feeling of fatigue is also more severe after physical activity. After it, deep sleep comes faster. The result of physical labor is tangible and visible, but the result of intellectual labor is sometimes not obtained immediately, and some additional actions are necessary to express it (speech, writing, drawing, etc.).
How to recover from various diseases. Sobbing breath. Strelnikova's breathing. Breathing of yogis Alexander Alexandrovich Ivanov
NATURAL ALTERNATING PHYSICAL AND MENTAL WORK
No one will argue with the fact that the correct alternation of physical and mental labor, rest and exercise is the most important means of maintaining health. It seems that everything in this area has been studied and understood for a long time. Not at all. Natural medicine once again forced me to consider this aspect of healing much more broadly.
Based on his own experience, Yuri Vilunas noticed that during night awakenings, especially when they are accompanied by sobbing breathing and impulse self-massage, a person is capable of very active, one might even say, irresistible brain activity. The need to engage in intellectual work arises from within; the most daring decisions and original ideas come to mind. Based on these observations, Vilunas concludes that such intellectual tension is an integral part of the recovery process that occurs in the body during the period of night rest. This mental “explosion” helps supply the brain with the energy necessary for recovery, and as soon as recovery is complete, intense intellectual activity ceases.
This feature, says Vilunas, should definitely be used for the benefit of health. It has been noticed that when a person, feeling physical fatigue (for example, while walking), immediately switches to mental work, the recovery processes in his body are much more effective, and the productivity of brain activity itself is much higher. So, the mechanism of the brain can be compared with the mechanisms of movement: intense activity, dictated by internal need, is replaced by a kind of “intellectual fatigue.” From a physiological point of view, the onset of such fatigue does not mean that you are in crisis or have overworked yourself. Your brain simply received all the nutrients it needed and “switched off.” Attempts to continue mental activity further are fraught with the appearance of various unpleasant sensations, and you still will not get any noticeable results.
Thus, Vilunas refutes the assertion that brain work leads to the waste of energy substances, and rest leads to their restoration. In fact, the opposite is true: it is during work that the brain accumulates various substances, and during rest it is spent on maintaining its own condition and the activity of the body as a whole. This means that in order for the brain to feel good, it is necessary to listen to the signals it gives us. At the first signs of fatigue from intellectual activity, it is necessary to stop it and change the activity to physical activity (if there is a need for this).
When your brain is ready to get to work again, you will easily feel it. “Ideal” brain function, as a consequence of the ongoing recovery process, is possible only after certain physical exertion.
Considering that “nature abhors a vacuum,” I conclude that a person vitally needs both physical and mental labor, and in their certain combination and alternation. Since these processes are closely interrelated and largely depend on each other, healthy and proper functioning of the body cannot be expected without any of them.
In practice, we can observe such an alternation of physical and mental activity every day. Indeed, after some physical work, our most natural desire is to sit down, relax and quietly read a book. So much for brain activity! After reading for a while, we want to get up, stretch, stretch, or even go for a walk - it’s time for physical activity.
How did we implement this principle in practice? It’s ridiculously simple - we stopped forcing ourselves. Now, when I’m doing some kind of intellectual work (studying specialized literature, writing articles, or even this book), and my thoughts “turn off,” I don’t try to “squeeze” anything out of myself, as I did before, but just get up and I go to warm up. I can say with absolute certainty: the result of such work is much better than what I could have offered with my previous lifestyle.
Thus, we easily carry out the natural alternation of physical and mental labor at the level of instincts if we allow ourselves to listen to them. But it will be especially effective if we do not forget about all the other self-regulation mechanisms. Listen to your needs and follow them. The path of nature is the only direct path to health and longevity.
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Many years of experience and special research have shown that in the USSR, children of 7 years of age, as a rule, are not only capable of school education, but also feel the need for it. A rational school regime becomes for them a factor contributing to their comprehensive development.
The changes that are noted in the central nervous system and in the musculoskeletal system of a 7-year-old child as a result of his previous rational education in the nursery-kindergarten system make him biologically prepared for the environment and regime established at school.
According to Soviet legislation, children who will be 7 years old by the beginning of the school year are subject to compulsory schooling.
To ensure seven-year-old children have a normal duration of night sleep (at least 10-11 hours) and to avoid haste when completing morning routines, lessons in the 1st grade of school should not begin earlier than 9 o’clock in the morning.
Special studies have shown that limiting the physical activity of 1st grade students sharply reduces the excitability of their nervous system. Sitting at a desk for a longer period of time, which is a unique type of static work, can cause the appearance of a constant focus of excitation in the cerebral cortex and tires it relatively more than mental and dynamic physical work. For 1st grade schoolchildren, the process of writing and reading presents considerable difficulties. The first requires tension of the small worm-shaped muscles of the hand, which by the age of seven are still relatively underdeveloped. The process of reading at close range is associated with tension in the accommodative muscles of the eyes, and when moving the eyes along the line and across the page - the oculomotor muscles. Of no small importance for the mental hygiene of teaching in the 1st grade is the fact that the first signaling system at this age is more developed than the second. The first sign of a child’s fatigue (first phase) is motor restlessness, indicating a wide irradiation of excitation, which can go into the second phase (irradiation of protective inhibition): the child becomes lethargic and drowsy.
All this, as well as the need for a gradual rather than abrupt transition from the teaching mode in the preschool group to school education, indicates the advisability of a reduced lesson duration in the 1st grade (30-35 minutes).
A change in the position of the student’s body, a change in the types of his activities in the lessons as a means of increasing his performance, dictates the expediency of the so-called combined lesson with a gradual transition to another structure. For the same reasons, as well as in the interests of preventing abnormalities in posture and protecting vision, it is advisable to hold a physical education session in the middle of the lesson. Special studies have shown the hygienic effectiveness of establishing three breaks between lessons, of which the first lasts 15 minutes, the second and third - 20 minutes each. The first and third breaks are used in the open air, the second - for receiving a hot breakfast and the third - for organized physical education and outdoor games.
It is extremely advisable to include all 1st grade schoolchildren in an extended day group, in which it is possible to rationally structure the daily routine, in particular, to provide for daytime sleep in the air for 1 - 1 1/2 hours.
At the same time, they strive to ensure that homework is completed in class. By order of the Ministry of Education, homework is prohibited on Mondays and after holidays.
The optimal number of lessons during the school day and the duration of each of them
During a regular school day, typical dynamics of students' mental performance are observed. At a younger age, a decrease in performance begins to be observed after 1 1/2 hours from the start of lessons, at middle and high school age - after 2 and 3 hours, respectively. In high school, a significant drop in performance occurs in the sixth lesson.
Under the influence of a number of specific features - teaching, the nature of the subject and the situation in the lesson, under the influence of the personal qualities of the teacher and the individual properties of the students, naturally, some deviations from the indicated typical dynamics are possible.
The standard curriculum of a Soviet general education school provides for 24 hours in the first four grades, and starting from the 5th grade - 30-32 (IX, X grades) hours of compulsory classes per week.
As for the optimal duration of each lesson, many years of practice have established it at 45 minutes. There are observations on the feasibility and effectiveness of introducing 40-minute lessons at primary school age, in sanitary-forestry schools, and in schools for psychoneurotic and rheumatic children.
Rational lesson structure, lesson schedule, exams
The rational organization and construction of a lesson, especially in the lower grades, as well as in special schools, becomes of great importance as a psycho-hygienic means that helps maintain maximum performance of students. The so-called combined lesson, associated with a change in types of activities, with the alternation of stimuli addressed primarily to the first and then to the second signal system, is fully justified in the 2nd and 3rd grades.
In high school, lessons are structured differently depending on the nature of the subject, the content of the topic, the purpose of the lesson, etc. The typical, but by no means standard, lesson structure recommended by Soviet didactics (the science of content and methods of teaching) (first, testing and repeating what has been learned in the previous lesson, then communicating new knowledge and consolidating it in the lesson in the form of training exercises, and, if necessary, homework with the obligatory indication of the organization of work for their implementation) is physiologically and hygienically quite justified. It takes into account that during the lesson the student’s performance usually gradually increases (working in), remaining at the maximum level throughout the second and third quarter of the lesson. On the same basis, various forms of independent work, a combination of words and visuals, are recommended in lessons. It is necessary to avoid, if possible, so-called lessons paired with a parallel class, etc.
A rational weekly lesson schedule in each class takes into account the age characteristics of students, the characteristics of the subject, in particular the possibility of changing activities in the lesson, the visibility of teaching, the nature and volume of homework, etc. According to special studies, the maximum performance of students usually occurs on Tuesday and Wednesday, the minimum - on Saturday. As for fluctuations in student performance during the school day, its maximum is usually observed in the second and third lessons, and its minimum in the fifth and especially sixth lessons. The first lesson acts as a learning period.
Research shows that the more favorable the hygienic regime of education and rest, as well as the environmental conditions at school, in particular microclimatic and lighting in the classroom during the lesson, the less pronounced are the fluctuations in the student’s performance during the week and day (Fig. 132) .
These features of the dynamics of students’ performance are taken into account when drawing up a rational daily routine and lesson schedule at school. The school doctor takes part in their development. As an exception, fifth lessons in 4th grade and sixth lessons in high school are usually held on Tuesday and Wednesday. On Monday, Thursday and Saturday, as a rule, a minimum number of lessons should be planned. To cover subjects with the least change in activities during the lesson, the greatest strain on mental performance and relatively the least clarity, for example mathematics, a foreign language, it is preferable to devote the second and third lessons.
According to hygiene requirements, it is necessary that during the pre-examination and examination period, students observe a rational daily routine and that exams are conducted in a calm environment. Some students may be exempt from exams for medical reasons.
The combination of mental and physical labor in school education
The Soviet school builds its activities, guided by the principle that “The harmonious development of man is unthinkable without physical labor, creative and joyful, strengthening the body, increasing its vital functions” *.
* (From the law of December 24, 1958 “On strengthening the connection between school and life and on the further development of the public education system in the USSR.” M., 1958, p. 6.)
According to many modern special studies, rationally organized physical labor classes are a unique form of active recreation for schoolchildren. Under their influence, the speed of simple mental and verbal responses increases, the quality of answers improves, differentiation becomes stronger, the functions of the neuromuscular system are improved: differentiation in the motor analyzer and coordination of hand movements improves, maximum muscle effort and endurance to static muscle tension increases.
As special studies have shown, such classes, as well as physical education lessons, if they are carried out in a favorable hygienic environment, in particular in the open air, help to increase the performance of students not only immediately after their completion, but throughout the entire school day.
Studies of the influence of physical labor on students of metalworking vocational schools and high school students of secondary schools during agricultural work with a pronounced dynamic nature of muscle activity revealed a number of positive functional changes in their body: a relative increase in the vital capacity of the lungs, an increase in the muscle strength of the hands and muscles performance, increasing the functional capacity of the circulatory system. Therefore, introducing elements of physical labor into the school schedule in order to maintain students’ working capacity should be considered very appropriate.
The most pronounced effect is achieved if such classes are included in the lesson schedule on Monday, Thursday and Friday in the third (in junior grades) and fourth (in senior grades) lessons, i.e. during the initial phase of the development of fatigue.
During school learning, alternating mental and physical labor has a number of physiological advantages. This provides the greatest opportunity to change the forced sitting position of the body, increase the volume and diversify the nature of muscle activity, and reduce the intensity of the work of the visual analyzer. In addition, the introduction of elements of physical labor into the practice of school teaching makes it possible to make the most extensive use of students’ stay in the open air.
The daily combination of mental and physical labor in school education is physiologically, apparently, more justified than the alternation of days entirely devoted to physical work and days entirely filled with theoretical, classroom studies.
With an optimal combination of mental and physical labor in the learning process, it is necessary to take into account the characteristics of the production process and the duration of the student’s continuous work.
The curriculum and programs of the general education labor polytechnic school include special classes where the physical and mental work of schoolchildren is organically combined: labor training in manual labor lessons in grades 1-4, labor lessons for students in grades 5-8 in plumbing and carpentry workshops , home economics lessons, agricultural lessons on the school site, self-service, socially useful work.
Regarding the structure of labor lessons, it should be borne in mind that the alternation of two or three different labor operations in a lesson, causing a change in working posture and alternate involvement of various muscle groups in the active activity, helps to increase efficiency and increases the effectiveness of the lesson.
If it is necessary to plan double labor lessons in middle and high schools, an 8-10-minute break should be taken every 45-50 minutes, during which students should engage in a set of physical exercises that compensate for the monotonous labor movements during the lesson.
Speaking about other hygienic requirements for labor lessons, it is necessary to point out the education of schoolchildren in proper working posture in order to protect vision and prevent postural defects, to maintain a uniform load on the left and right halves of the body, to exclude or sharply reduce the static component of the work of schoolchildren, to comply hand tools, age-related characteristics, the use of classes to develop schoolchildren's appropriate personal hygiene skills, work culture and safety precautions, preliminary and ongoing medical control in order to identify schoolchildren for whom, for health reasons, classes in workshops and agriculture are contraindicated or should be limited . All these requirements are regulated by the relevant sanitary rules and guidelines of the USSR Ministry of Health and the USSR Ministry of Education. The basic hygienic requirements for the organization of the external environment during labor and polytechnic training are set out below in the chapter “Hygienic requirements for furniture and equipment.”
The participation of young people in social production after graduating from high school or vocational school raises the need for medical professional consultation and vocational guidance for adolescents. The purpose of this career guidance is to help teenagers choose a profession that will contribute to the development of the body's functional capabilities and strengthen their health. Determining the professional suitability of young people is based on taking into account the physiological and health status of adolescents, sanitary and hygienic characteristics and profession - the latter includes a detailed hygienic assessment of this profession: working conditions, characteristics of production operations, the load experienced by various organs and systems of the body of adolescents in the process of work, the pace and rhythm of work, energy expenditure, body position, etc.
Currently, there are so-called professiograms developed for the most common professions. It is necessary to distinguish between medical and professional consultation of healthy adolescents and adolescents with pathology. Medical and professional consultation with healthy people should be carried out on the basis of taking into account the type of higher nervous activity, the functional capabilities of the body and includes the goal of helping to choose a profession that would contribute to the maximum development of the body's potential capabilities. For adolescents with deviations in their health, it is necessary to determine contraindications that may arise in connection with the demands placed on the body of adolescents by this profession. Medical and professional consultation should be carried out by a commission of medical specialists, preferably with the participation of a psychologist and teacher.
Rational alternation of study and rest at school
The breaks established between lessons are a necessary and very effective form of active recreation for students.
The hygienic effectiveness of changes is ensured by the rational use of the time allocated for them. In all cases, it is desirable that students be in the open air during breaks, since this creates the most favorable conditions for restoring working capacity. In addition, this makes it possible to provide sufficient ventilation (through ventilation) in the classrooms and corridors of the school building.
During breaks, students should be given the opportunity to be active (walking, playing, etc.).
Timing and taking into account the effectiveness of students' rest show that the duration of the break should not be less than 10-15 minutes. Changes and longer durations are required throughout the school day. Typically, schools have a 30-minute break after the second (for junior grades) and after the third (for senior grades) lessons. Experience and research confirm the physiological feasibility and pedagogical effectiveness of having two adjacent breaks of 20 minutes each. During these breaks, it is possible for one half of the classes to have a hot breakfast, and the other to be outdoors.
Sunday, free from school, should be used for students to spend time outdoors, mainly on the move (out-of-town excursions, sports activities, free-choice activities, etc.).
It has long been proven that the performance of students decreases significantly by the end of the school term. In this regard, to restore and improve performance, vacations are provided at the end of each quarter. For students of secondary schools, the holidays after the first quarter (autumn) are set to last 5 days (from 5/XI to 10/11), after the second quarter (winter holidays) - last 12 days (from 30/XII to 11/1) and after the third quarter (spring break) - 9 days (from 24/111 to 1/IV).
Summer holidays are of great health importance, the correct use of which largely determines the effectiveness of rest and good performance. Participation (dosed) in agricultural work, hiking, and sports using hardening factors are an effective means of improving health and increasing performance.
The duration of summer holidays varies from class to class. It is determined by the end of the academic year. The duration of summer holidays in senior classes is 66 days, in junior classes - 86 days.
Studying at home (self-study)
One of the main hygienic requirements for organizing study sessions at home is compliance with the norms for their daily duration. Special studies have shown that, depending on age, the following approximate duration of daily classes at home is optimal: in 1st grade - 30-45 minutes, in 2nd - 1 hour, in 3rd and 4th - 1 1/2 hours, in the 5th and 6th - about 2 hours, in the 7th and 8th - about 2 1/2 hours, in the 9th-10th - no more than 3 hours. These data served as the basis for appropriate regulation by public education authorities of the volume of homework. In practice, these norms are often violated and the amount of work of high school students preparing homework at home increases from quarter to quarter.
The main means of combating the overload of students with homework, which leads to a reduction, first of all, in the duration of their stay in the open air, and then in the duration of sleep, are: a rational weekly lesson schedule, taking into account the volume and nature of homework in individual subjects and such improvement of organization and methods teaching separate topics in each subject, in which the educational material would be absorbed by students mainly in class.
The class teacher and school doctor must systematically monitor the volume of homework assignments.
Physiological studies of the dynamics of conditioned reactions throughout the day in students brought up in a boarding school or an orphanage have shown that it is most rational to adhere to the regime presented in Table. 45.
With this alternation of various types of activities, students’ performance in completing homework is at a relatively high level.
In the process of preparing homework, every 45-50 minutes you should take 10-minute breaks, during which you should carry out active movements (physical exercises in the open air or, in extreme cases, indoors with open windows or transoms).
Increasing the activity of mental work when doing homework, and therefore reducing their duration, is greatly facilitated by ensuring hygienic conditions of the external environment (open transoms, a workplace corresponding to the student’s height, lighting).
The sequence of completing individual homework tasks is established taking into account that the most difficult tasks for the student are completed after a 15-20-minute period of practice, and during these 15-20 minutes tasks of average difficulty are completed.
In an extended day school and a boarding school, it seems advisable to use a fundamentally different scheme for constructing the school day as a single whole, combining lessons and self-preparation. According to this scheme, in the first part of the day, when students’ performance in general is relatively higher, classes are included (lesson and homework) in subjects that require independent completion of tasks; in the second part of the day, after 16:00, lessons in other subjects (physical education, reading, drawing, labor) At the same time, independent work on homework is not only included in the daily lesson schedule, but also becomes an integral part of the lesson itself.
Preliminary physiological-hygienic and psychological-pedagogical studies, which still require verification, show the advantages of this scheme for organizing the school day.
Although these words are attributed to the pen of V. Belinsky, at one time they were reproduced in different ways by many: Marx, Tolstoy, Goebbels, etc.
What does this thought convey and how does physical and mental labor affect a person? What are the differences between physical and mental labor? You can learn about all this in our article.
Hygiene of mental and physical work
In medicine, or more precisely, in sanitary and hygienic matters, there is a separate section, which is called occupational hygiene. Its task is to study the impact of various types of work on the human body and develop preventive, hygienic and therapeutic measures in order to maintain and strengthen the health of working people, and also strives to increase their endurance and productivity.
Scientists who study this issue say that it is important to distinguish between the concepts of “work” and “labor.” Work is, rather, a term from physics, which is the process of converting one type of energy into another. And when they talk about work and a person, they mean his muscular system. Labor, in turn, is aimed at creating something, values; what has weight in social life (despite the fact that the basis of labor is the same physiological processes of the body).
Friedrich Engels, in his world-famous work, “The Role of Labor in the Process of Transforming Ape into Man,” wrote that labor activity, taking place in favorable conditions, stimulated the development of both the human body, sensory organs, hand motor skills, and intelligence and ability to abstract thinking.
Now not only experts from all over the world say that a rational combination of physical and mental labor leads to a harmonious existence and allows the human body to develop in all directions. All people who have managed to combine one with the other are convinced of this.
Be that as it may, the differences between physical and mental labor are significant and we have to become familiar with them.
Physical labor is characterized by the involvement of the muscular system and various body systems in the process. And the main characteristic of physical labor is the severity of the work.
The severity of labor is a characteristic of the level of the labor process, which reflects the amount of load on the musculoskeletal system and life support systems of the body (respiratory, cardiovascular, etc.).
The severity of labor has the following characteristics, which are fundamentally important in the process of determining the level of load:
The mass of the load that is lifted and moved
Number of repetitions
Nature of the pose
Body tilt depth
Moving in space
Load value at rest
How is physical labor useful? First of all, it helps keep the body in shape. Anyway. And this, by the way, increases self-esteem. People engaged in manual labor are more adapted to life and “survival.” Also, the benefit of physical labor is that it makes a person more disciplined and patient. And what can I say, when a person sees the result of his efforts and it brings joy and benefit to others, then this makes him happy.
And don’t forget about such a useful and enjoyable form of physical activity as... sex. And why exactly it is so good for health, you can read in our article.
Harm... in addition to the category “occupational diseases” established by hygienists (that is, certain diseases that can arise from a certain type of activity), there is another significant disadvantage that physical work can conceal - injuries. And, as you understand, it can have significant consequences.
Another adverse reaction (common to all types of physical activity) is fatigue. It is difficult to say in which type of activity fatigue can cause more harm, but in the case of physical labor, it can cause injury. Therefore, it is very important to rationally alternate physical activity and rest (sleep).
Features of nutrition of people engaged in physical labor
Manual labor, or more precisely, labor that is associated with physical activity, requires a lot of strength, because during its execution muscle energy is consumed. Taking this into account, the energy value of consumed foods, as well as the amount of proteins, fats, and carbohydrates increases in proportion to the work performed.
For this purpose, during the development of hygienic standards for human nutrition, 4 groups of labor intensity were identified, depending on which they determined how much nutrients a particular person should receive, based on his age, gender and occupation. This is to go very deep, but in general you should know that people who work intensely physically need to eat: chicken eggs, fermented milk products, fruits (bananas, kiwi, pineapples), oysters and salmon, cereals (oatmeal is a priority), nuts and dried fruits, tomato and orange juice, ginger, dark chocolate, honey.
How many calories (kcal) are spent during various types of activity can be easily found on the Internet; all this data is presented in the form of varied and easy-to-read tables.
To know how to properly organize a mental work regime and get the maximum benefit from it, you need to know its criteria.
The intensity of intellectual work is characterized by:
The amount of information that needs to be processed/remembered
Speed of information receipt
Decision speed
Degree of responsibility for the decision made and possible errors
During mental work, the main load falls on the brain (more precisely, on its cortex).
Representatives of mental work lead a sedentary lifestyle and most often do not engage in physical activity or sports. Physical inactivity, psychophysiological fatigue, tension in the visual and auditory analyzers, nervous tension - all this accompanies people who work mentally.
The benefit of mental work lies in the fact that a person constantly stimulates his brain and “pumps up” his abilities: memory, abstract thinking, imagination, etc.
Peculiarities of nutrition of people engaged in mental work
People whose destiny is intellectual work, as a rule, lead a sedentary lifestyle; this must be taken into account when organizing their nutrition. Therefore, when compiling their menu, you need to remember that the content of proteins, fats and carbohydrates, along with the energy value of the products, should be significantly lower than that of people engaged in physical labor. At the same time, the amount of vitamins and minerals should be identical, because intellectual work requires a sufficient amount of hormones and enzymes.
People involved in mental work need to eat fish (salmon), green leafy vegetables (spinach, kale), eggs, carrots, tomatoes, beets, brown rice, oatmeal, beans, blueberries, nuts and seeds (walnuts, almonds, pumpkin ), avocados, apples, grapes, dark chocolate, green tea. So, sometimes try replacing everyone’s favorite coffee with more.
As you can see (or perhaps you have already experienced it yourself), you cannot do just one type of work. You need to alternate. Physical work with mental work (reading books, solving various problems, art) and mental work with physical work (visiting the gym, swimming pool, jogging, fitness, some kind of martial arts).
Even the healthiest and most cheerful person sometimes experiences a breakdown. Try implementing it into your daily routine.
But it is also important to remember to give the body a chance to rest from your hectic activities and gain strength for new achievements.
physical work, brainwork,