Fitness may boost children’s grades

By Catherine Doheny

"You can’t play until you’ve finished your homework." This typical mum-phrase used for generations may no longer be considered good parenting. Children exercise is now not only proven to improve a child’s health, both now and in the future, but it also stimulates their mind and could guarantee better grades in school.

A positive relationship of physical activity and academic performance has been explored through several studies.

A recent study says fit bodies may bring children better test scores in school.

Children’s physical fitness is associated with their academic performance," said the study author Lesley Cottrell, an associate professor of paediatrics at West Virginia University, in Morgantown.

She is due to present the findings on the subject that has been of great interest to researchers.

According to the researchers, the fitter the student, the better the test scores.

The researchers evaluated almost 1,200 students, assessing their fitness in the fifth grade and then again in the seventh grade. They tested them in four subjects in seventh grade –– reading, math, science and social studies –– using standardised tests.

The researchers hypothesised that those children who maintained fitness over the two-year span would have the best test scores, and they were right.

The fitness evaluation was done by the commonly used Fitness Gram, which tests fitness by such measures as the time it take to run a mile, then rates the student as in the healthy fitness zone or not.

Across each of the four academic areas, a child who was fit in fifth grade and maintained it at seventh grade had the highest scores, on average, in the standardised tests.

Fitness zone

For example, those who were unhealthy in fifth grade and remained so were the worst at reading, with an average reading score of 2.91 points (of a possible 5). Those who were fit as fifth-graders but weren’t fit by the seventh grade did only a little better academically, getting a 3.03 reading score.

In contrast, those who weren’t fit in the fifth grade but got fit by seventh grade got an average reading score of 3.14, the team found.

And those who were in the "healthy" fitness zone in both the fifth and seventh grades did the very best of all - an average reading score of 3.31. "mastery" at reading begins at a score of 3 or greater.

The emphasis was on fitness, not body weight, which is good news for those children carrying a few extra pounds. "It’s really their level of fitness [that is associated with the better test scores], not their body mass index," says the lead researcher in the study citing previous research that agreed with that finding.

‘These findings are in line with other studies that show similar correlations with increased fitness and higher test scores.

Why the link? Researchers say it is to show the mind-body connection.

They say the body is designed to move and regular physical activity, he said, can result in positive mood, healthy blood sugar levels and increased ability to focus and pay attention.

Researchers say the data point to the need for schools and parents to pay more attention to the value of physical activity.

Another study points to the value of physical activity, too. In that effort, researchers at the University of Maryland, College Park, followed nearly 2,400 girls for 10 years, assessing their body fat levels.

Those who engaged in moderate weekly activity had lower body fat at the study’s end than did the sedentary girls, the study found.

Youth receiving additional physical activity tend to show improved attributes such as increased brain function and nourishment, higher energy/concentration levels, changes in body build affecting self esteem, increased self-esteem and better behaviour which may all support cognitive learning.

Best type of exercise

Enhanced brain function, energy levels, body builds/perceptions, self-esteem, and behaviour have been attributed to physical activity and to improved academic performance.

The best type of exercise for children is free play. Organised sports do not always lead to results, as they usually only benefit those kids who are already in shape, while the less-fit children sit on the sideline or don’t make the cut. But, non-competitive exercise, such as playing on a jungle gym, is the most effective in boosting any child’s health and cognitive thinking.

Just a little daily extra-curricular activity will help energise a child’s body and stimulate their mind in preparation for homework. So, if you know your child’s not getting adequate exercise at school, make sure they gets it when they come home ... and before they start homework.

However, researchers warn that exercise itself doesn’t make children smarter, but it puts the brain of the learners in the optimal position for them to learn.

The study is however important and its implications significant for schools specially those that have cut down on the amount of time allotted for physical education