School medicine: relevance, problems, and development prospects (literature review)

The article reveals the main trends in the decline in the health of modern children and adolescents studying in educational institutions, describes signs of violations in the pace and quality of growth and development of children, an increase in the signs of chronic pathologies over schooling. Literature data on the importance of modern school factors in reducing health are revealed, first of all, we are talking about the suboptimal educational environment, mental and emotional overload, physical inactivity, low motivation for a healthy lifestyle. The authors reveal the psychophysiological concept of health as a generalized property of a person to adequately adapt to a wide range of factors of various nature. The purpose of the study was to analyze current problems and prospects for ensuring the health of children in the context of educational institutions. Particular attention is paid to the School as a complex factor that determines the tension of the child’s regulatory systems, significantly changing his entire lifestyle, making special demands on the “school-significant” properties of the child. There are very common cases of “school maladjustment”, which determine a significant decrease in health parameters by the type of stress disorders. Life determines the importance of a constant increase in the intensity of learning, volume of necessary knowledge and competencies, both formed and implemented in an ever more complex society, including in the context of global computerization and informatization. In the course of receiving schooling experiences the child makes a draft on an ever-increasing influence of socio-psychological stress. An important component of the educational environment is the Teacher, who can both increase the pressure of negative factors and make the learning environment more comfortable, solving the problems of teaching and educating children by adequate and effective means.