How Physical Activity Impacts Cognitive Development
Andrew Hilt
Research Final
Exercise: The New Food for Thought
Picture yourself in your 2nd grade gym class. Did you ever find yourself wondering why exactly you had to go to gym class at all? What was climbing up this seemingly endless rope to the ceiling going to do for you? What’s the point of playing this dumb game of freeze-tag? How do these activities have anything to do with school and learning? As it turns out, gym class may have served as more than just a pointless time-filling class after all. So how does all the rope climbing and freeze tag-playing relate to school and the progression of the mind for elementary aged children? Evidence from a number of sources shows a direct correlation between physical activity and the development of cognitive ability.
Before we examine this relationship, it is important to first understand why the question is controversial. Gym class and physical activity during the school day was not always mandatory for students in grade school. (7) Some teachers would argue that gym class should not be associated with school and that it is a waste of time that should be spent learning. A common argument against gym class is that students will on average, exercise the same amount everyday if they have gym class or not. (8)
A study done in the U.K by a team of researchers from Peninsula Medical School suggests that physical activity in school is not really necessary for children to stay fit at all. The research group selected included 206 students ranging from age seven to age eleven. The students were selected from three separate schools around the same area in Plymouth, England. One of the schools mandated its students to an average of 9.2 hours of gym class per week. The other two schools only allowed an average of 2.4 and 1.7 hours of gym class per week for its students. The research team distributed devices called ActiGraphs to all of the students. ActiGraphs work to measure not only the amount of physical activity by the
Research Final
Exercise: The New Food for Thought
Picture yourself in your 2nd grade gym class. Did you ever find yourself wondering why exactly you had to go to gym class at all? What was climbing up this seemingly endless rope to the ceiling going to do for you? What’s the point of playing this dumb game of freeze-tag? How do these activities have anything to do with school and learning? As it turns out, gym class may have served as more than just a pointless time-filling class after all. So how does all the rope climbing and freeze tag-playing relate to school and the progression of the mind for elementary aged children? Evidence from a number of sources shows a direct correlation between physical activity and the development of cognitive ability.
Before we examine this relationship, it is important to first understand why the question is controversial. Gym class and physical activity during the school day was not always mandatory for students in grade school. (7) Some teachers would argue that gym class should not be associated with school and that it is a waste of time that should be spent learning. A common argument against gym class is that students will on average, exercise the same amount everyday if they have gym class or not. (8)
A study done in the U.K by a team of researchers from Peninsula Medical School suggests that physical activity in school is not really necessary for children to stay fit at all. The research group selected included 206 students ranging from age seven to age eleven. The students were selected from three separate schools around the same area in Plymouth, England. One of the schools mandated its students to an average of 9.2 hours of gym class per week. The other two schools only allowed an average of 2.4 and 1.7 hours of gym class per week for its students. The research team distributed devices called ActiGraphs to all of the students. ActiGraphs work to measure not only the amount of physical activity by the