Adolescent Changes in Aerobic Fitness Are Related to Changes in Academic Achievement

Abstract

These data suggest that changes in aerobic fitness may modulate changes in academic achievement. These findings highlight the importance of physical activity and have broad relevance for educational systems and policies.

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“…However, a current systematic review representing 414 participants from 5 different countries shows that 60% of studies found beneficial effects on the language domain (Carson et al, 2016). In this line, Raine et al (2017) concluded that changes in aerobic fitness were positively related to changes in reading between sixth and eighth grade. Physical activity even enhances the learning of a second non-maternal language (Liu et al, 2017).…”

“…With regard to mathematical calculation, EG increased 15.5% relative to CG after 12 weeks of C-HIIT. Several studies have showed that a higher CRF level, S/A, coordination, motor skill, organized leisure-time sport participation and bicycling, and active commuting to school are related with better success in maths (Castelli, Hillman, Buck, & Erwin, 2007;Correa-Burrows, Burrows, Orellana, & Ivanovic, 2014;Raine et al, 2017;Saevarsson et al, 2017). Another recent study of association conducted by Ruiz-Ariza et al (2016) showed that enjoyment of vigorous PA is related to higher grades in maths among adolescent girls.…”

“…Currently, physical fitness has been shown to have a potential improvement effect on cognitive capacities beyond the traditional physiological health effects (Etnier et al, 1997;Ruiz-Ariza, Grao-Cruces, Loureiro, & Martínez-López, 2017a;Schmidt, Jäger, Egger, Roebers, & Conzelmann, 2015). More concretely, fitness is related to better memory (Chaddock-Heyman et al, 2014;Sibley & Beilock, 2007), selective attention and concentration (Vanhelst et al, 2016), arithmetic skills (Moore, Drollette, Scudder, Bharij, & Hillman, 2014), and linguistic reasoning (Raine et al, 2017). The combined improvements in these cognitive variables could be fundamental in improving mental skills responsible for planning, task switching, problem solving, organization, strategy generation to achieve a particular objective, and behaviour control (Ruiz-Ariza et al, 2017a).…”

Physical fitness and neurocognitive outcomes in adult survivors of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia: A report from the St. Jude Lifetime cohort

“…There is a reported positive association between physical activity and performance on measures of perception, intelligence quotients, achievement, verbal ability, mathematical skill, and academic readiness. Additionally, Raine et al demonstrated that positive changes in physical fitness (or exercise tolerance) among adolescents have significant benefit in academic achievement. The authors found that obese children who showed improvements in aerobic fitness (as measured by 15‐m shuttle laps with increasing pace until participant failure) between sixth and eighth grade had greater cognitive gains (determined by Idaho Standards Achievement Test reading and math scores) and academic achievement than healthy weight age‐matched controls, independent of changes in whole body fat.…”

Longitudinal Associations of Fitness, Motor Competence, and Adiposity with Cognition

“…In longitudinal studies, children and adolescents with continuously higher levels of CRF have been found to have better cognition and academic performance than other children and adolescents over 2-year follow-up (8,9). Although the results of some longitudinal studies suggest that larger improvement in CRF is associated with greater improvement in academic performance (10), other studies have found only weak associations of changes in CRF with changes in cognition or academic performance in youth (8,9). Overweight, obesity, and increased body fat percentage (BF%) measured by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have been associated with decreased brain volumes and impaired cognition and academic achievement among children and adolescents in cross-sectional studies (11)(12)(13).…”