The importance of lifestyle modifications to prevent recurrent respiratory infections in children

       Upper respiratory tract infection is a common and frequent disease in childhood, which can occur in all seasons, and is common in children from half a year old to preschool age, with some children having recurrent occurrences, one in a month or even one in half a month, which is related to improper life management.  Upper respiratory tract infections belong to the category of “cold” in Chinese medicine, which is located in the lung and is related to the feeling of external evil and lack of vital energy, and lack of vital energy is the key to its development. The clinical manifestations are fever, cough, nasal congestion, sore throat and other symptoms.  Children in the growth and development stage of the human body are not yet mature in the form of internal organs and various physiological functions are not yet complete. Compared with adults, they are more susceptible to the influence of various adverse factors. Improper diet and bad mood can affect the righteousness of the body and make the body’s resistance decrease.  Therefore, it is important to provide children with appropriate life conditioning at the right time to avoid the influence of various undesirable factors. Liu Huicong, Department of Pediatrics, Shijiazhuang Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, said that life conditioning should be carried out mainly in terms of children’s living, diet and emotions. Moreover, the causes of upper respiratory tract infections and their pathological mechanisms should be combined to carry out targeted prevention and control.  1, careful to avoid external evil: Chinese medicine believes that the lung is “Huagai”, and “delicate organs”. Children have the characteristics of “lung is often insufficient”, once you feel the external evil, it is the first to offend the lungs, the most vulnerable to lung injury. Different seasons have different climatic characteristics, so the focus of prevention should also be focused.  The lungs have the physiological characteristic of “like warmth, like moist”, and the cold and dry climate has a greater impact on lung function. Cold can easily bind the lung energy, and dryness can easily produce fire in the throat.  In the summer and humid seasons, when it is warm and humid, colds are relatively rare, but cold stimulation caused by eating cold drinks and blowing air conditioners often leads to the occurrence of this disease.  Therefore, it is important to make appropriate lifestyle adjustments according to different seasons to avoid recurrence of upper respiratory tract infections.  In daily life, children should be allowed to do more outdoor activities to gradually enhance their ability to adapt to various weather changes. Increase or decrease clothing at the right time, always dress appropriately light and loose, but pay attention to protect the chest, abdomen and back to avoid getting cold; clothing should be mainly cotton, especially for sensitive children, avoid chemical fiber clothing close to the body as far as possible. To minimize the impact of external factors on children’s health.  2.Nourish the righteousness: The concept of deficiency of righteousness is broad, for the occurrence of cold, it should be defined as the malfunction of the external function of the body. Weiqi has the function of protecting the muscle surface and defending against external evil, which is generated by the water and grain essence produced by the spleen and stomach and propagated by the lungs.  In the case of children who cannot improve the deficiency of spleen and lung qi in a short period of time, it is especially important to avoid the occurrence of lung qi stagnation. Clinically, the lung qi is often caused by other internal organs dysfunction, especially with the spleen, liver is closely related to improper diet, bad emotional changes are the main factors leading to the internal organs dysfunction.  3, diet: children “spleen often deficient”, coupled with improper diet, more likely to affect the digestion and absorption of food and metabolism, resulting in food accumulation in the stomach and intestines, through the descending dereliction of duty. According to the theory of traditional Chinese medicine, the lung and large intestine are in close proximity to each other, so if the gastrointestinal Qi does not descend normally, the lung Qi will be depressed and the Wei Qi will not be dispersed to the muscle surface, which will lead to cold.  Therefore, in terms of diet, you should choose different types of food according to different ages, and the overall should be light, soft, and rich in nutrition. At the same time, pay attention to appropriate water, do not eat too much, and in accordance with the four seasons of climate change to reasonably adjust the diet structure, often said “if you want children to be safe, always need to three points of hunger and cold”, “eat radish in winter and eat ginger in summer, without the doctor’s prescription”, that is, there is a certain scientific reason.  For children with spleen deficiency, it is more important to grasp the principle of more porridge and less milk, rich in nutrients and easy to digest, control sweets, avoid fried, baked, fried, smoked, and do not eat cold drinks. And should be adhered to long-term, attentive care. Otherwise, the slightest inadvertence that is easy to disease.  4, emotional aspects: the liver is the main regulator of qi, bad emotions can lead to the liver is not comfortable, depression and fire within the lungs, can also lead to lung depression, that is, the so-called “wood fire penal gold”. Children, regardless of size, have a wealth of emotional activities and thinking characteristics, the education of children should master the principle of leniency and severity, neither excessive indulgence, but also not abuse of power.  In daily life, we should pay attention to give children a mentally relaxed environment to grow up, especially in the life environment changes, such as nursery, school, learning pressure, often easy to appear depressed, irritable, do not think about food and drink, etc., more parents, teachers need the careful care and guidance.  Otherwise, it often affects the health of the body due to bad emotions, so that the immunity of the body decreases, resulting in the recurrence of upper respiratory tract infections.