Exercise Makes Kids Smarter, Too!
In a recent post, I wrote about the connection between brain health and physical fitness. Now, there is yet even more evidence for keeping kids active. In two separate studies of children and physical fitness, researchers demonstrate the link between fit children and smart children.
One study demonstrated improved performance by the fitter children (identified by a treadmill test) and connected that with actual physical differences that show up in MRI scans of the brains of the kids .
Meanwhile, a separate study (by some of the same researchers) found a similar connection between working memory in children and the size of the hippocampus. Previous research has shown that exercise can increase the size of the hippocampus, but this study linked working memory, exercise and the size of the hippocampus in children.
The New York Times has a nice article on the subject. After you read it, you’ll realize that PE is one of the last programs that schools should cut when they are looking to shrink their budgets!
Here’s even more evidence the Roman saying of Mens sana in corpore sano still has relevance today.
From the New York Times:
These findings arrive at an important time. For budgetary and administrative reasons, school boards are curtailing physical education, while on their own, children grow increasingly sluggish. Recent statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that roughly a quarter of children participate in zero physical activity outside of school.
Will these studies lead to the proliferation of child-size treadmills in the homes of yuppie parents?