Exercise and Kids: Preparing the brain to learn
This one hit my mailbox this morning: Exercise Seen as Priming Pump for Students’ Academic Strides
Seven or eight years ago, studies offered mixed results on the question of whether exercise can boost brain function in children and adolescents. Experts are beginning to contend, however, that the case is getting stronger.
“There’s sort of no question about it now,” said Dr. John J. Ratey, a clinical associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. “The exercise itself doesn’t make you smarter, but it puts the brain of the learners in the optimal position for them to learn.”…
I see this in myself. When I’m exercising, I find I focus better. I haven’t studied it, but I probably ought to - I have a hobby that requires intense concentration and decision-making, and I saw immediate improvements in the past two weeks. Thinking back two years to when I was exercising every day, I was participating in this hobby successfully with some of the best participants in the world.
A couple of you know my hobby. I prefer not to get into THAT over here - this is my diet and exercise blog.
Reading on:
With his university colleague Darla M. Castelli, Mr. Hillman assessed the physical-fitness levels of 239 3rd and 5th graders from four Illinois elementary schools. Their findings, published last year in the Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, show that children who got good marks on two measures of physical fitness—those that gauge aerobic fitness and body-mass index—tended also to have higher scores on state exams in reading and mathematics. That relationship also held true regardless of children’s gender or socieconomic differences….
…Another study published last year, involving 163 overweight children in Augusta, Ga., found, in addition, that the cognitive and academic benefits of exercise seemed to increase with the size of the dose.
For that study, a cross-disciplinary research team randomly assigned children to one of three groups. One group received 20 minutes of physical activity every day after school. Another group got a 40-minute daily workout, and the third group got no special exercise sessions.
After 14 weeks, the children who made the greatest improvement, as measured by both a standardized academic test and a test that measured their level of executive function—thinking processes, in other words, that involve planning, organizing, abstract thought, or self-control—were those who spent 40 minutes a day playing tag and taking part in other active games designed by the researchers. The cognitive and academic gains for the 20-minutes-a-day group were half as large.
“I was frankly bowled over by the results,” said Catherine L. Davis, the lead author of the study, a preliminary version of which was published in December in Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport. “It’s like a staircase, which is considered strong evidence for causation,” added Ms. Davis, who is an associate professor of pediatrics at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta.
So, they’re saying that exercise gets the brain ready to learn. What they didn’t say was that exercise made you smarter. Just like buying a pair of dumbbells doesn’t give you big biceps. It just enables those muscles to becoming stronger through consistent work. Sounds like the same is true for the brain - exercise prepares the brain to process information better.
I’m no scientist, but I think they’re on the right track.
Tags: brain, children, diet, exercise, fitness, kids, learningSelf-doubt, confidence, and the need to get over myself
Stacey sent my daughter and me a link to a great article at CNN (which I believe is republishing it from Oprah.com) titled Squash self-doubt, find your confidence.
For those of you that are not my cousin, Stacey is my wife.
Despite my seeming extroversion on the internet, I am actually quite introverted in real life. Almost paralyzingly so in social situations, but I can sometimes set it aside enough to participate in business situations. Unfortunately, my daughter is showing similar tendencies at school. She wasn’t always like this, but she was subjected in the past to some cruel children that taunted her about her weight - she is not fat, but she is always one of the biggest kids - and about her intellect (gifted). So, she withdraws in school situations.
For me, I’ve always been shy, but my weight has been a big factor in how I approach social situations as an adult, and I know I am not alone. Some have no problem with this, regardless of their size; a brother of mine is an extrovert and always the center of attention in every room in a positive way, even when he was 360 lbs.
The article I mentioned earlier is about the “spotlight effect” many people feel. In a recent study, it was determined that people typically feel about twice as much attention as they were actually receiving.
So, if you already feel insignificant, you can continue to do so knowing it is a fact. 
For me, I am always uncomfortable exercising in public. I believe there is someone behind every curtain in every house laughing at the way my fat jiggles. I handle walking just fine, but when I get in decent-enough shape to start jogging, I typically wait until after sundown or find out-of-the-way, deserted roads to start. I hate gyms for the same reason, and this is one big reason why I don’t go regularly.
And public swimming? Fuhgeddaboutit.
So the task in front me is to get over myself. People I see in passing cars are as blind to me as I am to others when I’m driving. People in their homes are watching TV, not their windows. People passing me on the sidewalk are exercising also, and are worried about how THEY look, not how I look.
Tags: children, kidsHow to get children exercising (without them knowing it!)
I’m still out of commission, but I came across a solid article from Dr. Sheri about exercise for kids. It mirrors my own thoughts on getting my kids moving throughout the week. Here’s an excerpt of her suggestions:
Additional suggestions to get your kids moving more:
# Whenever your kids have ten free minutes, encourage them to walk around instead of sitting down.
# Get your kids more involved in helping doing physical chores around the house, like cleaning, sweeping, mopping, vacuuming, and washing dishes.
# Make a game out of raking the leaves in the yard.
# Take your kids with you when shopping for groceries (as an added bonus, use the time to teach them about which foods are healthier to eat).
# Put on some music and have an impromptu family dance.
# Send your kids outside to kick or hit a ball around or throw a Frisbee.
# Get a basketball hoop to set up in your driveway and send your kids outside to play regularly, or walk to the nearest neighborhood school and use theirs.
# On nice days, take your kids to the nearest park to walk or play.
# Encourage your kids to take the dog out for a daily walk (it needs exercise, too!).
# Always have your kids walk around the house while talking on the telephone.
# Have your kids walk in place, dance, or simply move while watching TV – at least during the commercial breaks.
To these I’ll add a couple of the things I’ve been doing:
- Races. My daughters LOVE to race in the yard and around the house. I time them with the stopwatch function on my cell phone and they enjoy hearing that they are getting faster. Timing helps by letting me know when they’ve done enough - if the times start getting longer, they’re tired or hot. Time to stop. In effect, this serves as an interval workout.
- My oldest daughter likes jump-rope, and can jump for 15-20 minutes at a stretch.
- Playgrounds! I’m a believer that there is no better workout for a kid. It’s a full-body workout done for an extended period of time at a variety of speeds and levels of effort.
- We live in Florida, so swimming is big. We don’t have a pool, unfortunately, but we take advantage of every offer to have the girls swim with friends or family. We also have the
beach.
It’s summer. Can you challenge your kids to do something physical every day until school (and PE and fall sports!) starts? Can you challenge yourself to make it fun for them? What are your ideas?
Tags: children, exercise, kidsSometimes, you just have to suck it up and go
Man, did I feel bad last night! I was sick, nauseous, really, and changed the routine I was planning. Instead, I did two core exercises: Air Squats, and Forward Lunges. Then walked a slooooow mile, although i did pick it up towards the end when I started feeling a little better.
So, Day 9/100 is in the books. Days 10 and 11 are going to be a challenge. The girls have dance recitals tonight and tomorrow night, which means late nights for everyone. I’ll be going out in the dark, something I really don’t like doing since we’re back in the woods a bit, and even when I get out to the road there’s no streetlights. Not that I’m afraid of the boys from deliverance or anything; it’s just that I have neighbors that let their kids (children, really) ride dirtbikes and ATVs anytime and all the time. I’m not real keen on being run down. I usually take a flashlight, but still…
So, these two days will test my commitment to the hundred day head start!
Tags: children, exercise, kids