Associate professor, PhD Zh.I. Busheva
Postgraduate A.V. Auster
Surgut State University, Surgut

Keywords: morphological indicators, functional indicators, motor activity, northern children, Middle Ob region.

Introduction. The territory of the Middle Ob region is marked by the ever-increasing number of factors that adversely affect the child's body [6]. Children, living in the Middle Ob, are exposed to harsh natural climatic conditions, urbanization and environmental degradation of the territory, which is set equal to the Far North [5]. Gradually, a new human population has emerged under the conditions of the Middle Ob, the so-called "northern adaptive type", which provided adequate body's adaptation to the environmental conditions [3, 4].

Motor activity is one of the factors affecting the morphofunctional status of the body of the younger generation [2, 5-8]. In the conditions of the North, children are forced to stay indoors most of the time, so their motor activity is often reduced, which has a negative impact on the functional state of their bodies [3, 6].

At the present stage, the morphofunctional status of children of the Middle Ob region with respect to the environmental impacts [3, 5], as well as the effects of motor activity, on the growing body in the conditions of the North have been studied insufficiently [2].

Given that there is a lack of comprehensive research on the variability of morphofunctional parameters of children influenced by the ecological and biological factors and daily motor activity in the conditions of the North, it seems appropriate to conduct a detailed study of this problem.

Objective of the study was to research on the influence of motor activity on the morphological and functional indicators of northern city children of 10 years of age.

Study structure and methods. The study involved 120 pupils of the gymnasium named after F.C. Salmanov and gymnasium "Laboratory of Salakhov", Surgut, KhMAR-Yugra. The study group (SG) was made of 30 boys and 30 girls of 10 years of age, who were engaged in various sports (skiing, swimming, football, gymnastics, etc.) and attended physical education classes at school (motor activity at least 9 hrs per week). The reference group (RG) consisted of 30 boys and 30 girls - the children, who were not involved in sports, but attended physical education classes at school (motor activity at least 3 hrs per week). According to their health status, the children were ranged in one health group. We employed a standard set of tools to evaluate the morphofunctional state of the 10-year-olds: we measured body length (BL), body mass (BM), chest circumference (CC) at rest, recorded heart rate (HR), systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) blood pressure, vital capacity (VC), timed expiratory and inspiratory capacity tests. The functional indicators (HR, SBP, DBP) were tested at rest (rest) and immediately after exercise. Physical load involved 20 sit-ups per 30 seconds. The data obtained were processed using the standard methods of descriptive statistics.

Results and discussion. During the integrated assessment of the functional state of primary school age children, we paid due regard to those morpho-functional characteristics that were the most constant and, at the same time, clearly indicative of the age-specific characteristics.

The main morphological characteristics, such as body length, body mass, and chest circumference, are the most important criteria, by which we can, to some extent, estimate the impact of living conditions and environmental factors on the growing body [3, 5].

Comparing the main indicators of physical development of the examined children (Table 1), we detected their significant differences depending on the level of motor activity (p<0.05).

Table 1. Main indicators of physical development of 10-year-old children with different levels of motor activity, М±σ

These findings testify to the need for constant monitoring and evaluation of physical development of the body as the key health criterion for primary school age children.

Physical development of a person is closely related to the other integral part of health – functional state of the body.

The main indicators of the functional state of the cardiovascular system are HR, SBP, DBP (Table 2).

Table 2. Indicators of functional state of cardiovascular system of 10-year-old children with different levels of motor activity, М±σ

HR is a labile index of the circulatory system [5]. HR depends on age, sex, exercise intensity, emotional state and individual characteristics of a person. In 10-year-old children, individual values of HR at rest varied considerably. We observed no significant differences between the 10-year-olds depending on sex. However, there were significant differences in HR at rest depending on the level of motor activity (p<0.05). HR after exercise increased in both of the groups, both in the boys and girls, but these values were significantly lower in the children from SG compared to the children from RG (p<0.05).

Blood pressure (BP) is rather a steady-state value, it can fluctuate due to the changes in the functional state of the body [1]. The level of SBP and DBP at rest in the RG and SG differed statistically significantly depending on the level of motor activity (p<0.05). After exercise, there was a significant increase in SBP and DBP in the children from RG compared to those from SG (p<0.05).

The main parameters of the functional state of the respiratory system are vital capacity and hypoxic tests (Table 3).

Table 3. Indicators of functional state of respiratory system of 10-year-old children with different levels of motor activity, М±σ

The body’s anoxia tolerance was estimated using the voluntary cessation of breathing tests: Stange’s test (timed inspiratory capacity) and Gench’s test (timed expiratory capacity). The analysis of the results of Stange’s and Gench’s tests revealed a decrease in anoxia tolerance in the boys and girls from RG compared to their peers (p<0.05). In all the surveyed children, the timed inspiratory capacity was higher than the expiratory one.

VC is an integral indicator reflecting children’s external respiration system functionality [1]. In SG we observed a tendency to significantly higher VC both in the boys and girls versus the RF children (p<0.05).

According to S.I. Loginov [6], in the conditions of the northern city, "regular physical exercises are particularly necessary in view of the extremely unfavorable, chaotic effects of natural climatic conditions and environmental factors on the human body". As noted by researchers [4, 6], regular exercises and sport activities contribute to the optimal adaptation of the body to the hypocomfortable conditions of the North.

Conclusion. The data obtained during the study enabled us to determine the sex and group differences in the morphofunctional characteristics of the examined children having different levels of motor activity. The detected morphofunctional characteristics of the body of children living in the Middle Ob region are their response to the effects of the specific hypocomfortable conditions of the North and volume of the performed motor activity. High motor activity contributes to age-related morphofunctional restructuring of the body of children, which greatly improves their living abilities in harsh natural climatic conditions of the northern city.

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Corresponding author: apokin_vv@mail.ru

Abstract

The influence of motor activity on the morphological and functional characteristics of primary school-age children living in the northern city had not been thoroughly studied so far. The objective of this work was to study the effect of motor activity on the morphological and functional characteristics of children of 10 years of age living in the northern city. 120 pupils of the gymnasium named after F.K. Salmanov and the gymnasium "Salakhov's Laboratory" in Surgut (KhMAR-Yugra) were involved in the study. The were divided into two groups: study group (SG) - 30 boys and 30 girls of 10 years of age, engaged in different sports (skiing, swimming, football, gymnastics, etc.) and attending school physical education classes (at least 9 hours of exercises per week), and reference group (RG) - 30 boys and 30 girls - children not doing sports, but attending school physical education classes (at least 3 hours of exercises per week). The children belonged to the same health group based on their health status. The findings showed the influence of motor activity on the morpho-functional characteristics of children of 10 years of age living in the northern city.