Aerobic Exercise Makes Kids Excel At Math, Study

Children who are nine to 10 years old and are aerobically fit tend to develop "thinner gray matter", making them excel at math, according to dnaindia.

Lead researcher Laura Chaddock-Heyman of the University of Illinois explained that "gray-matter loss" experienced by a child during its development is part of its maturation. On the other hand, "gray-matter thinning was the sculpting of a fully formed, healthy brain."

Heyman also said that they found "higher-fit nine and 10-year-olds showed a decrease in gray-matter thickness in some areas known to change with development," according to dnaindia.

We show, for the first time, that aerobic fitness may play a role in this cortical thinning," she pointed out, according to thestatesman.

The team surveyed 48 children that had completed a "maximal oxygen-uptake fitness test" by working out on a treadmill. The higher fit children showed at or above the 70th percentile for aerobic fitness, while the other half, comprising the lower-fit kids, seemed to be at or below the 30th percentile.

With MRI, the researchers imaged their brains and also tested their math, reading and spelling skills through the Wide Range Achievement Test-3, showing a close relationship with academic achievement in all these fields.

The scientists saw that some differences could be seen in math skills and cortical brain structure "between the higher-fit and lower-fit children".

Heyman explained that as physical inactivity was going up, there is a need to promote action and interaction. Schools are the most effective institutions that can execute these practices, mainly because of the number of children they reached everyday.

The article was published in the journal PLOS ONE.