Exercise helps children perform better in the classroom, study says

• The health benefits of exercise -- across the lifespan -- have been well documented.
• More recently, scientists have begun to demonstrate that exercise also may improve cognitive functioning in older adults.
• Now a new study offers evidence that the adage really does ring true -- that a lack of exercise can not only cause physical setbacks, but also ...
• 'T'ai chi' Lowers Blood Pressure For Older Adults (March 20, 1998) -- T'ai chi -- a slow, relaxed physical activity program created in ancient China -- lowered blood pressure in older adults nearly as much as moderate-intensity aerobic exercise, researchers ...
• University of Illinois researchers have been exploring these and other related questions in a series of studies during the past two years, and preliminary results indicate a correlation.
• "We have found a strong relationship between academic achievement and fitness scores," said Darla Castelli, a professor of kinesiology whose area of expertise is effective physical education practices.
• "Those who scored well in academics also did well in physical fitness.
• Castelli noted that teachers who work closely with young and preadolescent children have long suspected a link between physical fitness and cognitive function.
• That's why Castelli jumped at the chance to team with colleague Charles Hillman, also a kinesiology professor at Illinois, to examine possible connections more thoroughly.
• Hillman's primary research focus is on executive control and cognitive function in elderly adults, which involves studying the effects of exercise on older individuals' abilities to process complex mental tasks.
• Working with the cooperation of physical education teachers in Champaign's Unit 4 school district, the researchers measured the physical fitness of some 500 third-, fourth- and fifth-graders.
• Cognitive function was determined by analyzing scores on standardized academic performance tests (the Illinois Standard Achievement Test) and by observing and measuring neuroelectric and behavioral responses to stimulus discrimination tasks.
• The researchers observed and recorded the subjects' ability to recognize, respond to, and discriminate between different visual stimuli using a "visual oddball" task.