We often complain that kids don’t get enough exercise anymore. While we fixate ourselves on how they are stuck on games and so on, at the same time we seem to limit the time they are able to move at school in favor of the classic 3 R’s: reading, writing, and arithmetic. This is a bad idea for many reasons, but new research shows it’s maybe also bad for grades. This new study scheduled for publication in The Journal of Pediatrics studied the associations between aerobic fitness, body mass index (BMI), and passing scores on standardized math and reading tests.
From the press release:
Dr. Robert R. Rauner and colleagues from Lincoln Public Schools and Creighton University in Nebraska analyzed scaled scores from standardized tests for math and reading, as well as PACER (15-20 meter timed shuttle run), BMI, and free/reduced lunch data from all students enrolled in elementary and middle schools in Lincoln, NE. They found that aerobically-fit children had a 2.4 times greater chance of passing math tests and a 2.2 times greater chance of passing reading tests compared with aerobically-unfit children. Among those receiving free/reduced lunch, the odds of passing the tests were still greater than those of students who were aerobically-unfit, but not as high as those not receiving free/reduced lunch. They also found that BMI, although an important indicator for overall general health, did not have a significant effect on academic success.
Although obesity is a concern for children, this study shows that aerobic fitness can have a greater effect on academic performance than weight. The authors found that both aerobic fitness and socioeconomic status have a similar impact on academic performance. Because aerobic fitness can be easier to improve than socioeconomic status, and it is easy to implement in a school setting, schools should think twice before taking minutes from physical education classes and recess. According to Dr. Rauner, “Schools sacrificing physical education and physical activity time in search of more seat time for math and reading instruction could potentially be pursuing a counterproductive approach.”
Abstract of the research:
Objective
To determine whether aerobic fitness is more salient than weight status in predicting performance on standardized math and reading tests in fourth- to eighth-grade students.
Study design
A cross-sectional study of data abstracted from 11 743 students in 47 public schools. Aerobic fitness was defined by entering the healthy fitness zone of Fitnessgram’s Progressive Aerobic Cardiovascular Endurance Run, which has been shown to correlate highly with maximum oxygen consumption. Mixed-effects logistic regression analyses were conducted to model the student-level effect of aerobic fitness status on passing the Nebraska State Accountability (NeSA) math and reading tests after adjusting for body mass index (BMI) percentile, free/reduced lunch status, sex, race, grade level, and school type.
Results
After adjustment, aerobically fit students had greater odds of passing the NeSA math and reading tests compared with aerobically unfit students regardless of whether the students received free/reduced lunch; however, the effect of being aerobically fit on the standardized test scores was significantly greater for students not receiving free/reduced lunch. Weight status, as measured by BMI percentile, was not a significant predictor of passing the NeSA math or reading test after including free/reduced lunch status in the model.
Conclusions
Aerobic fitness was a significant predictor of academic performance; weight status was not. Although decreasing BMI for an overweight or obese child undoubtedly improves overall health, results indicated all students benefit academically from being aerobically fit regardless of weight or free/reduced lunch status. Therefore, to improve academic performance, school systems should focus on the aerobic fitness of every student.