How Does Physical Activity Impact Academic Performance?

The answer to the question, how does physical activity impact academic performance in children depends upon the level of physical activity and the subject area. For example, research tells us that the cognitive skills involved in memory and learning are improved by moderate to high levels of physical activity. Educators and parents are always focused on the academic achievement of students and providing opportunities for physical activities throughout the school day can help with this goal.

How Does Physical Activity Impact Students’ Academic Performance – What Does the Research Say?

Exercise Helps with Cognitive Skills

Previous research indicates that one of the greatest brain gains of exercise is the ability for physical activity to improve actual brain function by helping nerve cells to multiply, creating more connections for learning (Cotman, 2002; Ferris, 2007). Research has shown that an increase in physical activity has a significant positive effect on cognition, especially for early elementary and middle school students (Sibley, 2002). 

Exercise Helps with Concentration

Physical activity also impacts academic performance by increasing a student’s ability to concentrate on studying or other school-related tasks. During periods of strenuous exercise, brain chemicals such as dopamine and norepinephrine are released. These chemicals play important roles in memory formation, learning, attention management, and motivation.

Research has shown that some children who participated in an in-class physical activity program improved their on-task behaviors by 20 percent (Mahar, 2006). Additional research regarding physical activity and school performance revealed that vigorous physical activity may improve concentration (Taras, 2005). Active lessons that require more coordinated gross motor skills such as balancing, reaction time, etc. were associated with better concentration on academic tasks (Budde, 2008).

Exercise Helps with Behavior

Research shows that regular exercise has a positive impact on behaviors in the classroom in school-aged children. The results of the study indicated that classroom behavior improved after 10-minute sessions or longer of moderate-to-vigorous minutes of physical activity or active lessons. Behavior problems in the classroom also decreased with shorter more intense (5 min) movement breaks or physically active lessons. (9 out of 11 interventions). (Daly-Smith et al , 2018).

Exercise Helps with Reading and Spelling

One study with first graders who participated in two 60 minute session perceptual-motor interventions per week for 12 weeks, resulted in improvements in academic performance. The results showed that the body awareness, balance, spatial awareness, and visual perceptual exercise sessions significantly improved fine motor skills, gross motor skills, reading and spelling in the first grade students (Botha & Africa, 2020).

Another study indicated that lower levels of moderate to vigorous physical activity, higher levels of sedentary time, and particularly the combination of the two, were related to poorer reading skills in boys (Haapala et al, 2016).

Exercise and Executive Functions

Pediatric Exercise Science published research examining the effect of physical activity on the cognitive development in children including working memory (WM) and inattentiveness in a large sample of 2897 schoolchildren (7-10 years old). The results indicated that exercising twice per week or more was associated with higher working memory scores and lower inattentiveness scores at baseline when compared with exercising only once per week or less (López-Vicente, et. al. 2016).

The researchers concluded that an acute bout of exercise, of either an intermittent or continuous nature, improves executive function in children, and effects are maintained for ≤ 30 min following exercise cessation. Therefore, it is recommended that children should participate in bouts of physical activity during the school day to help boost students’ academic performance (Lambrick, et al, 2016).

Exercise Helps with Math Skills

Some research indicates that regular physical activity can help with math skills. One study investiaged three groups of students for 6 weeks of mathematical instruction: a non motor group, a fine motor math group and a gross motor math group. The researchers concluded that motor enriched learning activities (particularly gross motor math instruction) can improve mathematical performance (Beck et al, 2016).

How Does Physical Activity Improve Academic Success?

A recent large population-based cluster randomized controlled trial among 2301 fourth-grade students, looked closely at how exercise can improve academic success. The experimental group received a 3-minute high-intensity interval exercise program that included jumps, squats, and various steps implemented twice weekly over 10 weeks for 10 to 25 minutes per session during the school year. The control group participated in the regular physical education classes.

The results showed that the intervention group had a positive relationship with higher test scores. Data analysis showed an 8.36 and 9.55 point improvement in academic scores when compared to the control group on the national examination. The researchers concluded the exercise program significantly improved children’s academic achievement (Takehara et al, 2021).

Recap on the Impact of Physical Activity on Cognitive Performance

it is important to understand the influence of physical activity on brain structure and physical health on students’ academic performance. The best way to encourage physical activity at school is to educate staff and parents on the relationship between physical activity levels and brain health.

So how does physical activity impact academic performance? Research tells us physical exercise can help with:

• cognitive skills
• concentration and attention span
• behavior in the classroom
• executive functions
• reading
• spelling
• math
• test scores.

Resources to Help Add Physical Activity to Improve Academic Performance

Get started today by adding MORE aerobic fitness activities to your student’s school day! Check out all these resources to help jump start children’s health and potentially better academic performance.

References:

Beck, M. M., Lind, R. R., Geertsen, S. S., Ritz, C., Lundbye-Jensen, J., & Wienecke, J. (2016). Motor-Enriched Learning Activities Can Improve Mathematical Performance in Preadolescent Children. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 10.

Botha, S., & Africa, E. K. (2020). The effect of a perceptual-motor intervention on the relationship between motor proficiency and letter knowledge. Early Childhood Education Journal, 1-11.

Budde H, Voelcker-Rehage C, Pietrabyk-Kendziorra S, Ribeiro P, Tidow G. (2008) Acute coordinative exercise improves attentional performance in adolescents. Neurosci Lett. 441(2):219–223.

Cotman, C., & Engesser-Cesar, C. (2002). Exercise enhances and protects brain function. Exercise and Sport Science Review, 30(2), 75-79.

Daly-Smith, A. J., Zwolinsky, S., McKenna, J., Tomporowski, P. D., Defeyter, M. A., & Manley, A. (2018). Systematic review of acute physically active learning and classroom movement breaks on children’s physical activity, cognition, academic performance and classroom behaviour: understanding critical design features. BMJ open sport & exercise medicine, 4(1), e000341.

Ferris, L., Williams, J., & Shen, C. (2007). The effect of acute exercise on serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels and cognitive function. Medical Science of Sports and Exercise, 39(4), 728-734.

 Haapala, Eero A., et al. “Physical activity and sedentary time in relation to academic achievement in children.” Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport (2016). DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2016.11.003

Lambrick, D., Stoner, L., Grigg, R. and Faulkner, J. (2016), Effects of continuous and intermittent exercise on executive function in children aged 8–10 years. Psychophysiology, 53: 1335–1342. doi: 10.1111/psyp.12688

López-Vicente, M. et. al. (2016). Physical Activity and Cognitive Trajectories in Schoolchildren. Pediatric exercise science, 28(3), 431-438.

Mahar, M., Murphy, S., Rowe, D., et al. (2006). Effects of a classroom-based program on physical activity and on-task behavior. Medical Science of Sports and Exercise, 38(12), 2086-2094.

Sibley, B., & Etnier, J. (2002). The effects of physical activity on cognition in children: A meta anaylsis. Medical Science of Sports and Exercise, 4(5), 214.

Taras, H. (2005). Physical activity and student performance at school. Journal of School Health, 75(6), 214-218.

Takehara, K., Togoobaatar, G., Kikuchi, A., Lkhagvasuren, G., Lkhagvasuren, A., Aoki, A., … & Soya, H. (2021). Exercise intervention for academic achievement among children: a randomized controlled trial. Pediatrics.