Daily School Physical Activity Improves Academic Performance

Physical activity (PA) may improve brain development, cognition, concentration and academic performance. In this prospective controlled intervention study, we increased the level of PA in 338 children aged 6–8 years at study start, from the Swedish standard of 60 min per week to 200 min per week (40...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Jesper Fritz, Marcus E. Cöster, Björn E. Rosengren, Caroline Karlsson, Magnus K. Karlsson
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2020-06-01
Series:Sports
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4663/8/6/83
id doaj-b7010b09c1ce4578857eccaeced2df25
record_format Article
spelling doaj-b7010b09c1ce4578857eccaeced2df252020-11-25T03:00:39ZengMDPI AGSports2075-46632020-06-018838310.3390/sports8060083Daily School Physical Activity Improves Academic PerformanceJesper Fritz0Marcus E. Cöster1Björn E. Rosengren2Caroline Karlsson3Magnus K. Karlsson4Clinical and Molecular Osteoporosis Research Unit, Department of Orthopedics and Clinical Sciences, Lund University, 20502 Malmö, SwedenClinical and Molecular Osteoporosis Research Unit, Department of Orthopedics and Clinical Sciences, Lund University, 20502 Malmö, SwedenClinical and Molecular Osteoporosis Research Unit, Department of Orthopedics and Clinical Sciences, Lund University, 20502 Malmö, SwedenClinical and Molecular Osteoporosis Research Unit, Department of Orthopedics and Clinical Sciences, Lund University, 20502 Malmö, SwedenClinical and Molecular Osteoporosis Research Unit, Department of Orthopedics and Clinical Sciences, Lund University, 20502 Malmö, SwedenPhysical activity (PA) may improve brain development, cognition, concentration and academic performance. In this prospective controlled intervention study, we increased the level of PA in 338 children aged 6–8 years at study start, from the Swedish standard of 60 min per week to 200 min per week (40 min daily). The intervention continued in all nine compulsory school years until the students graduated between 2007–2012. All other 689,881 Swedish children who graduated the same years were included as a control group. We registered at graduation eligibility rate for upper secondary school and the final grade score (from 0 to 320 grade points). We also registered the same end points in the 295 students in the index school and in all other 471,926 Swedish students who graduated in 2003–2006, that is, those who graduated before the intervention study started. Before the intervention, academic performance was similar among children in the index school as for all other Swedish boys and girls. With the intervention, the eligibility rate increased for boys in the index school by 7.3 percentage points and the mean grade scores by 13.3 points. This should be compared with a decrease of 0.8 percentage points in eligibility rate and an increase by 2.7 points in grade score in other Swedish boys. No changes were seen for intervention girls, neither in eligibility rates or grade scores. By introducing daily school-based PA in compulsory school, more boys would probably reach the eligibility rate for higher education.https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4663/8/6/83physical activitychildrenacademic performancephysical education
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Jesper Fritz
Marcus E. Cöster
Björn E. Rosengren
Caroline Karlsson
Magnus K. Karlsson
spellingShingle Jesper Fritz
Marcus E. Cöster
Björn E. Rosengren
Caroline Karlsson
Magnus K. Karlsson
Daily School Physical Activity Improves Academic Performance
Sports
physical activity
children
academic performance
physical education
author_facet Jesper Fritz
Marcus E. Cöster
Björn E. Rosengren
Caroline Karlsson
Magnus K. Karlsson
author_sort Jesper Fritz
title Daily School Physical Activity Improves Academic Performance
title_short Daily School Physical Activity Improves Academic Performance
title_full Daily School Physical Activity Improves Academic Performance
title_fullStr Daily School Physical Activity Improves Academic Performance
title_full_unstemmed Daily School Physical Activity Improves Academic Performance
title_sort daily school physical activity improves academic performance
publisher MDPI AG
series Sports
issn 2075-4663
publishDate 2020-06-01
description Physical activity (PA) may improve brain development, cognition, concentration and academic performance. In this prospective controlled intervention study, we increased the level of PA in 338 children aged 6–8 years at study start, from the Swedish standard of 60 min per week to 200 min per week (40 min daily). The intervention continued in all nine compulsory school years until the students graduated between 2007–2012. All other 689,881 Swedish children who graduated the same years were included as a control group. We registered at graduation eligibility rate for upper secondary school and the final grade score (from 0 to 320 grade points). We also registered the same end points in the 295 students in the index school and in all other 471,926 Swedish students who graduated in 2003–2006, that is, those who graduated before the intervention study started. Before the intervention, academic performance was similar among children in the index school as for all other Swedish boys and girls. With the intervention, the eligibility rate increased for boys in the index school by 7.3 percentage points and the mean grade scores by 13.3 points. This should be compared with a decrease of 0.8 percentage points in eligibility rate and an increase by 2.7 points in grade score in other Swedish boys. No changes were seen for intervention girls, neither in eligibility rates or grade scores. By introducing daily school-based PA in compulsory school, more boys would probably reach the eligibility rate for higher education.
topic physical activity
children
academic performance
physical education
url https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4663/8/6/83
work_keys_str_mv AT jesperfritz dailyschoolphysicalactivityimprovesacademicperformance
AT marcusecoster dailyschoolphysicalactivityimprovesacademicperformance
AT bjornerosengren dailyschoolphysicalactivityimprovesacademicperformance
AT carolinekarlsson dailyschoolphysicalactivityimprovesacademicperformance
AT magnuskkarlsson dailyschoolphysicalactivityimprovesacademicperformance
_version_ 1724696936647229440