Why does the child's condition keep recurring? Pediatricians must remember these three reminders

Recently, various pathogens such as influenza, adenovirus, and syncytial virus have been circulating together. In the previous month, pneumonia caused by mycoplasma has also led to many children experiencing high fever and cough.
In clinical practice, many children experience recurrent symptoms, mostly due to insufficient rest or physical exercise as soon as their condition improves. In this regard, pediatricians from Beijing Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital affiliated with Capital Medical University remind that even if the child's symptoms have improved, the absorption and recovery of pulmonary lesions from pneumonia may not be complete yet. At this time, it is necessary to maintain sufficient rest at home and avoid physical exercise as much as possible.
Reminder: Symptom relief does not equate to recovery
The course of a common cold usually takes about a week, while it takes longer for a child's body to recover from pneumonia. The absorption and recovery time of pulmonary lesions in pneumonia is not completely matched with the improvement time of children's symptoms. Generally, the improvement of symptoms is faster than the absorption of pulmonary lesions. So even if the child no longer coughs, within one month of symptom improvement, the condition of the lungs is still very fragile, especially for children with underlying diseases such as asthma, cough variant asthma, or immune diseases, as well as children with combined bacterial or other viral infections, the recovery may be slower. Therefore, within just one month of a child's pneumonia, parents should pay special attention to giving their child more rest, ensuring sufficient sleep, and fully repairing their immune function. Do not overwork, otherwise symptoms may recur.
Reminder: Physical enhancement cannot be achieved overnight. Do not rush to exercise when the disease first recovers
There are two situations: the first situation is that if the child has been relatively healthy in the past and does not have asthma, chronic cough, or other underlying diseases, the lung lesions will be basically absorbed after re examination, and symptoms such as cough will basically disappear. Physical exercise can be gradually increased, starting from moderate to low intensity walking, doing exercises, etc., gradually increasing the intensity of exercise, and each exercise time can start from half an hour, gradually increasing to 1 hour. Never engage in high-intensity sports at once. Because pneumonia can have a certain impact on a child's lung function, the increase in exercise should be gradual.
In the second scenario, if the child has a history of underlying diseases such as asthma and chronic cough, or has a history of recurrent respiratory infections, or the child has an allergic constitution, it is recommended that parents do not let the child engage in physical exercise too early. It is necessary to first conduct a comprehensive lung function test to evaluate the child's lung function, and the doctor will determine whether the child can engage in physical exercise based on the child's lung function results. If parents blindly encourage their children to exercise, it is easy to worsen or recur their children's underlying diseases.
Reminder: Learning is important, and adequate sleep is more important
The general principle is "living regularly, having a balanced diet, and exercising appropriately."
Regular living requires children to live a regular life, go to bed on time, and ensure sufficient sleep and rest time. Middle school students aged 13-14 should ensure 8-10 hours of sleep, primary school students aged 6-12 should ensure 9-12 hours, and kindergarten children aged 3-5 should ensure 10-13 hours. During this season, attention should be paid to going to bed early and getting up late to ensure sufficient sleep time.
In terms of living environment hygiene, attention should be paid to the appropriate indoor temperature and humidity, the indoor air conditioning should not be turned on too high, fresh air circulation should be maintained indoors, windows should be opened regularly for ventilation, children should not be in the ventilation openings to avoid getting cold, and crowded areas should be avoided to reduce cross infection.
Pay attention to hand hygiene to prevent diseases from entering through the mouth. For example, children should wash their hands before meals, after sports activities and entertainment, and after entering the house, they should wash their hands. Require a moderate and rhythmic diet. For children who go to school and kindergarten, advise them to drink more water, eat some fruits appropriately every day, and prevent getting caught in a fire. In terms of diet, it should be reasonable, with a combination of meat and vegetables, timed and quantified, to achieve a balanced diet.
Moderate exercise, while exercise nourishes yang and stillness nourishes yin. According to the Prevention and Treatment Guidelines for Recurrent Respiratory Tract Infections issued by the Chinese Society of Traditional Chinese Medicine this year, it is recommended to reach 180 minutes per day. For school-age children, it is required that they engage in at least 60 minutes of moderate to high-intensity physical activity per day. However, traditional Chinese medicine advocates "winter storage", which means reducing vigorous activities in winter to protect the body's yang energy. Therefore, when exercising in winter, the amount of exercise should not be too large, and it is necessary to choose to exercise after the sun comes out, bask in more sunlight, and avoid outdoor activities in foggy weather.