Charles Ungerleider, Professor Emeritus, The University of British Columbia
[permission to reproduce granted if authorship is acknowledged]
“P.E. teachers are going to love this blog,” my wife said when I told her that I had read a meta-analysis confirming the positive relationship between physical activity and cognitive functions in children and youth. The article systematically searched and analyzed studies to confirm that being active and engaging in physical exercise is good for improving children’s thinking abilities. These thinking abilities include basic cognitive functions like processing speed, core executive functions like paying attention and remembering instructions, and higher-level executive functions like problem-solving and planning.
The study points out that physical activities that are part of the school curriculum are especially effective. These activities don’t just make kids sharper thinkers; previous studies have also shown that they keep kids physically healthier.
Given these positive effects, the study suggests that the information could be valuable for those who make policies or decisions about children’s health and education. It implies that encouraging physical activity could lead to better performance in school, improve mental health by reducing issues like anxiety and depression, and even prevent heart disease.
However, some schools in recent years seem to be reducing curricular opportunities for physical activity. The review argues that, if educational and public health guidelines take these findings into account, they could help reverse this trend. But to have high quality curriculum in physical activity, you need professionals who really know how to design physical activities that are both fun and developmentally useful for kids.
The study suggests that future research should look into how the environment, like playgrounds and general surroundings, can be designed to encourage kids to be more active and how this, in turn, could help in their brain development.
Not everyone will be pleased with the findings of this meta-analysis. Current research suggests that different kinds of exercise do not all affect brain functions in the same way. Exercises that involve complex thinking and controlled, adaptable movements (for example, dance, juggling, games requiring strategies) seem to have a more significant positive effect on executive functions, which are the mental skills that help us manage time, pay attention, switch focus, plan and organize, and remember details.
The authors of the study also indicate that physical activity done in the classroom doesn't seem to boost children’s thinking skills. This conclusion comes from combining results from classroom-based activities with results from other physical activities that aren't part of the curriculum, like what children do during recess. When they compared this mixed bag of school-time physical activities to structured physical education classes that are part of the curriculum, the latter seems to have a more substantial benefit for children’s cognitive development.
It is affirmation
of the benefit of structured physical education classes, carefully planned and
executed, that will please the P.E. teachers.
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Álvarez-Bueno, C.,
Pesce, C., Cavero-Redondo, I. , Sánchez-López, M., Martínez-Hortelano, J.A.,
and V. Martínez-Vizcaíno (2017) The Effect of Physical Activity Interventions
on Children’s Cognition and Metacognition: A Systematic Review
and Meta-Analysis, Journal of the American Academy of Child &
Adolescent Psychiatry, 56 (9), 729-738, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2017.06.012.