Modern rhythmic life contributes to the constant acceleration of all processes in society. People are in a hurry, worrying, wasting their nerves on solving problems and all sorts of little things, forgetting about such an important factor as fresh air. When we accidentally find ourselves in the natural environment, we begin to inhale oxygen purified by trees and understand all the delights of life.

Most people do not understand that fresh air is essential for the normal functioning of the body from the very first minutes of life until death. Young mothers regularly take walks with their children along the park alleys. Usually this takes at least 2-3 hours. Adults should spend the same amount of time outdoors. But do we always adhere to the rules of behavior and allocate precious hours for a walk?

In most cases, our walks are limited to short walks from home to the garage, to a nearby store for shopping, or from the parking lot to the entrance to the office. At a young age, people still visit entertainment venues and sometimes go out in the company of peers. If there are children in the family, then parents sometimes devote a day off to them to visit the park or go on a trip out of town. As a result, rarely can anyone boast of a three-hour walk.

Due to lack of oxygen, people become weak and can become victims of various diseases such as pneumonia or heart failure. Fatigue increases, the person becomes lethargic and irritable. Inhaling clean air is extremely necessary, but for some reason the process of understanding is postponed to the last years of life and manifests itself in old age.

Inhaling fresh air can normalize the functioning of the human body's systems. Most of all, oxygen is required for the reliable functioning of the brain and nervous system. The deficiency causes memory impairment, a state of absent-mindedness and depression. A sufficient amount of air improves lung ventilation, heart function, vascular permeability, and the condition of the digestive system. The general condition of the body is strengthened, the likelihood of illness decreases, and life expectancy increases.

To fully satisfy your body in oxygen, you need to take walks every day. It is best for them to choose areas covered with green spaces: trees, shrubs, grass. City dwellers can visit the nearest park or nearby forest. As a result, the lungs will receive the necessary amount of oxygen, the body’s tone will rise, and strength will be restored for further successful activities.

Walk outdoors

Scientists in different countries are engaged in research into healthy lifestyles. The Americans have confirmed through practical experiments the high returns of walking. To do this, they decided to compare the results of different types of physical exercise. A group of people of different ages was divided into two equal halves. One did muscle stretching exercises in stationary conditions, the other took walks in the air for half an hour to 45 minutes three times a week.

A year later, scientists conducted surveys of both groups. The brain volume of “walkers” was 2% larger than that of those involved in physical exercise. Moreover, the increase occurred due to the areas responsible for memory and planning. Those who stretched had a 1.5% reduction in brain size.

A long-term experiment showed that exposure to air promotes the rejuvenation of brain cells. The results were enhanced when walks were combined with activities for memory training, mental arithmetic, logical thinking and speed reading.

How to take walks correctly?

Moving along the alleys of a park or square not only helps the body receive the required amount of oxygen, but also helps strengthen the muscles of the legs and back, introduces you to nature, and helps you enjoy green foliage.

In order to allocate a little time every day for walks, you can familiarize yourself with the following recommendations:

• Take every opportunity for a walk. When going to work or home, walk part of the way. At lunchtime, take half an hour and walk around the nearest square or park area. Walk to the store;
• Organize meetings with friends or loved ones in nature. On weekends, go outdoors with the whole group;
• Occasionally allocate time and finances to travel. A trip to another city can add oxygen to the body and a lot of new impressions to the brain;
• To fill your walk with impressions, get yourself a hobby or a dog. You can take photographs or collect herbariums;
• Loads should be increased gradually. To get started, 15 minutes is enough. Then gradually increase to an hour. Over time, walks will increase to 2-3 hours.

The regime is the most important thing. While a child grows, he changes, and you should understand this too. Now the child is 1.5 months old, in half a month or a month the regime will change. Now he is 3 months old - the regime needs to be changed. That is, not just a sharp change in rhythm, but preparation in advance, and you should also prepare yourself for the changes. First of all, the child's mode is your mode. What do you have time to do between feedings, between baby’s naps?

Often mothers sacrifice walks in order to have time to do more housework. This is very dangerous for the baby's health. Walks must be mandatory 2 times a day. The duration is described in many manuals. The main thing is to remember: the child walks to school at least twice a day.

The biggest mistake mothers make is that they put the hustle and bustle of everyday life more important than the routine and more important than the needs and health of the child.

For example, they skip walks: one, two walks, they don’t go for several days. You can't skip walks. The child should go for walks strictly twice a day. His lungs need fresh air in huge quantities. Of course, it is not advisable to walk with a child in the carbon monoxide of the city. His skin needs ultraviolet radiation, otherwise rickets will develop, and very quickly. The child grows quickly, this requires the supply of necessary substances and energies, remember this. It grows like a plant under the sun, like a sunflower. He also needs impressions, like air, so as not to suffer from sensory hunger. Try to sit at home for two or three days - what will happen to you? You will just howl, you will have sensory hunger, you will have a feeling of pressure on your head. In the same way, a child - he must receive impressions on the street, he must receive oxygen.

The daily routine makes the child very flexible, very calm, and organized.

When you understand the importance of a daily routine, you yourself will want to live according to a routine, and the desire of the child depends only on your desire for order. He lives in your aura. When you want to do everything on time, you will do everything with pleasure at the same time. If you like it, your child will like it too. This will be passed on to the child, and he will also do all the points of the regime with pleasure at the same time.

Any child development problems should not become a worry and focus for the entire life of parents. However, attention must be paid to the situation: if teething is delayed, it means that there is not enough building material in the body. First of all, in order for children to have a healthy skeletal system and teeth to emerge on time, they must see a lot of sunlight. Even if they were born in winter, they should walk for at least three hours in the air, in the sun, where there is - albeit scattered, behind the clouds, but there is - sunlight, ultraviolet. Sunlight is very important for a child. Any living organism withers without the sun and eventually dies. A child should see the sun like a sunflower.

And, naturally, the child needs fresh air in order for his metabolism to be normal. Children have a high metabolic rate and high heat transfer, so they need much more oxygen than adults. A child has a completely different metabolic system because he grows very quickly. An adult doesn’t grow like that, and he doesn’t need as much oxygen and sunlight, but a child really needs it. Parents need to understand all this.

How much time should you walk outdoors? I think the answer to the question will largely depend on “what kind of family you come from” and on the characteristics of your character. And indeed, some people can barely keep up with the “norm” of one hour, and for others, a couple of hours outside is no time at all...

Why did I write that staying on the street largely depends on the family? I have a simple example - my parents always spent a LOT of time outside. Forest, mountains, sanatoriums, natural attractions... Yes, we were never bored. Of course, I am somewhat lazier than my parents and do not mind staying at home whenever possible. But! As soon as I sit at home for at least a day and don’t go out, I start to “fade” - my head starts to hurt, my mood drops, I start to feel lethargic and there is a feeling that “something is missing.” So people like me simply need air. Do you want your children to get plenty of fresh air? Walk with them since childhood!

Moreover, my health directly depends on fresh air. And I know from myself that if hemoglobin drops, and this happens, then no drugs will help me. Fresh air is my only cure!

Where to walk, how to walk and when to walk?

Our family’s favorite path begins with a church like this, located almost in the forest. Around the church, the monks maintain a huge flowerbed of indescribable beauty!


Further from this church the road leads through the forest to the Volga River. It’s almost impossible to get down here by car, but as you can imagine, the air here is the cleanest! There is no gas pollution, and during the beach season there are minimal people here.


Of course, you also need to look at the weather - in the summer, walks are basically bliss, and you don’t have to go home for at least the whole day! However, nature, as they say in that very song, has no bad weather, so in winter you can have a great time in the forest with your family!


Speaking of the company. Personally, I can’t stand long walks alone, so an hour alone is enough for me! But if you have good company, the walk can last two hours or more! And not only in summer, but also in winter! In extreme cases, music in headphones becomes my companion, and then the time spent in the fresh air also noticeably increases.


My husband and I also really love “night” walks. Of course, now you can’t really go out with the kids at night, but sometimes we still find time for some “evening” air. This photo was taken during such a walk...

Walks in the open air. Doctors' opinion.

Start gradually with half an hour and gradually increase the time to 2 hours or more. There is no specific norm here, but doctors advise walking for at least half an hour a day.


Active absorption of oxygen, that is, running in the fresh air or brisk walking for a short time, will also not be amiss. This will be a kind of prevention of heart attack and cardiovascular diseases. Again, you need to start active rest gradually - from 10 minutes and then progressively. Over time, you should engage in active rest at least twice a week.

Many people spend their workdays under fluorescent lights, sitting in front of a screen, and then they go home and watch TV there. Constantly staying indoors does not bring health benefits. Nature is much more beneficial for humans. Psychologists and researchers in other fields are constantly finding new reasons to spend more time in outdoor spaces. If you want to find motivation to walk more often, you should get acquainted with all these facts.

Being in nature improves short-term memory

A variety of studies show that being in nature strengthens memory. An ordinary walk down the street does not give such an effect. An experiment was conducted in which students were given a short memory test and then divided into two groups. One went for a walk in the botanical garden, and the other walked along an ordinary street. When the participants returned and repeated the test, those in nature improved their scores by almost twenty percent. Those who were outside showed no improvement. A similar study was conducted on people suffering from depression. It turned out that a walk outside improves memory, even if a person is depressed.

Nature has a relaxing effect

Being in the lap of nature reduces the intensity of the physical manifestation of stress in the body. According to the experiment, people who spent two nights in the forest had reduced levels of cortisol, a hormone that is used as a marker for stress. In addition, the researchers found that heart rate and cortisol levels were lower in people living outdoors rather than in cities. For office workers, a window view of nature also leads to reduced stress and greater job satisfaction.

Spending time in nature reduces the intensity of inflammatory processes

When inflammation is too active, it leads to various diseases, including autoimmune diseases, as well as depression, inflammatory bowel syndrome and even cancer. Spending time in nature can help control inflammation. According to research, students who spent time in the forest had lower levels of inflammation in the body when compared to those who spent time in the city. In another study, older adults were sent on a week-long vacation in the forest. Not only did their inflammatory processes decrease in intensity, but the severity of hypertension also decreased.

Nature will help you get rid of fatigue

You know that feeling when your brain seems to refuse to function? Researchers call this psychological fatigue. Fresh air will help you restore normal brain function. Studies have shown that even viewing pictures of nature has a therapeutic effect. The beauty of nature evokes a feeling of admiration, which immediately adds strength.

Fresh air helps fight depression and anxiety

Anxiety, depression and other psychological problems can be resolved through time spent in nature, especially when combined with exercise. According to scientists, walks in the forest help reduce anxiety and improve your mood. Moreover, it can even be used as an adjunct to the treatment of depressive disorder. Any corner of green nature improves self-esteem and improves mood. If there is a body of water nearby, the positive effect is the strongest.

Time in nature improves vision

At least for children. This is confirmed by research. Spending time in a forest or park is an easy way to prevent the development of eye diseases in children and adolescents.

Nature improves your ability to focus

So, you already know that nature helps you recover. A walk in the park can improve your ability to concentrate. The effect is so strong that it helps even children with attention deficit disorder.

You may be more imaginative after a walk.

Time spent outdoors allows a person to think more creatively. Research reports a fifty percent increase in imagination levels.

Spending time in nature lowers blood pressure

Walking can help lower your blood pressure. This is a side effect of reducing stress hormones in the body. On average, heart rate decreases by four percent, and blood pressure by two.

Walking may even prevent cancer

Research is still early, but preliminary evidence suggests that time spent in nature may stimulate the production of cancer-protective substances.

Forest can strengthen the immune system

Cellular activity in the body after a walk in the forest also reflects a strengthening of the immune system, which will help you forget about problems such as colds and similar infections.

Time spent outdoors reduces risk of premature death

Staying near a park or forest has a positive effect on health. Researchers have found that this allows a person to live longer and reduces the risk of death from cancer, lung or kidney disease.

In any park on a sunny day, the majority of the walking public are mothers with strollers. Pediatricians and nurses tirelessly remind you that you need to walk every day, and the more, the better. But new mothers, even without reminders, strive to “see others and show themselves off.” The baby, despite the angry crying, dresses up, loads himself into the stroller and goes for a walk. After all, you need to go for a walk, no matter how much nerves it costs, isn’t it?

Points of view

In fact, there are more and more mothers who are embarrassed by walks “at any cost.” How exactly to walk with a child, when, how much and whether to walk at all, becomes a subject of debate. Therefore, today there are several radically different points of view on walking.

One of them says that it is not necessary and even harmful to walk with a small child. That the baby should spend the first six weeks after birth at home, and only then go out for a short time and in the arms of his mother. At the same time, it is important that the walk occurs during wakefulness, because the child psychologically needs to fall asleep and wake up in the same place, with the same person.

From another point of view, a child needs to go for a walk, but... not on the street. And without a mother at all. Proponents of the hardening system argue that it will be beneficial for everyone if the child sleeps almost all of his time on the balcony. Literally, the mother brings the awakened baby in for feeding, and then takes her out to the balcony again so that the baby can be “tempered.” Meanwhile, she herself is busy with everyday affairs, courting her husband, so that the birth of a child does not infringe on anyone’s interests and generally does not particularly change the accepted way of life in the family...

Both of these positions can be criticized. Not every mother will be able to stay at home for the first month of her life and even longer, without leaving the walls of the apartment, as long as the baby sees only her and no one else. It is appropriate to note that in nature, the mother of newborn cubs still leaves them, albeit for a short time, and preferably under the supervision of another parent, and sometimes carries them from one place to another. This means that this option is still laid down by nature within the framework of the biological norm. Therefore, there is nothing fatal in walking from time to time, especially if the baby is in the mother’s arms.

At the same time, the system “fed - took out to the balcony - two (three, four) hours later brought from the balcony - changed the diaper - fed - took out to the balcony” is generally absurd from the point of view of nature. Not a single mammal leaves its young “in the fresh air for hardening”; this is unnatural for a biological species. In the practice of natural feeding consultants, this behavior often becomes the reason for breast refusal. After all, a child really needs his mother’s attention much more than fresh air.

Why go for a walk

In the middle of these two positions are mothers who still walk with their children. Of course, they are the majority. A mother who wants a walk to really benefit both her and her baby should follow a simple rule: a walk for the child, not a child for a walk. If the weather outside is bad, raining, windy, you don’t need to leave the house just to take a certain time off.

Children often fall asleep on the street deeply and for a long time, and this alone makes some mothers so happy that they are ready to walk for literally hours. But children of a certain age have certain sleep rhythms. So, for babies up to one and a half months, the normal duration of sleep is from 20 minutes to an hour, but if the baby sleeps longer, there is a danger of malnutrition (after all, such a baby usually wakes up to eat) or changes in night sleep: too frequent waking up, which is known as " confusion of day and night." As for older children, they have every right to sleep a couple of times a day for one and a half to two hours, but most mothers would benefit much more if these long children's sleeps were used for their own rest at home, because lack of sleep is a problem for many. .. It happens the other way around: children, having dozed on the street for about forty minutes, wake up with or without crying - and mothers spend gigantic efforts rocking them, in a stroller or in their arms, hoping to continue a measured walk with a sleeping baby. But if the baby is not sleeping, it may be easier to start communicating with the child - to show him something, tell him something. Try to find an opportunity to breastfeed in a private area until your baby calms down. And if the baby is completely capricious and doesn’t want to go for a walk, isn’t it better to go home, to familiar and calm conditions for the baby, than to waste energy and nerves on motion sickness, which is most often useless?

Some mothers are convinced that a walk outside with a child should be daily and of a certain duration, so that the baby’s skin, when exposed to sunlight, produces vitamin D. However, modern studies have shown that if the mother herself did not have a vitamin D deficiency, then the baby is born with intrauterine a supply of this vitamin that will last for two months without exposure to sunlight. If the baby goes outside from time to time, vitamin D reserves are replenished. According to the official WHO recommendation for Russia, to get your daily vitamin D requirement Exposure to sunlight only on the face (or lower arms and legs) for 30 minutes is sufficient. At the same time, vitamin D accumulates in the body, and if a mother walks for an hour on a sunny day, even with a thoroughly dressed child, he manages to receive even two daily requirements.

It is worth mentioning a feature inherent in inexperienced mothers, who are instructed by grandmothers who are freezing due to their age - wrapping the child. Especially in the spring, you often come across mothers who, almost in T-shirts, walk their sweaty, red-faced babies, dressed in multi-layered suits with knitted hats...

Children in the first months of life have a very imperfect thermoregulation system; the comfort temperature for an undressed child is approximately between 18 and 24 degrees Celsius. When overheated, the baby's body cools down by secreting sweat through the soles, palms and head, which is why they often seem damp and cool. To know, Is the baby really cold? you can touch his wrist, neck or ankle - if they are warm, then everything is in order, the child is simply undergoing intense heat exchange! But it is precisely these places that grandmothers often strive to wrap up as best as possible - woolen socks on their feet, a cap on their head, and a warm hat... If it’s really hot outside, then a child dressed in this way can get a real heatstroke. But even if there are no such extreme consequences, the child will get used to warm clothes, and it is these little ones who risk catching a cold just by running across the floor barefoot.

One way to calculate how to dress a child for a walk, says: if it is from 18 to 24 degrees outside, then we consider that the temperature is comfortable for the child, and we dress like ourselves. If you are under 18 - as yourself and one other piece of clothing (for example, a bodysuit or a cotton jumpsuit). And if it’s more than 24, how about yourself minus one clothes, because it’s more difficult for a child to cope with hot weather than for his mother.

What to go out with

Supporters of street walking are divided into two groups: those who prefer strollers, and fans of devices for carrying babies on themselves (various types of backpacks and slings). Both methods have certain advantages, you just have to choose.

The method is more traditional (more precisely, accepted in our culture). A mother who uses a stroller will not face surprise or indignation, and will not listen to a dozen questions during the walk like “Oh, won’t he fall out of there?!”

• An expensive branded stroller becomes an element of image for many mothers. On the other hand, the stroller is often passed down “by inheritance” within the same family, which helps save money.
• From afar, a stroller makes it clear to others that you are walking with a child here and you need to be careful. At the same time, from the back, for example, a child in a sling is not always visible. Therefore, a mother with a stroller is much less likely to be accidentally pushed by inattentive people.
• When the weather changes abruptly, a child in a stroller is more protected from rain and wind.
• The stroller makes it possible to completely distance yourself from the child at least for a while.
• The stroller relieves not only your head, but also your hands - essentially, it is a very large bag on wheels. If the baby is sleeping, the mother can rest completely.

Carrying children on you with the help of various species, it appeared in Russia recently, but is finding more and more fans. The following advantages speak in its favor:

• Children who are carried by their mother are calmer in infancy and subsequently more independent, because they early gain confidence in their mother’s protection and strong rear. At the same time, carrying a child in a special device is easier than just in your arms, since the load is redistributed over the shoulders and back;
• the child does not lie passively in the stroller, but explores the world with his mother;
• a backpack or sling seriously increases mom's mobility - she is not afraid of stairs or public transport;
• It’s easy to change the baby’s position, and an experienced mother’s hands remain free. Here, by definition, the situation that has happened to any “stroller” mother is excluded: in one hand there is a child who categorically and very loudly does not want to be separated from the mother right now, in the other there is a stroller;
• slings and backpacks are much cheaper than a stroller, and at the same time very diverse in both cut and color, from simple cotton slings to exclusive models with hand-painted fabric. This allows you to make the sling part of a stylish wardrobe;
• Many accessories for baby slings that have appeared recently make it possible to minimize the baby’s natural dissatisfaction with the dressing process: thanks to special bibs, sling jackets, mother’s ponchos, and so on, in cold weather, a mother can easily carry the baby under her own clothes without dressing him more than usual and at the same time easily controlling whether her baby is cold or warm now.

In any case, it’s good that a modern mother has the opportunity to have such a rich choice that our own parents never dreamed of!