Study: Exercise may help children perform better in school

New evidence that getting your kids out running cross-country this fall has more than just health benefits was published this week.

A few years ago, in 2012, a study was done on 40 8-10-year-olds, half of whom had been diagnosed with ADHD. The students were all tested on reading and math abilities twice, once on it’s own and a second time after 20 minutes of physical activity. Almost all students performed better after the exercise, but those diagnosed with ADHD saw even greater performance gains.

On Tuesday, a new, similar study was published in the Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology by researchers at Michigan State University and the University of Vermont. The new works had 200 kindergarten to Grade 2 students split into two groups: half did moderate exercise activities before school and the other half did more sedentary activities. Again, all the students who did exercise so improvements in testing of cognitive abilities but those who exhibited common ADHD symptoms saw the largest benefits.

“Despite the number of remaining questions, physical activity appears to be a promising intervention method for ADHD with well-known benefits to health overall,” said Alan Smith, who cahirs MSU’s Department of Kinesiology and worked on the study. “This gives schools one more good reason to incorporate physical activity into the school day.”

With kids back in school and cross-country season starting soon, getting them out the door a bit earlier in the morning to practice seems to becoming a more and more alluring prospect.