As kids brace for back to school season, parents are learning how exercise can actually make kids smarter.
According to Data Scientist and Research Psychologist Dr. Scott Leith says physical activity can help improve executive brain function.
“Problem solving reasoning, planning, multitasking, keeping lots of things in your head at once and kind of juggling things mentally, and exercise just makes you better at that. You can handle more, you react faster, you have more attentional resources to allocate things and you become more focused,” said Dr. Leith.
The key, he said, is variety; engaging in a wide range of activities that force the brain to think differently.
“Anything with a broad range of content, so classes you have to learn steps and aerobics in. Anything that requires you to watch someone and do something new is AAA.”
He says engaging in a wide range of activities, keeps exercise fresh, increasing mental benefits.
“A jog can be good, if it's in natural especially, but I think more dynamic things like sports and classes are arguably better,” said Dr. Leith.
While exercise can make you smarter through cognitive engagement, it also improves attention and relational memory.
“Children who are given a few months, or several months of an exercise kind of intervention where they have about an hour each day, they’re better at paying attention auditorally. So, they can just listen, they can stay on task, and read quietly longer.”
Not only do neuro-typical children benefit from exercise.
Dr. Leith said 26 minutes a day, for eight consecutive weeks, can significantly reduce symptoms of ADHD.