Playing and Exercising Improves Cognition in Children: Study

Physical activity boosts brain health and cognition in children, finds a study.

Outdoor activities like running, football, bicycling and playing are an essential part of childhood that improve the overall growth and development in children. A recent health study encourages children and youngsters to actively indulge in some regular frolicking for better report cards and thinking skills.

Earlier studies found that children who took a long walk performed better in math and reading tests regardless of their body weight and size. A new research by the University of Illinois observed 220 eight and nine year olds of whom half were instructed to do aerobic exercises after school hours. The experts also noted down each participant's executive functioning like attention span and ability to mental multitask and control immediate reactions to mental stimuli.

The subjects who took part in 70 minutes of intense physical activity every day for almost nine months were not only physically fit but also scored high in computer based tasks that measured their cognitive skills.

"The message of the study is to get kids to be physically active for the sake of their brains, as well as their health," said Charles Hillman, study author and professor of kinesiology and community health at the University of Illinois, reports the New York Times.

The authors urge parents and schools to seriously implement after-school activity programs to curb the incidents of obesity and also help children overcome academic difficulties and mental deficiencies.

More information is available online in the journal Pediatrics.