Exercising Improves Academic Performance

Originally Posted May 25, 2012

At the age of 12, Canadian boys and girls are now taller than they were in 1981. However, rates of childhood obesity and overweight have risen because of increased body fat, not greater muscularity.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that the percentage of overweight or obese 6 to 11 year olds has tripled since 1980, with more than 125 million children at unhealthy levels. 

Increases in physical activity lead to increases in overall academic achievement. 

Indeed, significant improvements in math, reading and spelling have been shown across a range of school grades with as little as a 90-minute increase in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per week.

The morning routine trying to get a bunch of kids out the door can test the powers of Prozac. Some kids wake up spry, hungry and ready to eat a good breakfast and get at ‘er.  Others loll around in bed reluctant to get out of their sleepy cocoon, they are not hungry, not motivated and mope out the door on an empty stomach. Many kids spend the first hour of the school day trying to wake up and if they are focused at all it’s on their gurgling stomach and the oh-so-close-but-forbidden snack just feet away tucked away in their bag.

There have been of a lot articles lately about various pilot projects in which students have been given physical activity first thing in the morning to get the blood flowing. Focus improves, grades go up, kids feel the difference and it’s a good thing. This should come as no surprise. Even for those of us who abhor exercise, when we do decide to engage in some form of it first thing in the morning it improves our mood and productivity.

This link takes you to an article in today's Globe and Mail about how couch potatoes kids don’t score as well in school. No surprise there. Here is a video of kids who get phys.ed class first thing in the morning, they sit on balance balls in class and when they feel restless they can hop on a stationary bike - in class - and listen while they pedal.

Parents of active kids know that having them sit to complete a task is much easier if they let them play and expend some energy first.

It’s not a radical or expensive idea. Kids come in, put the backpack on a hook, and run outside to play soccer for 20 minutes or, as you’ll see, do some cool stuff in the halls to get pumped up. 

When something this simple and cheap results in a marked improvement in grades, health and confidence why isn’t every school doing it?