a systematic review in children and adolescents aged 6-18 years

© Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.OBJECTIVE: This report aimed to systematically review the evidence for a differential association between objective and self-reported physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness on academic achievement. DESIGN: Systematic review. DATA SOURCES: Studies were identified from searches in Embase, Education Resources Information Center, PubMed, PsycINFO, SPORTdiscus and Web of Science databases from January 2000 to December 2016. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR SELECTING STUDIES: Eligibility criteria included cross-sectional, longitudinal and interventional study designs. Outcomes included students' school grade or a standardised test or measure of academic achievement. Explanatory variables were cardiorespiratory fitness and objective and self-reported physical activity. Inclusion criteria included school-aged children and adolescents aged-18 years (or students from primary to secondary school when student's participants age was not described) and articles published in English, Portuguese or Spanish. RESULTS: A total of 51 articles met inclusion criteria: 41 cross-sectional, 2 intervention and 8 longitudinal studies. Results from 11 studies were inconsistent regarding the relationship between objectively measured physical activity and academic achievement. Ten of the 16 articles reported positive associations between self-reported physical activity and academic achievement. From the 22 studies that analysed the relationship between cardiorespiratory fitness and academic achievement, it was verified that they all generally support the beneficial effect of cardiorespiratory fitness on students' academic achievement. CONCLUSION: Higher cardiorespiratory fitness may be important to enhance children and adolescents' health and, additionally, academic achievement. Due to a lack of consensus across studies, methodological issues associated with the assessment of physical activity should be considered when investigating physical activity and academic achievement.publishe

Effectiveness of a School-Based Physical Activity Intervention on Cognitive Performance in Danish Adolescents: LCoMotion-Learning, Cognition and Motion:A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial

BACKGROUND:Physical activity is associated not only with health-related parameters, but also with cognitive and academic performance. However, no large scale school-based physical activity interventions have investigated effects on cognitive performance in adolescents. The aim of this study was to describe the effectiveness of a school-based physical activity intervention in enhancing cognitive performance in 12-14 years old adolescents. METHODS:A 20 week cluster randomized controlled trial was conducted including seven intervention and seven control schools. A total of 632 students (mean (SD) age: 12.9 (0.6) years) completed the trial with baseline and follow-up data on primary or secondary outcomes (74% of randomized subjects). The intervention targeted physical activity during academic subjects, recess, school transportation and leisure-time. Cognitive performance was assessed using an executive functions test of inhibition (flanker task) with the primary outcomes being accuracy and reaction time on congruent and incongruent trials. Secondary outcomes included mathematics performance, physical activity levels, body-mass index, waist-circumference and cardiorespiratory fitness. RESULTS:No significant difference in change, comparing the intervention group to the control group, was observed on the primary outcomes (p's>0.05) or mathematics skills (p>0.05). An intervention effect was found for cardiorespiratory fitness in girls (21 meters (95% CI: 4.4-38.6) and body-mass index in boys (-0.22 kg/m2 (95% CI: -0.39-0.05). Contrary to our predictions, a significantly larger change in interference control for reaction time was found in favor of the control group (5.0 milliseconds (95% CI: 0-9). Baseline to mid-intervention changes in physical activity levels did not differ significantly between groups (all p's>0.05). CONCLUSIONS:No evidence was found for effectiveness of a 20-week multi-faceted school-based physical activity intervention for enhancing executive functioning or mathematics skills compared to a control group, but low implementation fidelity precludes interpretation of the causal relationship. TRIAL REGISTRATION:www.ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02012881

Commentary: At least eighty percent of brain grey matter is modifiable by physical activity: a review study

A commentary on At least eighty percent of brain grey matter is modifiable by physical activity: a review study by Batouli, S. A. H., and Saba, V. (2017). Behav. Brain Res. 332, 204–217. doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2017.06.002IE-C is supported by a grant from the Alicia Koplowitz Foundation

Associations Between Aerobic Fitness and Cognitive Control in Adolescents

Previous research has found positive associations between cognitive control and aerobic fitness in preadolescents and adults; however, fewer studies have investigated these associations in adolescents. Adolescence is of particular interest due to continued maturation of the prefrontal cortex; an area that subserves cognitive control. This study investigated the associations of aerobic fitness and cognitive control in adolescents. An assessment of aerobic fitness (Andersen intermittent running test) and two tests of cognitive control were collected to investigate these associations. Participants completed a test of inhibitory control (flanker task) and a test of cognitive flexibility (switch task). Along with traditional measures of reaction time (RT) and accuracy, diffusion modeling was utilized to combine these measures to calculate latent variables (i.e., drift rate, boundary separation, and nondecision time). Associations between cognitive measures and fitness were assessed with linear regressions while controlling for potential confounding factors. Higher fitness was associated with shorter reaction time and higher accuracy in the flanker task, indicating better inhibitory control performance. In addition, greater aerobic fitness was associated with greater quality of information uptake in the flanker task, as indicated by drift rate. In the switch task, higher aerobic fitness was associated with greater accuracy and longer switch RT indicating a speed-accuracy tradeoff. Results from the switch task diffusion modeling supported this conclusion as indicated by greater fitness associated with greater boundary separation, or response conservativeness. Further, greater drift rate in the switch task was associated with greater fitness. These findings corroborate growing evidence indicating the importance of aerobic fitness for inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility. This study extends the literature by demonstrating these effects in a large sample of adolescents with a computational model of the mechanisms that underlie cognition

Acute exercise facilitates brain function and cognition in children who need it most: An ERP study of individual differences in inhibitory control capacity

AbstractThe present study examined the effects of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise on aspects of cognitive control in two groups of children categorized by higher- and lower-task performance. Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were collected in 40 preadolescent children during a modified flanker task following 20min of treadmill walking and seated rest on separate occasions. Participants were bifurcated into two groups based on task performance following the resting session. Findings revealed that following exercise, higher-performers maintained accuracy and exhibited no change in P3 amplitude compared to seated rest. Lower-performers demonstrated a differential effect, such that accuracy measures improved, and P3 amplitude increased following exercise. Lastly, both groups displayed smaller N2 amplitude and shorter P3 latency following exercise, suggesting an overall facilitation in response conflict and the speed of stimulus classification. The current findings replicate prior research reporting the beneficial influence of acute aerobic exercise on cognitive performance in children. However, children with lower inhibitory control capacity may benefit the most from single bouts of exercise. These data are among the first to demonstrate the differential effect of physical activity on individuals who vary in inhibitory control, and further support the role of aerobic exercise for brain health during development

Levels of Physical Activity at Age 10 Years and Brain Morphology Changes from Ages 10 to 14 Years

Importance: Physical activity may promote healthy brain development in children, but previous research was predominantly cross-sectional and included small samples, providing limited knowledge. Objective:To investigate the longitudinal associations of physical activity with brain morphology changes. Design, Setting, and Participants: A 4-year longitudinal population-based cohort study in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, embedded in Generation R, a cohort from fetal life onward. From the women enrolled during pregnancy, children who had repeated measures of brain structure at ages 10 (range 8 to 12) years and 14 (range 13 to 15) years were included. Data were collected from March 2013 to November 2015 (baseline) and from October 2016 to January 2020 (follow-up). Data were analyzed from April to December 2022. Exposure: At age 10 years, both the child and their primary caregiver reported the child's levels of physical activity with regard to sport participation, outdoor play, and total physical activity. Primary analyses were based on an average multi-informant report. Main outcomes and measures: Brain morphology was quantified by magnetic resonance imaging. Hypothesized regions of interest were the bilateral amygdala and hippocampal volumes. Global brain measures were studied to test the specificity of the hypothesis. Results: Data were available for 1088 children (566 girls [52%]; 693 [64%] Dutch). Their mean (SD) age at baseline was 10.1 (0.6) years. For amygdala volume change, positive associations with multi-informant reports of total physical activity (β = 2.6; 95% CI, 0.3-4.9) were found. Total physical activity was associated with hippocampal volume increases only when reported by the child (β = 3.1; 95% CI, 0.4-5.8). No robust associations with global brain measures were found. Conclusions and relevance: In this cohort study of 1088 children, more physical activity at 10 years was consistently associated with an increase in amygdala volume in children aged 10 to 14 years. Physical activity and increases in hippocampal volume were found using child reports of physical activity only. These findings suggest physical activity in late childhood was prospectively associated with volumetric changes in specific subcortical structures, but not to global brain development, from late childhood to early adolescence. These findings may inform the design of future public health interventions to best facilitate neurodevelopment with physical activity..</p

Does sleep‑disordered breathing add to impairments in academic performance and brain structure usually observed in children with overweight/obesity?

Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Granada/CBUA. This work is part of a PhD thesis conducted in the Official Doctoral Programme in Biomedicine of the University of Granada, Spain. Preliminary data from this manuscript has been presented previously in The International Society of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity (ISBNPA) Xchange 2021 Annual Meeting. The ActiveBrains project was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and the "Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER)" (DEP201347540, DEP2016-79512-R, DEP2017-91544-EXP and RYC-201109011). L.V.T.-L. is supported by a Grant from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (FPU17/04802). J.H.M. is supported by a Grant from the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport (FPU15/02645). C.C.-S. is supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (FJC2018-037925-I). IEC is supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (RYC2019-027287-I). Additional support was obtained from the University of Granada, Plan Propio de Investigacion 2016, Excellence actions: Units of Excellence, Scientific Excellence Unit on Exercise and Health (UCEES), by the Junta de Andalucia, Consejeria de Conocimiento, Investigacion y Universidades, and European Regional Development Funds (ref. SOMM17/6107/UGR). In addition, funding was provided by the SAMID III network, RETICS, funded by the PNI + D + I 2017-2021 (Spain), ISCIII-Sub-Directorate General for Research Assessment and Promotion, the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) (Ref. RD16/0022), the EXERNET Research Network on Exercise and Health (DEP2005-00046/ACTI; 09/UPB/19; 45/UPB/20; 27/UPB/21), the European Union's 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No.667302, and the HL-PIVOT network-Healthy Living for Pandemic Event Protection. Additional funding was obtained from the Andalusian Operational Programme supported with European Regional Development Funds (ERDF in English, FEDER in Spanish, project ref: B-CTS-355-UGR18).Approximately 4–11% of children suffer from sleep-disordered breathing (SDB), and children with obesity are at increased risk. Both obesity and SDB have been separately associated with poorer brain health, yet whether SDB severity affects brain health in children with obesity remains unanswered. This study aimed to examine associations of SDB severity with academic performance and brain structure (i.e., total brain and gray and white matter volumes and gray matter volume in the hippocampus) in children with overweight/obesity. One hundred nine children aged 8–12 years with overweight/obesity were included. SDB severity and its subscales (i.e., snoring, daytime sleepiness, and inattention/hyperactivity) were evaluated via the Pediatric Sleep Questionnaire (PSQ), and academic performance was evaluated with the Woodcock-Muñoz standardized test and school grades. Brain structure was assessed by magnetic resonance imaging. SDB severity was not associated with academic performance measured by the standardized test (all |β|> 0.160, P > 0.076), yet it was associated with the school grade point average (β = -0.226, P = 0.007) and natural and social science grades (β = -0.269, P = 0.024). Intention/hyperactivity seemed to drive these associations. No associations were found between SDB severity and the remaining school grades (all β 0.065) or brain volumes (all P > 0.05). Conclusion: Our study shows that SDB severity was associated with lower school grades, yet it was not associated with the standardized measurement of academic performance or with brain volumes in children with overweight/obesity. SDB severity may add to academic problems in children beyond the effects contributed by overweight/obesity status alone.Universidad de Granada/CBUASpanish Government European CommissionSpanish Government DEP201347540 DEP2016-79512-R DEP2017-91544-EXP RYC-201109011Spanish Government FPU17/04802 FPU15/02645 FJC2018-037925-I RYC2019-027287-IUniversity of Granada, Plan Propio de Investigacion 2016, Excellence actions: Units of Excellence, Scientific Excellence Unit on Exercise and Health (UCEES)Junta de Andalucia European Commission SOMM17/6107/UGRSAMID III network, RETICS - PNI + D + I 2017-2021 (Spain)ISCIII-Sub-Directorate General for Research Assessment and PromotionEuropean Commission RD16/0022EXERNET Research Network on Exercise and Health DEP2005-00046/ACTI 09/UPB/19 45/UPB/20 27/UPB/21European Commission 667302HL-PIVOT network-Healthy Living for Pandemic Event ProtectionAndalusian Operational ProgrammeEuropean Regional Development Funds (ERDF in English, FEDER in Spanish) B-CTS-355-UGR1

Effects of Classroom-Based Resistance Training With and Without Cognitive Training on Adolescents’ Cognitive Function, On-task Behavior, and Muscular Fitness

Aim: Participation in classroom physical activity breaks may improve children’s cognition, but few studies have involved adolescents. The primary aim of this study was to examine the effects of classroom-based resistance training with and without cognitive training on adolescents’ cognitive function. Methods: Participants were 97 secondary school students (45.4% females, mean age 15.78 ± 0.44). Four-year 10 classes from one school were included in this four-arm cluster randomized controlled trial. Classes were randomly assigned to the following groups: sedentary control with no cognitive training, sedentary with cognitive training, resistance training without cognitive training, and resistance training with cognitive training. Sessions varied in levels of both cognitive demand and resistance training (i.e., high vs. low) and were administered three times per week for 4 weeks (12 sessions). Inhibition, cognitive flexibility, episodic memory, on-task behavior, and muscular fitness were assessed at baseline and post-test. Linear mixed models were used to examine changes within and between groups. Results: In comparison with the control group, episodic memory improved significantly in the resistance training without cognitive training group (−9.87 units, 95% CI: −17.71 to −2.03, p = 0.014, d = 0.72). There were no group-by-time effects for inhibition or cognitive flexibility. Classroom activity breaks both with and without cognitive demand improved participants’ on-task behavior in comparison with the control and sedentary group. The resistance training programs did not lead to improvements in muscular fitness. Conclusion: Participation in body weight resistance training without cognitive training led to selective improvements in episodic memory. No training effects were found for inhibition or cognitive flexibility. A longer study period may be necessary to induce improvements in muscular fitness and associated changes in inhibition and cognitive flexibilit

High-intensity interval training on cognitive and mental health in adolescents

PURPOSE: Emerging literature suggests that physical activity and fitness may have a positive impact on cognitive and mental health for adolescents. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the efficacy of two high intensity interval training (HIIT) protocols for improving cognitive and mental health outcomes (executive function, psychological wellbeing, psychological distress and physical self-concept) in adolescents. METHODS: Participants (n=65; mean age=15.8&plusmn;0.6) were randomized to three conditions: aerobic exercise program (AEP; n=21), resistance and aerobic exercise program (RAP; n=22) and control (n=22). HIIT sessions (8-10min/session) were delivered during physical education lessons or at lunchtime three times/week for 8-weeks. Assessments were conducted at baseline and immediate post-intervention to detect changes in executive function (Trail Making Test, TMT), psychological wellbeing, psychological distress and physical self-description, by researchers blinded to treatment allocation. Intervention effects were examined using linear mixed models. Cohen\u27s d effect sizes and clinical inference were also calculated. RESULTS: Small improvements in executive function (d=-0.32, 95%CI -9.12 to 9.77; p=0.386) and psychological wellbeing (d=0.34, 95%CI -1.73 to 2.37; p=0.252) were evident in the AEP group. Moderate improvements in executive function (d=-0.51, 95% CI -8.92 to 9.73; p=0.171), and small improvements in wellbeing (d=0.35, 95%CI -1.46 to 2.53; p=0.219) and perceived appearance (d=0.35, 95%CI -0.74 to 0.41; p=0.249), were observed for the RAP group. Mean feelings state scores improved from pre-workout to post-post workout in both HIIT conditions, with significant results for the AEP (p=0.001). CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights the potential of embedding HIIT within the school day for improving cognitive and mental health among adolescents

The relationship of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity to cognitive processing in adolescents: findings from the ALSPAC birth cohort

The aim of this study was to assess the relations of daily moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) to cognitive functions in 15-year-old adolescents from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children while controlling for aerobic fitness. A sub-sample of 667 adolescents (M(age) = 15.4 ± 0.16 years; 55 % females) who provided valid data on variables of interest, were used in the analyses. MVPA was objectively assessed using an Actigraph GT1M accelerometer and aerobic fitness was expressed as physical work capacity at the heart rate of 170 beats per minute from a cycle ergometer test. A computerized stop-signal task was used to measure mean reaction time (RT) and standard deviation of RT, as indicators of cognitive processing speed and variability during an attention and inhibitory control task. MVPA was not significantly related to cognitive processing speed or variability of cognitive performance in hierarchical linear regression models. In simple regression models, aerobic fitness was negatively related to mean RT on the simple go condition. Our results suggest that aerobic fitness, but not MVPA, was associated with cognitive processing speed under less cognitively demanding task conditions. The results thus indicate a potential global effect of aerobic fitness on cognitive functions in adolescents but this may differ depending on the specific task characteristics