Extending the break time between primary and secondary schools in Beijing from 10 minutes to 15 minutes will have what benefits for students’ physical and mental health?

On August 30, the reporter learned from the Beijing Municipal Education Commission that starting from this fall semester, the city's compulsory education schools will make an overall coordinated optimization of the recess arrangements. In principle, a 15-minute recess time will be implemented to provide more relaxed recess time, guide teachers and students to walk out of the classroom, go outdoors, and walk into the sunshine, enjoy a healthier and more vibrant campus life, and promote the healthy physical and mental development of students.

"15 minutes between classes" gives students more time to go outdoors

The optimization and adjustment of the break time allows students to have more time to rest during each break, so that they can go out of the classroom, relax and exercise appropriately. On the premise of ensuring quality, the school adjusts the length of the big break and implements a 15-minute break arrangement.

After the optimization and adjustment, the arrival time in the morning, the dismissal time in the afternoon, and the lunch break in the primary school remain unchanged; in the junior high school, except for the dismissal time being slightly delayed by 5 minutes, the arrival time in the morning, lunch and lunch break remain unchanged overall. The city's compulsory education schools will independently optimize and adjust the recess arrangements according to local conditions and school conditions, and guide cadres and teachers from "recess activity managers" to "recess activity co-participants" to provide better support for the healthy growth of students.

Relevant officials from the Beijing Municipal Education Commission said that all primary and secondary schools will use the adjustment of break time as a starting point to improve the mechanism of cultivating morality and cultivating people, effectively promote the transformation of education and teaching from "management-oriented" to "education-oriented", and guide school cadres and teachers to actively design and actively participate in student break activities. All schools will add necessary sports equipment on campus to create a more suitable break environment for students, guide students to use the break time to go out of the classroom to relax, socialize, and do moderate activities to make full physical and mental preparations for subsequent learning.

Enrich the arrangement of breaks to ensure that students have fun

"We should attach as much importance to recess as we do to classes, and guide students to use recess to walk out of the classroom, relax, socialize and engage in appropriate activities outdoors, so as to fully prepare themselves physically and mentally for subsequent classroom learning and make their daily learning and life at school more relaxed." A relevant person in charge of the Beijing Municipal Education Commission said that the adjustment to recess is aimed at deepening the supply-side structural reform of in-school education, adhering to the overall idea of ​​"big subtraction, small addition" and "multiple channels and new carriers", and using the appropriate increase in the length of students' recess as a small start to promote the improvement of the quality of school education, fully implement the core literacy-oriented education goals, and promote the healthy physical and mental development of students.

Both the city and district levels will also strengthen supervision and inspection, further standardize the order of education and teaching, strictly prohibit delays and early class times, arbitrarily shorten the duration of students' recess activities, set unnecessary constraints on students' recess activities, and resolutely put an end to the problem of prohibiting students from leaving the classroom during recess, to ensure that recess requirements are implemented.

Ensuring adequate rest between classes is conducive to students' growth and development in many aspects

In my country's primary and secondary schools, the "10-minute ordinary break" and "30-minute long break" systems are currently widely implemented. The World Health Organization recommends physical activity for children and adolescents: children and adolescents aged 5 to 17 should accumulate at least 60 minutes of moderate to high-intensity physical activity every day; physical activity of more than 60 minutes can provide more health benefits. In my country's primary and secondary schools, each ordinary break is 10 minutes, and the total time per day should be more than 70 minutes.

On the surface, if students can make good use of the 10 minutes between classes, plus the required physical education classes and extracurricular activities every day, the physical activity time of students can meet the standard. However, a front-line teacher has calculated the time account: every 10 minutes between classes, 3 minutes to go to the toilet, 2 minutes to prepare before class, and 2 minutes to go up and down the stairs, only 3 minutes are left for running and jumping. If students want to relax a little, the time is very limited.

File photo. Photo by Luo Jinglai, China News Service

Studies have shown that in recent years, the obesity and myopia rates of primary and secondary school students in my country have been high, and their physical fitness has declined, which is largely related to the lack of outdoor physical activities, physical exercise and free play time. Therefore, it is very important and necessary for growing children and adolescents to ensure adequate rest between classes, which is conducive to students regulating their emotions, relaxing their bodies and minds, strengthening their physical fitness and preventing myopia.

Taking the prevention of myopia as an example, relevant medical research shows that the effect of preventing myopia has nothing to do with the type and intensity of sports activities, and sufficient light is the most critical factor in preventing myopia in outdoor activities. In other words, as long as children are allowed to play outdoors in natural light, no matter what they play, they can achieve the effect of preventing myopia.

Getting more physical activity also helps children and adolescents develop a good musculoskeletal system, cardiovascular system, neuromuscular control system, etc., and helps maintain a healthy weight and good posture. At the same time, physical activity also has a positive effect on cognitive function, helping to improve students' attention and learning ability.

In 1954, psychologists proved through the famous sensory deprivation experiment that even if people do nothing but lie still in a laboratory without stimulation, they can get good rewards, but they can only persist for two or three days at most. The results of the experiment show that boredom and restlessness are the most basic reactions of people. In the days after the experiment, some participants also showed phenomena such as lack of concentration and serious cognitive disorders, and some even had hallucinations. It can be seen that if students cannot ensure sufficient physical activities during class breaks, they are likely to suffer from some physiological disorders and sedentary diseases.

Necessary physical activities can also promote students' social interaction, help cultivate and improve strong willpower and social skills. For example, peer communication, interactive games, making friends, these processes of establishing connections and interacting with others can promote the social development of children and adolescents, including learning prosocial behaviors, regulating emotions and resolving conflicts.

Experts suggest that students should choose simple, easy and inclusive activities during breaks

Fan Chaoqun, associate researcher at the Institute of Sports Science of the General Administration of Sport of China, wrote an article suggesting that, considering the activity time and venue conditions, students should choose simple, easy-to-carry, equipment-free, safe and inclusive activities during breaks.

Brisk walking or jogging: This can be done on the playground or in a wide area of ​​the school. It does not require any special equipment and is a simple and effective aerobic exercise.

Rope skipping: It is very convenient and can be done indoors or on the playground. It helps improve cardiopulmonary health and also exercises the lower limb muscles.

Simple yoga or stretching: Showing some simple yoga or stretching examples through posters or videos can help relieve students' tension in class and improve their flexibility.

Group games: such as capture the flag and dodgeball, can be played in designated areas to increase student interaction and teamwork.

Energetic dance: Play some lively music and let students perform simple dances to the music. This can not only exercise the body but also release inner stress.

Strength movement exercises: Doing simple calisthenics, including squats, pull-ups, planks, etc., can help to exercise muscles throughout the body.

Mini ball sports: such as table tennis and badminton, can be played in a limited space to improve eye-hand coordination and reaction ability.

Static scene experience: Performing some static experience activities according to existing conditions, such as meditation or breathing exercises, can help relieve stress and anxiety.

Source: Beijing Daily, People's Daily Online, Guangming Daily WeChat Official Account