Exercise is not just good for the body, but it can also help improve a student's grades.
Dawn P. Coe, Grand Valley assistant professor of movement science, led a research study and concluded that young students get better grades in school if they get time to exercise during the day.
She started the study as a doctoral student at Michigan State University, working with Jim Pivarnik, MSU professor of kinesiology, epidemiology and physical medicine and rehabilitation. It was published in August in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, the journal of the American College of Sports Medicine and has since received national attention.
The study encompassed more than 200 sixth-eighth grade students at schools in West Michigan. During one school year, Coe studied half the students in a physical education class and the other half a non-physical education class; at the winter semester break, the two groups switched.
"We found that with vigorous physical activity, kids performed better academically, which may be due to increased focus in school, better behavior and a better attention span," she said.
Researchers also found that students taking physical education classes did no better or worse on their grades, but if those students participated in vigorous activities like playing organized sports or skateboarding, they did approximately 10 percent better in core subjects.
Coe said she hopes that schools will take results of this study into consideration when scheduling academic classes. "Just one hour of exercise a day will help students," she said. "When I was observing these students, easily one-quarter of them were overweight or obese."
She will involve her Grand Valley students in a study this fall, working with Grand Rapids Public Schools to develop a physical activity program at the elementary school level. Coe is also planning studies to determine if socioeconomic factors affect grades and if the prevalence of certain genotypes in kids are indicators of future risks of high blood pressure, high cholesterol and risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease.
