When shopping for back to school supplies make sure to add a Sport Court backyard court to your cart! Its has been shows that regular participation in physical activity and higher levels of physical fitness are linked to improved academic performance and brain functions, such as attention and memory. Proving a backyard space for your children to play will help keep their bodies and brains healthy and sharp after the final school bell rings.
The Facts!
- Children who are more active show greater attention, have faster cognitive processing speed and perform better on standardized academic tests than children who are less active
- Children who participate physical education lessons demonstrate better recall of vocabulary words on a memory task than nonactive students
- After walking on a treadmill for 20 minutes at a moderate pace, children responded to reading, spelling and math test questions with greater accuracy than children who had been sedentary
- Following physical activity, children completed learning tasks faster and more accurately, and were more likely to read above their grade level
- Physically fit children demonstrate memory and efficiency of the brain through two learning strategies: relational memory, which involves remembering objects by using a cue, such as turn left after you pass the school and working memory, which involves moving information from the short- to long-term memory
Help your child get the most out of their school year with a Sport Court in your own backyard!
Citations
Adams, J. Physical activity may help kids do better in school, studies say. The Washington Post. October 21st, 2013
Chaddock L, Hillman CH, Buck SM, Cohen NJ. Aerobic fitness and executive control of relational memory in preadolescent children. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2011:43(2):344–349.
Hillman CH, Pontifex MB, Raine LB, Castelli DM, Hall EE, Kramer AF. The effect of acute treadmill walking on cognitive control and academic achievement in preadolescent children. Neuroscience. 2009;159(3):1044-1054. doi:10.1016/j.neuroscience.2009.01.057.
Monti JM, Hillman CH, Cohen NJ. Aerobic fitness enhances relational memory in preadolescent children: the FITKids randomized control trial. Hippocampus. 2012;22(9):1876-1882. doi:10.1002/hipo.22023.
Pesce C, Crova C, Cereatti L, Casella R, Bellucci M. Physical activity and mental performance in preadolescents: effects of acute exercise on free-recall memory. Ment Health Phys Act. 2009;2(1):16–22.