Brain boost: Sport and physical activity enhance children’s learning
Dr Karen Martin, School of Population Health, The University of Western Australia May 2010.
Sport and physical activity participation are generally promoted for their positive impact on children’s physical and mental health.1 However, increased participation in sport and other forms of physical activity are also thought to lead to enhancement of cognitive functioning (information processing), memory, concentration, behaviour and academic achievement for children. The link between physical activity and academic achievement is of increasing interest in the field of education and sport.
Unfortunately, with increasing pressure on schools to ensure children achieve academic success, and the new practise of publicised average grade comparison between schools, physical activity classes (such as physical education and sport) are increasingly being pushed down the curriculum priority list. Of concern, it appears that time spent in physical activity during the school day is diminishing;2-4 at some schools the average moderate to vigorous physical activity during the class has been reported as being less than 10 minutes daily. Removing or reducing physical activity classes from the school day may be detrimental to children’s physical and mental health as research indicates that school day physical activity is associated with total daily physical activity.5-7