Physical activity in lessons improves students' attainment

October 15, 2019

Science Daily/University College London

Students who take part in physical exercises like star jumps or running on the spot during school lessons do better in tests than peers who stick to sedentary learning, according to a UCL-led study.

The meta-analysis of 42 studies around the world, published in British Journal of Sports Medicine, aimed to assess the benefits of incorporating physical activity in academic lessons. This approach has been adopted by schools seeking to increase activity levels among students without reducing academic teaching time.

Typical activities include using movement to signify whether a fact is true or false, or jumping on the spot a certain number of times to answer a maths question.

The study concluded that incorporating physical activity had a large, significant effect on educational outcomes during the lesson, assessed through tests or by observing pupils' attention to a given task, and a smaller effect on overall educational outcomes, as well as increasing the students' overall levels of physical activity.

Lead author Dr Emma Norris (UCL Centre for Behaviour Change, UCL Psychology & Language Sciences) said: "Physical activity is good for children's health, and the biggest contributor of sedentary time in children's lives is the seven or eight hours a day they spend in classrooms.

"Our study shows that physically active lessons are a useful addition to the curriculum. They can create a memorable learning experience, helping children to learn more effectively."

Co-author Dr Tommy van Steen (Leiden University, The Netherlands), added: "These improvements in physical activity levels and educational outcomes are the result of quite basic physical exercises. Teachers can easily incorporate these physical active lessons in the existing curriculum to improve the learning experience of students."

Researchers looked at data from 12,663 students aged between three and 14. Nearly half of the studies took place in the United States, with seven conducted in Australia, five in the UK, four in the Netherlands and one in China, Croatia, Ireland, Israel, Portugal and Sweden.

In one of the 42 studies analysed, eight- and nine-year-olds simulated travelling the world by running on the spot in between answering questions relating to different countries. The research team, also led by Dr Norris at UCL, concluded that the children were more active and more focused on the task than peers in a control group, following teachers' instructions more closely.

In another study in the Netherlands, primary school children who took part in physically active lessons three times a week over two years made significantly better progress in spelling and mathematics than their peers -- equating to four months of extra learning gains.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/10/191015192938.htm

Supervised fun, exercise both provide psychosocial benefit to children with obesity

July 2, 2019

Science Daily/Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University

A program with clear rules, routines and activities, attentive adults and a chance to interact with peers appears to work as well at improving the quality of life, mood and self-worth of a child who is overweight or obese as a regular exercise program, researchers report.

While regular exercise is clearly beneficial to children -- and adults -- the psychosocial health of children may benefit as much from other kinds of adult-led after school programs, Medical College of Georgia researchers report in the journal Translational Behavioral Medicine.

"For me the take-home message is yes, exercise has many wonderful benefits but some of that is because you are in a program run by caring adults," says Dr. Catherine Davis, clinical health psychologist at MCG's Georgia Prevention Institute and the study's corresponding author.

They looked at 175 predominantly black children ages 8-11 who had overweight or obesity and were previously inactive. Children participated in either a fun-driven aerobic exercise program or a sedentary after-school program where they played board games and did artistic activities.

The investigators hypothesized that they would find that the exercise intervention would be more effective at improving quality of life, mood and self-worth than the sedentary program.

They found instead that, while the exercise program had the additional benefits of reducing body fat, improving fitness, and even improved brain health, there was no mood advantage from the exercise program. Fatness and fitness did not change as much in the sedentary group.

In fact, in the case of the boys, those in the sedentary group reported depressive symptoms actually decreased more over time than their peers in the exercise group.

About 10 percent of children in both groups had symptoms indicating depression at the start of the study. Depressive symptoms in children include things like a sad mood, interpersonal problems and inability to feel pleasure.

Among participating girls, depressive symptoms yielded similar improvements whether in the exercise or sedentary group, says Celestine F. Williams, senior research associate at the Georgia Prevention Institute and first author on the study.

Those sex differences might be attributable to males in the sedentary group not being under the pressure they may feel to participate and succeed in physical activities, and finding instead an opportunity to pursue more artistic and social endeavors, which children of this age tend to prefer, the investigators write.

Countless studies, including some led by Davis, have shown that regular physical activity in children who are overweight or obese and inactive can yield a variety of benefits, including reducing fatness, improving fitness and insulin sensitivity -- which reduces the risk of diabetes and other maladies -- as well as perhaps less obvious benefits, like improved cognition and improved brain health, and reduced anger and depression.

This time Davis and her colleagues wanted to more directly compare the impact of an exercise program versus a similar sedentary program on the psychosocial wellbeing of these children. While there are often control groups in this type of study, most compare the exercise program to either no program, or a less interactive and fun program. Davis and Williams agree that likely was a big part of the differences they found this time.

All the children were evaluated for depressive symptoms, anger expression, self-worth and quality of life right before starting and after finishing either arm of the study. Depressive symptoms and quality of life were measured again about a year later.

In the exercise program, the instructor led fun aerobic activity for 40 minutes daily based on the interests and abilities of the children. Rather than time on a treadmill, for example, there were more entertaining strategies to get and keep the heart rate up like a version of the age-old game tag. Children wore heart rate monitors and were rewarded for an average heart rate above 150 beats per minute during the exercise -- the average resting heart rate for an 8-year-old is 70 to 110 beats per minute -- and they got more points for a higher average.

In the other group, children participated in instructor-led activities like board games, puzzles, arts and music, and were rewarded for participation and good behavior. There were arts and crafts, challenging games like the strategy board game Connect 4, guitar music and singing popular songs, and the children were rewarded with points for being nice and cleaning up behind themselves. The children were free to talk with each other as long as it was not disruptive, which was probably a highlight for the boys, Williams says.

Relationships the children built with each other over the course of both programs likely were beneficial in elevating their mood and quality of life, Williams says. The sedentary program may have given children more time to talk with each other and develop friendships with little competitive pressure.

Other investigators have shown that children in the 8-11 age range may actually prefer just talking or socializing with their friends as a fun activity, rather than some form of exercise, while younger children may think it's more fun to run around, Williams says.

The fact that both programs provided psychosocial benefit to the children led the investigators to conclude that some benefits of exercise found in previous studies, including Davis', resulted from the regular opportunity to be with attentive adults who provide behavioral structure. It also resulted from the children enjoying interacting with each other, sharing snacks and other activities, while spending less time watching television.

Rates of obesity among children and the adolescents in this country have more than tripled since the 1970s, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and currently about 1 in 5 school-age children and young people has obesity. Young blacks are disproportionately affected in this country.

There is plenty of evidence that obesity and overweight can impact overall quality of life and that children with these conditions can have increased problems with anxiety, bullying, fatigue, anger and general behavior problems, and that generally higher BMI, or body mass index, a ratio of weight to height, is associated with a lower self-worth in children.

"Exercise is very well demonstrated to improve mood. However, I think you have to consider exercise in the context that it occurs, so the social context counts too," says Davis.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/07/190702112657.htm

Physical inactivity proved risky for children and pre-teens

June 4, 2019

Science Daily/Université de Genève

At what age do children lose the desire to exercise? Researchers (UNIGE) followed 1,200 pupils and found out that from the age of 9, the positive reasons for exercising begin to be replaced by displaced incentives: to get a good mark or improve your image with others. These results call for a more detailed analysis of how PE is taught in schools to counter physical inactivity leading to a sedentary lifestyle from an early age.

Cardio-respiratory capacity in children has dropped by 25% in 20 years, according to a study by the University of Adelaide in Australia. There are multiple reasons for this, from the social environment and the decreasing number of play areas to a more academic approach towards teaching physical education and the spread of new technologies. But at what age do children lose the desire to exercise? Researchers from the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, followed 1,200 Geneva pupils, aged 8 to 12, for two years. The team found out that from the age of 9, the positive reasons for exercising -- it's fun and good for your health -- begin to be replaced by more displaced incentives: to get a good mark or improve your image with others. These results, which are published in the journal Psychology of Sport and Exercise, call for a more detailed analysis of how PE is taught in schools to counter physical inactivity leading to a sedentary lifestyle from an early age.

Society today is characterized by an increasingly sedentary way of life and a decline in physical activity, which is reflected in the growing number of overweight children (16% of children aged 6 to 12 in Switzerland). In an earlier study, UNIGE researchers noted that the recommendations issued by the World Health Organisation (WHO) for the amount of exercise undertaken by school-age children were not being met, namely: children should be active for at least 50% of the time devoted to physical education lessons in primary school. In reality, they move on average only 38% of the time. And as children grow older, the percentage drops. Why?

Positive motivations decline as the child grows older

The UNIGE researchers tracked 1,200 Geneva pupils aged 8 to 12 for two years. The children had to complete a questionnaire every six months to measure their motivation levels according to a seven-point scale based on different motivational controls related (or not) to practising the actual activity: enjoyment, learning, health, grades, satisfying other people, integration, avoiding guilt or shame, and so forth. "Our results showed for the first time that there is a sharp drop in positive motivations for physical activity (with good motivational qualities), such as pleasure or health, over a child's time at primary school from age 9 onwards," explains Julien Chanal, a researcher in the Psychology Section of UNIGE's Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences (FPSE). "And we've never observed this decline at such a young age!" On the other hand, motivations considered counterproductive (with poor motivational qualities) -- such as undertaking the activity to get a good grade or to send a positive image to one's classmates -- increase as a child gets older. "It's true that harmful motivations do also mean that a child is physically active but these motivational qualities are only positive in the short term, which is counter-productive for a child's physical development. In fact, we know that if children are motivated by good reasons when they're young, then they'll remain active when they're adults," continues Chanal. But what can be done to fight against the early decline of positive motivations?

Reforming education to increase physical activity

Given that nine years is a crucial age to establish good, healthy and long term physical activity, the way PE is taught at primary school needs to be analysed, since compulsory education is the only place where every child can be reached. "In recent decades," says Chanal, "PE teaching has changed enormously. Classes are more academic, with children learning about rules, motor functioning, mutual support, etc." But this approach has a direct cost for the child since it reduces the actual time dedicated to moderate to vigorous physical activity, which is already rare outside school.

The UNIGE researchers are now working with the Haute École Pédagogique in the canton of Vaud (HEP Vaud) on teaching physical education in primary classes. The aim is to develop autonomy and cooperation among pupils, and to work on the curriculum, course structure and teacher involvement to help them keep or boost their positive motivations for physical education. "Now that children don't move as much as before outside school, it's vital that the periods earmarked for PE maximize the time they spend moving," adds Chanal. "This is especially the case since, once again, we fall below the standards prescribed by the WHO. Their recommendation is 150 minutes of physical education per week, while students in Geneva only have 135 minutes available, or three periods of 45 minutes each." Teaching physical education has an important role to play in this new global health problem, which affects children at a younger age.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/06/190604131231.htm