Does exercise make kids smarter?

Research conducted at the University of Illinois (USA) has discovered a strong relationship between academic achievement and fitness scores.

Students who scored well in academics also did well in physical fitness.

Teachers who work closely with young and pre-adolescent children have long suspected a link between physical fitness and cognitive function, but empirical data has been hard to come by.

In cooperation with PE teachers, the researchers measured the physical fitness of 500 third, fourth and fifth grade students. They measured the students’ aerobic capacity, flexibility and muscle fitness. Cognitive function was determined by analysing scores on standardised academic performance tests and by observing and measuring neuro-electric and behavioural responses to stimulus discrimination tasks.

The researchers looked at the relationship between age and fitness from both a neuro-electric and behavioural perspective.

Behaviourally, the fit children made fewer errors than the sedentary ones. In terms of response the fit children were faster than the sedentary children, although slower than both sedentary and fit adults.

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