Exercise and Academic performance

Authored by Nitika Kundu and Prateek Srivastava

The following article is based on eight articles/studies [1-8], from 2014 onwards that have been cited more than ten times and are available on reputed scientific journals for free except two [4,8] (for whom summary is available). Though no specific methodologies have been followed to select these articles, we have included primary research and umbrella reviews with detailed and diverse views.

Trevor Archer and Danilo Garcia, 2014 [1], write in their editorial about few studies which have already deliberated on the topic and the author points out to several studies indicating effect of exercise on academic achievement and other aspects. For example, Hashim et al [9] observed that greater levels of self-determination (intrinsic motivation) were linked positively with exercise habit behavior, with intensity of the exercise habit fostering academic performance and buffering individuals against the debilitating influences of stress, anxiety and depression in the absence of gender effects.?

Archer and Garcia, themselves, measured high school student’s final grades in Swedish, Mathematics, English, and Physical education. The courses grades ranged from A = pass with distinction to F = fail. For this particular study, Well-being was assessed as subjective well-being; life satisfaction (positive and negative affect) and psychological well-being (personal growth, self-acceptance, environmental mastery, autonomy, positive relations with others, and meaning in life). Self-regulation was accessed as the procedure implemented by an individual striving to reach a goal: identification and evaluation of different strategies to reach a goal (i.e., assessment) and then to take action and persist towards the goal (i.e., locomotion). It was found, that academic performance (grade point average), is indeed positively associated to how intensely pupils exercise, to well-being and to self-regulation; and especially to assessment. Physical activity was also associated with subjective well-being and to locomotion.?

In a study, consisting of 423 children (age=9.29+/- 0.35 years, 209 girls), Geertsen et al, 2016 [2] demonstrated that both fine and gross motor skills were associated with better performance in all five tested cognitive functions (all P<0.001), whereas exercise capacity was associated with some aspects like better sustained attention (P<0.046) and spatial working memory (P<0.038). Also, fine and gross motor skills, exercise capacity and cognitive functions such as working memory, episodic memory, sustained attention and processing speed were all associated with better performance in mathematics and reading comprehension. To put it into easy language, we can say that, as per this study, better motor skills positively influence all the tested cognitive functions (for example, simple reaction time /speed and the ability to learn paired associates) and academic performance; and, aerobic exercise positively influence few of the cognitive functions that were tested and academic performance. Also, if we talk about the cognitive domains individually, they were all shown to have positive link to academic performance. As per author’s assertion, this was the first study to focus on simultaneous assessment of motor functions, exercise capacity, cognitive functions and academic performance in the same cohort of children.

It would be interesting to briefly discuss what the authors tested in terms of cognitive functions and academic performance. The cognitive tests undertaken were, spatial working memory and wordlist memory, sustained attention ability, reaction time (speed) and the ability to learn paired associates. Academic performance was assessed as reading comprehension and the ability to solve mathematical problems in standardized, validated tests. Fine and gross motor skills were evaluated in a visuomotor accuracy-tracking task, and a whole-body coordination task, respectively. Exercise capacity was estimated from the Yo-Yo intermittent recovery level 1 children's test (YYIR1C). Selected tests from the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB) were used to assess different domains of cognitive functions, including sustained attention, spatial working memory, episodic and semantic memory, and processing speed. Linear mixed-effects models were used to investigate associations between these measures and the relationship with standard tests of academic performance in mathematics and reading comprehension.

Authors also delved into the probable underlying factors for the results shown. In order for cognitive processes to have functional implications, these must influence and be influenced by our actions and thus engage the motor system and perceptual functions. Conversely, cognitive processes may assist decision making, motor control and motor skill learning processes. Cognitive and motor functions display equally protracted time courses during development, and in the event that cognitive development is perturbed (e.g., by neurological disorders), motor development is often also adversely affected. Also, reading comprehension test performance draws on the long-term and working memory, and reflects the reading comprehension of the child, which includes accurate and fluent decoding of words and vocabulary knowledge (i.e., semantic memory), whereas mathematics requires knowledge of numbers, arithmetic concepts and geometry. Both reading comprehension and mathematics require problem solving, logical thinking and reasoning.

The effect of exercise on academic performance was also explored by Cappelen et al, 2017 [3], in their paper titled “Exercise Improves Academic Performance”. As discussed earlier, there were studies to suggest that exercise imputes positive effect on academic performance but the direction couldn’t be specified, for example, self-control can be both associated with better academic performance and tendency to exercise. This study provided evidence for the underlying mechanism and direction by demonstrating that the students who were incentivized to exercise, showed healthier life style and improved self-control. Also, this study was one of the first pre-specified randomized control trial investigating the causal effect of physical activity on academic performance in higher education and the study suffered almost no attrition.?

Authors were aware that tendency to exercise can be influenced by financial incentives, at least as long as these incentives are present, as demonstrated by various studies (beginning with Charness and Gneezy, 2009); as expected this happened in this study too - 67% of students who were incentivized exercised as compared to 12% of control group. As per authors, there has however been less success in using financial incentives to increase academic performance (e.g., Fryer, 2011; Angrist et al., 2009; Levitt et al., 2016). In this study, it is demonstrated that financial incentives can affect exercise, which in turn effects self-control and related dimensions, and as a result academic performance is improved (by 0.15 standard deviation for the group incentivized to exercise). What did stand out as a result, was the pronounced effect (0.3 standard deviation improvement in academic performance) of exercising on students, who were struggling with lifestyle habits and related aspects, when the study started; as compared to no effect of incentivizing exercise for those who were not struggling on these four dimensions. The experiment started with recruiting students for studies, who didn’t have a gym card. Also, the timing of recruitment was chosen such that the students who would have bought the gym card, were most likely have already bought it and when they had already chosen their course; at the same time, having sufficient time between the study and the examinations, to let the effect of exercise be clearly demonstrated.

Of the 782 participants chosen, 382 were assigned to the treatment group and rest to the control group. The treatment group received free gym membership. The participants were on an average 22 years old, in their 2nd year with 50 percent of females in the sample. At the beginning of the study, data was collected regarding, Lifestyle index, Study hours, Happiness and Self-control index through pre-specified self-reported background variables. Life-style index is the sum of responses to these three questions, 1) “How many days last week did you go to bed after midnight?” 2) “How many days last week did you feel tired/unrested?” 3) “How satisfied are you currently with your health?” (1-10;1=Very unsatisfied, 10=Very satisfied). Study Hours is the self-reported number of hours studied, including attended lectures, the week prior to the baseline survey. We note that the average participant reported having spent 23 hours studying that week. Happiness is the answer to the following question: “How satisfied are you currently with your life in general?” (1-10; 1=Very unsatisfied, 10=Very satisfied). The average response was seven. The Self-control index is constructed based on four questions: 1) “I am a person who often acts too hastily.” 2) “I have difficulties resisting temptations.” 3) “I have a tendency to procrastinate on things, even though it would be best to take care of them quickly.” 4) “I am a person who follows my plans.”. The score was the rescaled average of these four responses. (On a scale of 1-10, 1- completely disagree, 10- completely agree).?

Four data sources were used, first being the baseline survey in the beginning of the study, second being the scanner data from gym providing the numbers of visits per semester, third being the complete administrative academic data records of students and lastly the data from follow up survey having self-reported answers to the baseline survey questions. Four hypotheses were there-1)-Incentivizing physical exercise has a positive causal effect on gym attendance, 2)- Incentivizing physical exercise has a positive causal effect on academic performance. 3)-Incentivizing physical exercise improves academic performance more for people who score low on the lifestyle index, study hours, happiness or the self-control index at the baseline, than for those who score high on these dimensions, 4)-Incentivizing physical exercise has a positive effect on lifestyle, study hours, happiness, and self-control. Results of the study proved all these hypotheses, 1)-There was marked increase in exercise behavior by treatment group as compared to control group (7.5 times gym used by treatment group as compared to 1.8 times by control group in the semester), 2) Academic performance was calculated using TGP (total grade point- product of number of credits and grades), highest being 150 and lowest being 0. It was observed that students with less than 30 TGP were higher in control group, whereas, students having more than 120 TGP were higher in treatment group, 3)-The students who suffered in all four dimensions in the baseline survey had marked improvement in academic performance (Standard Deviation- 0.3) and, 4)-Of the factors studied in baseline survey, lifestyle and self-control were positively influenced as stated by self-reported survey.

The study once again confirmed what was already shown in previous studies, that incentivizing exercise improves academic performance, additionally it demonstrated that there is a strong causal effect of this intervention on academic performance. This study is especially important in the context of the students, who do not exercise and are lagging behind in life style and related index, as improvement in their academic performance was especially significant (standard deviation- 0.3).

A review article which discussed various studies on the topic was published by Fernando Maureira Cid and Hernán Díaz Mu?oz, 2017 [4]. It concluded that most of the recent studies point towards beneficial effect of exercise on academic performance. The article pointed out to two studies [10,11], which ascribe the improvement to be related to development of new cerebral blood vessels, increased synaptic density, increased glia and neurogenesis.

Li et al, 2017 [5] published a systematic review, which concluded that literature on academic improvement by exercising (especially in adolescence) is equivocal and needs more researching.

A systematic review and meta-analysis was published by Sember et al, 2020 [6], which only included interventions longer than six weeks and acknowledges the influence of the qualifications of practitioners who delivered interventions. As per authors, after identifying 14,245 records in five databases and selecting 247 full-text articles assessed for eligibility, 44 interventions passed all eligibility criteria. This meta-analysis noticed a serious limitation about most of the studies, that they did not consider physical activity intensity or qualifications of the staff who administer the interventions. The review did a good job in acknowledging the underlying mechanism for the beneficial effect of exercise on academic performance. The review cited some studies to delve on the mechanisms involved, for example it noted that regular physical activity at an adequate intensity and duration is indispensable for maintaining a healthy lifestyle due to its combined positive impact on skeletal (12), metabolic (13), cardiovascular (14) and psychosocial functioning of the human body (15). Low levels of physical exercise, on the other hand, lead to low cardiorespiratory fitness and are associated with a decline in academic performance (16), possibly due to the deterioration of brain structure, and thus, cognitive abilities and brain function (17–19). Physical exercise increases oxygen saturation (20) and angiogenesis (21) in brain areas responsible for task performance. The positive effects of physical exercise on the prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus have been emphasized in many studies (22-24). The review concludes that the effects of physical exercise on academic performance is positive but small in most of the studies and urges to focus on the intensity and qualification of practitioners delivering physical exercise intervention.

Barbosa et al, 2020 [7], published an umbrella review of umbrella reviews, analysing all articles related to the topic from PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Scopus, and Latin American and Caribbean of Health Sciences Information System, and reference lists

of the included studies, from inception to May 2020.?It concluded that physical exercise is not detrimental to school-age children and adolescents and may, in fact, be beneficial. This review summarizes the evidence from 41 chosen systematic reviews and meta-analysis of the relationship between physical exercise and academic achievement in school aged children and adolescents. The review also observed that different type of physical exercise seems to have different type of effect, with most benefit gained from aerobic exercise in longitudinal studies. The review finds the reported positive effect of chronic interventions very promising and, urges for more long-term and large sample sized quality studies on it.

In a study published last year by Zhai et al, 2022 [8], the probability of having poor academic performance was significantly lower among students with high physical fitness than those with low physical fitness, the study was conducted on 2,324 college students representing three Chinese universities, where academic performance was measured by GPA.

To conclude, we can only speak on the basis of the limited studies we went through (those covered here and few others). The studies usually either indicated a positive influence of exercise on academic performance or the need for more quality research. Also, there are numerous studies (not covered in this article), about the correlation between exercise and performance at work-place and between exercise and self-esteem. We understand that there could be countless complex factors which can affect academic performance. We are of the opinion that, though reading such articles can help one make more informed decisions, but to experience the benefits of exercise (which can be very individualistic), one should just “Go do it”.

References:

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2.?????? Geertsen S, Thomas R, Larsen M, Dahn I, Andersen J, Krause-Jensen M, et al. Motor skills and exercise capacity are associated with objective measures of cognitive functions and academic performance in preadolescent children. PLoS One. 2016;11. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0161960

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