Physical activity improves school performance
Last reviewed: 16.10.2021
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A systematic review of previous studies shows that there can be a positive relationship between physical activity and the achievement of children in school, says the January issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.
Amika Singh, Ph.D., an associate at the EMGO Medical Institute in Amsterdam (the Netherlands), and her colleagues examined data on the relationship between the physical activity of children and their achievement in school. Scientists have tried to determine how much the desire of children to get good grades leads to the abandonment of sports and reduce their physical activity.
The authors analyzed the results of the previous 10 observations and four interventional studies. Twelve studies were conducted in the United States, one in Canada and one in South Africa. The sample size varied from 53 to 12,000 participants aged 6 to 18 years. The duration of the studies ranged from eight weeks to five years.
The results of the studies showed convincing evidence of the significant relationship between physical activity and academic achievement of children. Physical exercises can help improve cognitive skills by increasing the flow of blood and oxygen to the brain, increasing the level of norepinephrine and endorphin, reducing stress, improving mood, and increasing the synthesis of growth factors that are involved in the formation of new nerve cells and support synaptic plasticity.
Nevertheless, to date, there have been "relatively few studies of high methodological quality that would study the relationship between physical activity and academic achievement," the authors conclude. None of the studies used objective estimates of physical activity.
"In the future, higher-quality studies should be conducted that examine the dose-response relationship between physical activity and academic achievement, and explain the mechanisms for its occurrence, using reliable and reliable measuring instruments to assess this relationship," the authors conclude.
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