**Physical Activity, Aerobic Fitness and Academic Achievement Achievement**

**Physical Activity, Aerobic Fitness and Academic** 

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.71284

Adilson Marques, Charles Hillman and Luís Sardinha Adilson Marques, Charles Hillman and Luis Sardinha Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.71284

#### **Abstract**

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234 Health and Academic Achievement

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There is a growing body of literature investigating the relationship between physical activity (PA) and cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) with academic achievement (AA). This chapter presents new evidence on the relationship between PA, CRF and AA. Studies have shown no association or inconsistent association between objectively measured PA and AA. Nonetheless, despite inconsistent results, it may be concluded that, at a minimum, PA is not detrimental to AA. In comparison, results from studies employing selfreported PA have shown a positive association with AA. The results of these studies are more consistent with reports stemming from many different countries across the world. Similarly, CRF has also evidenced a positive association with AA, suggesting that increasing CRF is important for children and adolescents' health, and further cognitive development and AA. Thus, promoting PA and improving CRF are important for maximizing children and adolescents' health and AA. Because students spend much of their daily lives in school, school-based PA may result in improvements in AA.

**Keywords:** education, school-age children, academic performance, exercise

## **1. Introduction**

Education is an elementary human right and an important factor of development. In most countries, school education is mandatory to ensure that children gain knowledge and competence to prepare for autonomous living in adulthood. Education must facilitate a healthy process, which includes preparation in the development of physical, cognitive and social abilities. Although education is of importance, merely being school-educated may not be enough for success. In an increasingly competitive society, it is important to have an early foundation for academic achievement (AA). AA is strongly linked with positive outcomes that are valued by

Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2018 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

© 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons

society, such as being admitted to university, stable and upwardly mobile employment and steady income. AA can be defined as the extent to which students achieved their short- or long-term outcomes. In school systems, AA is related with the acquisition of knowledge and competences in several or particular domains, such as literacy, science, numeracy, history, language, or even physical, among others.

In the process of PA data collection, self-reported measures tend to overestimate PA when compared with objective measures. On the other hand, objective measures fail to fully capture children's PA, and might not characterize the movement patterns of some activities [14]. As such, it is recommended that researchers are aware that PA values are often considerably different, and therefore the two different methodologies should be considered different constructs. Thus, by separating investigations of objectively measured PA and self-reported PA,

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Most people, especially young people, are unable to reliably assess their PA levels [15]. Thus, the use of electronic devices to measure PA is prevailing the use of self-reported questionnaires and diaries. Among the electronic devices to objectively measure PA, pedometers and accelerometers are now widely used within the research community to conduct populationlevel studies to assess health and performance (note that these devices are also widely used by the general population given their integration into smart phones and watches). Such devices allow for accurate data collection in the research setting without the risk of self-report bias, but they lack the ability to provide information of the type or context of PA. For studies of the relationship between PA and AA, researchers have mainly favored accelerometers to develop

In the United States, LeBlanc et al. [19] carried out a study aimed at investigating whether PA, adiposity and AA were correlated. They reported that neither moderate-to-vigorous PA nor sedentary time were associated with AA across different academic courses. Other research by Lambourne et al. [20] with younger students evaluated how objective PA and CRF were related to AA. This study improved upon limitations of previous research by controlling demographic factors including socioeconomic variables and accounting for separate measures of PA and CRF. Neither PA nor CRF were associated directly with reading and spelling performance. However, PA was directly associated with mathematics achievement, as well as indirectly through CRF. This observation is consistent with research on the relation between PA and CRF as well as on the relation between CRF, cognitive function and AA [21]. A third study in the United States, aimed at evaluating linear or non-linear relations between PA/CRF and AA in three academic subject areas concluded that objective PA was not significantly cor-

Results of studies from other countries further show no association or inconsistent associations between PA and AA. For example, a study with adolescent students in Sweden concluded that vigorous PA was associated with AA in girls, but not in boys [22]. This study suggests that there is a threshold level of PA required to produce positive effects on AA, and that higher levels of intensity meet this threshold. In Finland, a study that examined associations between objectively measured and self-reported PA observed that objectively measured PA is not associated with students' AA [23]. In Netherlands, another study provided null results [24]. Overall, no significant association was observed between objectively measure PA

associations with AA may be better understood and clarified.

**2.1. Objectively measured physical activity and academic achievement**

a more complete picture of PA in the participant's normal environment [4, 16–18].

related with AA, as described by linear or non-linear trajectories [16].

and AA.

Because AA is important, it is necessary to understand the factors that may relate and modify it. Among these factors are a complex interaction of socioeconomic status, family education, parental involvement and several other socio-demographic factors [1]. In spite of the complex interaction, health is an important moderating factor in students' capacity for learning and AA [2]. Healthy students learn better and several studies have supported that health behaviors are closely related with AA [3, 4]. Therefore, improving students' health has the potential to improve AA.

Health is associated with physical activity (PA) and cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) [5]. Regular practice of PA and a healthy CRF in school-age children are associated with health benefits, including improved bone mineral density, cardiovascular risk profiles, cardiorespiratory and muscular fitness, mental and brain health and body composition [5]. In addition to the benefits on physical and mental health, studies in neuroscience have shown that PA and CRF are also related to brain structure and function, via thickness of gray matter in specific cortical regions and integrity of white matter tracts that support executive function [6], and through alterations in brain plasticity that change the structure of the neuron and strengthening its signaling capability [7]. PA and CRF also contribute to improve attention, memory and learning [8]. Accordingly, it is expected that this positive role of PA and CRF on brain structure, function, plasticity and cognition might translate to an improvement in AA [6].

Because of the importance of school education and AA in society, policy-makers and school administrators have increasingly eliminated opportunities for PA in order to make additional time available for formal didactic topics [9]. In reaction, researchers have investigated the relationship between PA, CRF and AA, based on the premise that PA and CRF are beneficial, or at the very least are not harmful, to AA. The research addressing PA and AA dates back to at least 1967, when researchers began studying the relationship between PA and AA in school-age children [10]. Since then, a growing body of literature has examined the relationship between PA and CRF with AA in children and adolescents [11, 12]. The aim of this chapter is to present new evidence of the relationship between PA, CRF and AA; as well as a basic understanding of the potential mechanisms underlying the relationship between health factors such as PA and CRF with learning and AA.
