Good parents put their kids into physical activities that improve their fitness. There is no shortage of evidence that sports for kids is one of the best thing a parent and education system can offer their children. Another study from the Technical University of Munich explores the effect of physical fitness on the motorneurocognitive development of children and effects on future education.
The researchers involved 6533 healthy children in Germany from the ages of 6 to 10 years old looking at their physical fitness, ability to concentrate, and quality of life. They also looked at body weight and likelihood of moving on to the next level of their education.
Overall, they found that the higher level of the children’s physical fitness, the better they were able to concentrate and score higher on health-related quality of life. They also found that overweight and obese children score worse on their physical fitness tests and had poorer health related quality of life, physical well-being, self-esteem, and ability to form quality friendships at school.
They also found that good physical fitness and ability to concentrate led to a higher likelihood of graduating from primary school and moving on to secondary grammar school.
“This means it’s all the more important to encourage motor development in children at an early stage, since this can also have a positive impact on the development of mental fitness,” in a statement from one of the authors of the study, Renate Oberhoffer-Fritz. “Collaboration among parents, schools, communities and athletic clubs is very important when it comes to creating a comprehensive and appropriate range of possibilities.”
So be a good parent, and put your kids into sports rather than letting them sit around at home getting fat while drowning themselves in screen time and junk food. Physical fitness is one the most important investments both education systems and parents have to make for their children.
K Köble et al. A better cardiopulmonary fitness is associated with improved concentration level and health-related quality of life in primary school children. Journal of Clinical Medicine. DOI:10.3390/jcm11051326
