The effects of acute exercise on cognitive performance: a meta-analysis.

Background: The relationship among physical activity (PA), fitness, cognitive function, and academic achievement in children is receiving considerable attention. The utility of PA to improve cognition and academic achievement is promising but uncertain; thus, this position stand will provide clarity from the available science. Objective: The purpose of this study was to answer the following questions: 1) among children age 5–13 yr, do PA and physical fitness influence cognition, learning, brain structure, and brain function? 2) Among children age 5–13 yr, do PA, physical education (PE), and sports programs influence standardized achievement test performance and concentration/attention? Study Eligibility Criteria: This study used primary source articles published in English in peer-reviewed journals. Articles that presented data on, PA, fitness, or PE/sport participation and cognition, learning, brain function/structure, academic achievement, or concentration/attention were included. Data Sources: Two separate searches were performed to identify studies that focused on 1) cognition, learning, brain structure, and brain function and 2) standardized achievement test performance and concentration/attention. PubMed, ERIC, PsychInfo, SportDiscus, Scopus, Web of Science, Academic Search Premier, and Embase were searched (January 1990–September 2014) for studies that met inclusion criteria. Sixty-four studies met inclusion criteria for the first search (cognition/learning/brain), and 73 studies met inclusion criteria for the second search (academic achievement/concentration). Study Appraisal and Synthesis Methods: Articles were grouped by study design as cross-sectional, longitudinal, acute, or intervention trials. Considerable heterogeneity existed for several important study parameters; therefore, results were synthesized and presented by study design. Results: A majority of the research supports the view that physical fitness, single bouts of PA, and PA interventions benefit children’s cognitive functioning. Limited evidence was available concerning the effects of PA on learning, with only one cross-sectional study meeting the inclusion criteria. Evidence indicates that PA has a relationship to areas of the brain that support complex cognitive processes during laboratory tasks. Although favorable results have been obtained from cross-sectional and longitudinal studies related to academic achievement, the results obtained from controlled experiments evaluating the benefits of PA on academic performance are mixed, and additional, well-designed studies are needed. Limitations: Limitations in evidence meeting inclusion criteria for this review include lack of randomized controlled trials, limited studies that are adequately powered, lack of information on participant characteristics, failure to blind for outcome measures, proximity of PA to measurement outcomes, and lack of accountability for known confounders. Therefore, many studies were ranked as high risk for bias because of multiple design limitations. Conclusions: The present systematic review found evidence to suggest that there are positive associations among PA, fitness, cognition, and academic achievement. However, the findings are inconsistent, and the effects of numerous elements of PA on cognition remain to be explored, such as type, amount, frequency, and timing. Many questions remain regarding how to best incorporate PA within schools, such as activity breaks versus active lessons in relation to improved academic achievement. Regardless, the literature suggests no indication that increases in PA negatively affect cognition or academic achievement and PA is important for growth and development and general health. On the basis of the evidence available, the authors concluded that PA has a positive influence on cognition as well as brain structure and function; however, more research is necessary to determine mechanisms and long-term effect as well as strategies to translate laboratory findings to the school environment. Therefore, the evidence category rating is B. The literature suggests that PA and PE have a neutral effect on academic achievement. Thus, because of the limitations in the literature and the current information available, the evidence category rating for academic achievement is C.

Physical activity, fitness, cognitive function, and academic achievement in children: A systematic review

http://www.bcmperformance.net/uploads/1/0/7/2/10727066/best_dev_review_ex_function_1.pdf

Effects of Physical Activity on Children's Executive Function: Contributions of Experimental Research on Aerobic Exercise.

Physical inactivity is a key determinant of health across the lifespan. A lack of activity increases the risk of heart disease, colon and breast cancer, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, osteoporosis, anxiety and depression and others diseases. Emerging literature has suggested that in terms of mortality, the global population health burden of physical inactivity approaches that of cigarette smoking. The prevalence and substantial disease risk associated with physical inactivity has been described as a pandemic.The prevalence, health impact, and evidence of changeability all have resulted in calls for action to increase physical activity across the lifespan. In response to the need to find ways to make physical activity a health priority for youth, the Institute of Medicine's Committee on Physical Activity and Physical Education in the School Environment was formed. Its purpose was to review the current status of physical activity and physical education in the school environment, including before, during, and after school, and examine the influences of physical activity and physical education on the short and long term physical, cognitive and brain, and psychosocial health and development of children and adolescents. Educating the Student Body makes recommendations about approaches for strengthening and improving programs and policies for physical activity and physical education in the school environment. This report lays out a set of guiding principles to guide its work on these tasks. These included: recognizing the benefits of instilling life-long physical activity habits in children; the value of using systems thinking in improving physical activity and physical education in the school environment; the recognition of current disparities in opportunities and the need to achieve equity in physical activity and physical education; the importance of considering all types of school environments; the need to take into consideration the diversity of students as recommendations are developed.This report will be of interest to local and national policymakers, school officials, teachers, and the education community, researchers, professional organizations, and parents interested in physical activity, physical education, and health for school-aged children and adolescents.

Educating the Student Body: Taking Physical Activity and Physical Education to School

Differential effects of differing intensities of acute exercise on speed and accuracy of cognition: A meta-analytical investigation

Physical activity and mental performance in preadolescents: Effects of acute exercise on free-recall memory

This study investigated the visual attention of older expert orienteers and older adults not practicing activities with high attentional and psychomotor demands, and considered whether prolonged practice of orienteering may counteract the age-related deterioration of visual attentional performance both at rest and under acute exercise. In two discriminative reaction time experiments, performed both at rest and under submaximal physical workload, visual attention was cued by means of spatial cues of different sizes followed, at different stimulus-onset asynchronies, by compound stimuli with local and global target features. Orienteers, as compared to nonathletes, showed a faster reaction speed and a complex pattern of attentional differences depending on the time constraints of the attentional task, the demands on endogenous attentional control, and the presence or absence of a concomitant effortful motor task. Results suggest that older expert orienteers have developed attentional skills that outweigh, at least at rest, the age-related deficits of visual attentional focusing.

Preservation of visual attention in older expert orienteers at rest and under physical effort.

Background: Research on visual attention control of older road cyclists, who represent a subgroup of traffic participants, is still scarce and studies on their attentional performance while cycling are completely lacking. Objective: The present study assessed whether attention control performance of older individuals with a history of participation in road cycling is affected by concomitant cycling exercise. Acute exercise effects were also analyzed in co-aged aerobically trained and sedentary noncyclists to assess whether the acute exercise-cognition relationship is moderated by individual differences induced by chronic sport practice versus sedentary lifestyle. Methods: Sixteen 60- to 80-year-old cyclists and 32 age-matched noncyclists (16 endurance athletes and 16 sedentary individuals) performed a go/no-go reaction time task in which visual attention was cued by means of spatial cues of different sizes followed by compound stimuli with local and global target features. Results: Older cyclists showed commonalities with and differences from other aerobically trained athletes. Both trained groups, when compared to sedentary individuals, showed shorter reaction time (RT) during physical exercise and a smaller RT disadvantage for unexpected local targets at short stimulus-onset asynchrony (SOA). This expectancy-driven RT effect was stable across SOAs only in the case of cyclists. Conclusions: Results suggest that chronic long-term aerobic training may lead to favorable conditions for the occurrence of a facilitation effect during acute exercise and for a more efficient use of available resources on attentional tasks involving executive control. These results highlight the importance of considering the effects of aerobic exercise for supporting safe on-road behavior.

Acute and Chronic Exercise Effects on Attentional Control in Older Road Cyclists

Visual attention in adolescents: Facilitating effects of sport expertise and acute physical exercise

The use of ergogenic aids is common in sport, even among preadolescent athletes (8,15,25). The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between preadolescents’ use of nutritional ergogenic aids (creatine and amino acids) and gender, age, athletic participation, and sport-relevant psychological factors (i.e., sport success motivation, task and ego orientation, self-efficacy). Two thousand four hundred fifty 11- to 13-year-old children participated in this study. Results suggest that substance use increases with age, especially among male preadolescents; that gender differences are particularly marked among older preadolescents; and that a high commitment to sport training represents a risk factor of ergogenic supplementation only when it is linked to certain psychological dispositions, such as a high ego orientation and a low task orientation.

Lucio Cereatti

Papers

Physical activity and mental performance in preadolescents: Effects of acute exercise on free-recall memory

Preservation of visual attention in older expert orienteers at rest and under physical effort.

Acute and Chronic Exercise Effects on Attentional Control in Older Road Cyclists

Visual attention in adolescents: Facilitating effects of sport expertise and acute physical exercise

Behavioral and Psychological Factors Related to the Use of Nutritional Ergogenic Aids among Preadolescents