A new research study published in the medical journal of “Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine” suggests that there may be a positive relationship between physical activity and the academic performance of children.Researchers from the Vrije Universiteit University Medical Center, EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, headed by Dr Amika Singh, and colleagues reviewed evidence about the connection between physical activity and academic performance because of concerns that pressure to enhance test scores may often mean more instructional time for classroom subjects with less time for physical activity.

Researchers also found in the study that child physical activity improves their mood and decreases stress because of hormones released during activity.

Dr Singh, along with her team of researchers, conducted the study by reviewing other studies that had done on physical activity and school performance from the period 1990 to 2010. The team of researchers studied the results of 14 earlier studies involving thousands of children from the United States, Canada and South Africa, and from these studies they extracted the following data: the study design, sample size and range, how physical activity measured, how academic performance measured, and the main results.

Researchers reviewed all the data, studies and reached the conclusion that there is a positive correlation between child physical activity and their test scores. However, researchers of the study found only two of the fourteen studies with high quality data and said that more study was needed before they confirm that physical activity is positively linked to higher test scores.

The authors said in the publication that more high-quality studies are needed on the dose-response relationship between physical activity and academic performance and on the descriptive mechanisms, using consistent and valid measurement instruments to judge this relationship exactly.

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