Exercise may help children stay on task, but not raise test scores

The review

1. 01

   Who took part

   25,334 children aged 5 to 12 took part in 92 studies from 25 countries. Girls made up about half of the children in studies that reported sex.

2. 02

   What they did

   Children in the exercise groups did sport, dance, aerobic exercise or exercise mixed into lessons. The other groups did no extra exercise or had their usual PE lessons. How long and how often they met varied.

3. 03

   What happened

   Staying on task improved, but the review rates this evidence as very weak. Creativity also improved. Reasoning and working memory improved a little. Attention tests and school test results showed no clear change. The review warns that small studies with big results may have been more likely to be published.

What the review found

1. HelpedFocus

   Across 5 studies, more exercise helped children stay on task, but the evidence is very weak.

   Pooled analysis of 5 studies with 804 people · vs children who did no extra exercise or usual PE · behaviour was recorded · the authors rated their certainty very low · ⚠ signs that small negative studies went unpublished; results look too good to be true; the studies disagreed a lot; whole programmes were tested, so no single part can be credited

2. No differenceFocus

   Across 11 studies, exercise did not clearly change attention.

   Pooled analysis of 11 studies with 2,999 people · vs children who did no extra exercise or usual PE · ⚠ the studies disagreed a lot; whole programmes were tested, so no single part can be credited

3. No differenceGoals

   Across 47 studies, extra exercise made no clear difference to school results.

   Pooled analysis of 47 studies with 14,386 people · vs children who did no extra exercise or usual PE · the authors rated their certainty moderate · ⚠ the studies disagreed a lot; whole programmes were tested, so no single part can be credited

Source