As a Dutch review of previous studies suggests, being physically
active can have a positive effect on the child’s academic performance.
Writing in Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine,
researchers stated that they discovered strong evidence of a relation between
physical activity and academic performance.
The review examined 14 studies which include more than
12,000 children. According to those studies, engaging in physical exercise may
help increase blood and oxygen flow to the brain, boosting the cognitive function
of the children.
However, according from VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam,
the authors of the said research, they stated that more accurate and reliable
measurement instruments were required to examine the link in greater detail.
Dr. Amika Singh and colleagues were triggered to observe at the
connection between exercise and the child’s performance in the classroom due to
concerns that the pressure to improve the grades and performance of the
students could result into more time being spent in the classroom and very
limited time to perform physical exercise.
So the authors identified ten observational and 4
interventional studies for review.
12 of the mentioned studies were done in the U.S., 1 in
Canada and one in South Africa.
The sample sizes of the studies varied between fifty-three
to twelve thousand subjects between the ages of 6 to eighteen years old.
The period of follow-up ranges from 8 weeks to more than 5
years.
As the study suggests, 2 of the reviewed researches were
evaluated as being of high quality.
Blood flow
According to the researchers, they noticed a clear proof of
a “significant positive relationship” between exercise and academic performance
using those 2 studies as an evidence.
The study suggests that the reason behind it is that
exercise is responsible for increasing the blood and oxygen flow to the brain.
The improvement in the blood and oxygen flow positively affects the cognitive
functions of the brain.
Participating in any kind of physical activity also helps in
stress management, mood regulation and it can also alleviate anxiety, helping
children behave better in the classroom.
According to Dr Singh: “Children who learn to
participate in sport also learn to obey rules. This may mean they are more
disciplined and able to concentrate better during lessons.”
According to the researchers, more studies were needed to
investigate the exact connection between physical activity and academic
performance.
“People always ask, ‘How much exercise do I need to do
to get an A?’ We don’t know that, but we would like to find out,” said Dr
Singh.
“Children should be active for at least one hour a day,
for health reasons. But we also need to look at other things, like what kind of
activities they should do, when they should do them and for how long.”
None of the studies used an objective measure of physical
activity. Most of the studies instructed the subjects or their parents to write
down how much physical activity they were getting.
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