Physical Exercise and Cognitive Functioning in Children.

Physical Exercise and Cognitive Functioning in Children

1682 words 7 pages

The purpose of this study is to look at if physical exercise will help the healthy cognitive development in children and adolescence and this paper will illustrate that the same facts are true for children and adolescence, and will stress the importance of exercise for children optimal brain development and growth. The current studies show that physical activity has a positive effect on attention, neuroplasticity and intellectual development in children and adolescence. The studies also seem to show the importance of physical activity like PE classes and recess in schools and curriculum to have well-founded, healthy children. The studies show that physical activity has affects on brain growth and development and if children activate and grow their brains to their fullest potential, it could have lasting effects through adulthood thus elevating dementia and alchemizes symptoms and memory loss as we age. The Importance of Exercise on Healthy Cognitive Development in: Physical exercise has been proven to help rebuild brain cells and activate proper and healthy cognitive functioning in adults. This relates to cognition in psychology because the studies show that there is a physical change in brain capacity, memory and cell growth from regular and efficient exercise. One of the more important aspects of the paper that I will focus on is the effect that exercise has on attention in children which helps regulate cognitive functioning and promotes further development and learning. These articles go over neuroscience that backs up the fact that exercise is crucial for brain development of children and teens, and the importance of renewing and growing healthy brain cells that also effect cognitive functioning. Literature Review: Gomez looked at the correlation of exercise and level of cognition in the brain. This article also looked at adolescence because of the little research that has been done on them. Most research has been done on the elderly and on adults to see if physical exercise played a role in healthy brain development to help cognition, but little is done on children and adolescence and how exercise may help them in academics and in cognition as they grow, which is what this article seeks to explore and explain. The authors go into the issue further saying that previous studies they looked at found that children and teen’s cognitions levels seemed to be higher and had better levels of attention after physical exercise, but long term effects were not evaluated. This would be a very interesting area to develop more research to also help in the issues of ADD and ADHD in children and adolescence. We are a country that is over medicated and we need more natural options that can help solve many of these mental health issues rather than always depending on medication, especially for children. We do not know the long term effects of medication on children and their brains, but if physical exercise is proving to help areas of attention in cognitive function, according to this article, it may be an area that we need more time to investigate and research and then educate our nation on the findings. The article states that it has also been shown in other studies that look at the neurocognitive functioning and states that exercise also helps grow and sustain healthy brain cells. A study done by Galubavik (2012) looked at the effect of exercise on children with an intellectual disability and how it affected their cognitive functioning. This study had two groups, one group of children with an intellectual disability and one group that was average or “typically developed children”. The author found that the typically developed children did better on the physical tests but found that there was a correlation between degree of intellectual disability and degree of physical fitness. Which brings up a good point that If people are more physically fit, would they be more typically developed or have healthy or higher intellectual skills among other skills? More research should be done surrounding this specific area of this topic, but this article came to say that children with intellectual disabilities had positive cognitive effects from consistent and regular exercise. An article written by Tomporowski (2012) proves some of the same points of the earlier articles by stated that much research recently has shown there is a significant correlation between physical activity and intelligence and healthy cognitive development and structures in children. Again, this article states that not much research has been done, but most of the research has proven that physical exercise helps neuropathways in the brain and rebuilding brain cells for healthier development. This is essential for children and adolescents as they grow, and physical activity and exercise is proving to be a huge factor determining many children and their future. “A few studies, however, provide evidence that exercise may facilitate specific types of cognitive functioning. Children's executive functions appear particularly sensitive to exercise interventions, (Tomporowski, 2012). Kraft’s article states that there is increasing evidence over the years that physical activity has a direct and significant effect on cognitive function, as explained in the article. This article talks about the research done on both animals and humans to prove that exercise is looked at the cause of “stimulating neuroplasticity,” as stated in the article, which could increase cognitive functioning. The article goes into further detail of the neurology behind the testing and physical exercise which changes the brain and helps develop new brain cells, as also explained in other article. This piece of information is specifically important because it is the actual science behind the theory that can show people how important physical exercise for young kids. It is not only important to their physical health but also mental health by increasing neuroplasticity which is essential as you grow older and develop the brain into adulthood. A study done by Hogan (2013) looked at 13 and 14 year olds and had them both put into “fit” and “unfit” groups and then recorded by their physical performance and asked to complete a “modified Erikson flanker test”. The article stated both groups had higher levels of “alpha” which was meant to define attention, thus attention was better after the adolescents completed the physical exercise. When speaking about the debate on whether schools should still have recess, this would be an interesting study to conduct further and bring to the attention of schools everywhere to continue to have recess and active physical activity classes. Many schools are taking recess away, but they should come to the realization that exercise is just as important to learning and as testing and academics. Students need to be well-rounded and the article shows that physical activity is essential for healthy and normal brain growth and functioning in children and can be detrimental to their futures if not taken seriously. Etneir’s article (2013), wanted to further the understanding of how and why physical activity plays such a huge role in cognition when discussed in Psychology. “Based on the link between cerebral structure and cognitive performance, findings from these studies are used to make inferences regarding the effects of physical activity on cognitive abilities. Measures of cerebral activation typically are taken concurrently with the performance of a cognitive task, and these measures are used to identify the influence of physical activity on patterns and amounts of activation during task performance, (Etneir, 2013). They found common correlations between exercise and physical activity, which have been found to be similar to the other articles found in proving that physical exercise does have an effect on cognition and can help improve and promote healthy brain development and intelligence. Conclusion: Each of these articles have found that exercise helps increase and promote brain growth and development. Many of these articles conducted further research on other studies that have been done in the past that wanted to look at physical exercise and if it had an effect on brain growth. There is still much further research to be done and brought to the attention of our nation and schools everywhere that are lacking in making physical activity for children a priority in their school curriculum. As a nation we are already suffering from obesity and the physical health problems that come along with it, as one of the most overweight countries in the world. People be educated on the fact that lack of exercise and physical activity is also detrimental to your brain. There are so many positive effects for cognition in the brain that has been proven over again in research done in adults and the elderly, but finally more research is coming out now to show that it is also the same for children and adolescence, if not more important. More research done in this area, and the research already provided, can have a dramatically positive effect on our country and the world if we are educated on the current research and take action to make a difference. If we can promote healthy brain and cognitive development in children, we may be able to put off different brain diseases like dementia and Alzheimer’s. The key is early intervention. We must promote the importance of physical activity to children and youth so that they may develop healthy life styles that they will continue the rest of their lives. Education on the topic is necessary, and we need more development in research surrounding this topic to make a strong difference, especially in school systems that put little emphasis on physical activity in their school curriculum or do not have recess. Science from these articles backs up the hypothesis that physical activity of the body causes physical activity of the brain which helps grow new brain cells and promotes healthy brain development and neuroplasticity. These studies showed that attention was improved after physical exercise, which means kids can pay attention better and learn more in class. This may also be a window to develop more research on “natural” ways to cope and treat disorders in children like ADD and ADHD since studies are proving that physical exercise helps increase levels of attention. This is important for school systems to know about and apply to their curriculum and daily plans for kids. These studies also showed that neuropathways and cells were made stronger by the exercise and brain chemistry reactions from exercise that improved cognition, memory, comprehension and intellectual abilities. In all, there must be more longitudinal studies should be conducted to help further prove the research. It is important to have reliable studies that have strong validity and the best studies to prove a hypothesis or research finding is to have longitudinal, consistent research to back up the findings. If this information is true, researchers would have a much stronger case if they had studies proving that children who grew up exercising actually had better cognition levels as elderly adults than children who did not have physical exercise everyday or sports. Right now, the findings are current and are only looking at the present time in which exercise is helping children. They are looking at the immediate benefits rather than the long-term benefits which is crucial if we want to make progress and real change in this area of research and cognitive development of children and adolescence. In all, these studies have shown the importance of physical exercise to the healthy brain development of children and adolescents. Works Cited Gomez, C. 2013). The relationship between the brain, cognition and exercise. Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B: The Sciences and Engineering, 73(12-B)(E). Golubavik, S. (2012). Effects of exercise on physical fitness in children with intellectual disability. Research in Developmental Disabilities. 33(2), 608-614. Tomporowski, P. (2012). Exercise psychology and children's intelligence. The Oxford handbook of exercise psychology. 409-429. Kraft, E. (2012). “Cognitive function, physical activity, and aging: Possible biological links and implications for multimodal interventions. Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition. 19(1-2), 248-263. Hogan, M. (2013). The interactive effects of physical fitness and acute aerobic exercise on electrophysiological coherence and cognitive performance in adolescents. Experimental Brain Research, 229(1), 85-96. Etneir, J. (2013). Cognitive measures related to exercise and physical activity. Measurement in sport and exercise psychology. 179-189.