A study from the Georgia Prevention Institute at Georgia Health Sciences University, shows that regular exercise in an after-school program helped sedentary, overweight Augusta children perform better on goal-oriented tasks. Exercising also seemed to improve math skills, an area of continual concern for U.S. educators.
“That’s exciting and has important implications,” lead author, Dr. Catherine L. Davis, an associate professor of pediatrics at GHSU told the Augusta Chronicle.
“I think it shows that children being sedentary may adversely impact their ability to do mathematics. And that’s very important.”
Published online in the journal Health Psychology, the study showed that Augusta children, ages 7 to 11, were assigned to a group that received 20 minutes of aerobic exercise in an after-school program at the institute, one that got 40 minutes of exercise in a similar program or a group that had no exercise program. It used assessment tests to gauge cognitive and academic achievement.
Animal studies have found exercise seems to increase the release of growth factors in the brain that would result in more neurons and more blood vessels, Davis said.
Even more encouraging was that the study found that gender, race, socioeconomic factors or parental education did not change the impact of the exercise-induced increases. “Hopefully, it will be helpful for the disadvantaged groups,” she said.
