[The effectiveness of the improvement of health in the schoolchildren staying in a country summer camp].

Organization of recreational activities in the children's camps is inseparable from the assessment of their effectiveness.

AIM: The objective of the present study was to estimate the influence of the pastime of the children in a summer camp under the habitual climatic conditions and the resulting improvement of their health status including the body component composition and the functional state of the organism.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study included 44 schoolchildren at the age from 9 to12 years. The analysis of the effectiveness of recreational activities was carried out with the use of the method for the assessment of health improvement based at the children`s summer camps. Alterations in the component composition of the body were evaluated from the results of bioimpedansometry.

RESULTS: The physical development of the majority of the schoolchildren involved in the study both in the beginning and the end of the camp period was fairly well balanced. During the period of resting in the camp (14 days), changes in the body weight were largely attributable to the alteration in the lean body mass whereas the fat component remained rather stable. The cardio-respiratory system did not show any unambiguous signs of positive dynamics. The physical conditions of the children estimated based on the hand dynamometry index showed a negative change. The comprehensive assessment of the degree of health improvement with the use of a scoring system made it possible to demonstrated that half of the schoolchildren spending time in the summer camp under the moderate climate conditions markedly improved their somatic health, functional and physical state whereas the remaining half enjoyed only a slight improvement.

CONCLUSION: We suppose that the main causes preventing manifestations of the maximal positive effect of the pastime in the summer camp on the health status of the children included the short period of stay in the camp and the irrational use of the available complex of recreational activities, such as the sound nutrition regimen, adequate physical loading including locomotor activity, and psychological comfort). Bioimpedansometry which objectively reflects any changes in the body component composition is recommended for the application as one of the additional instruments for the objective analysis of the changes in the body component composition of the children and of the effects exerted by the recreational activities in the summer camp on their health status.