This week, the American Heart Association (AHA) released a report which indicates that physical fitness is associated with academic performance in young people. While this is not new information to the public, the AHA’s study is useful because it provides data to support and define the nature of the relationship between children’s physical fitness and their academic performance.
To study the association between children’s physical fitness and their academic performance, Lesley A Cotrell, an associate professor of pediatrics at West Virginia University, analyzed the body mass index percentiles, fitness levels and standardized academic test scores of 725 fifth grade students in Wood County, West Virginia. Cotrell and her colleagues then compared that data to the students’ fitness and academic performance two years later when the 725 students were in the seventh grade. According to the study, children who had the best average scores in standardized tests in reading, math, science and social studies were fit at the start and end of the study. In contrast, children who were not physically fit in either the fifth or seventh grades, had the lowest academic performance in all four subjects at the end of the study.
The take away point here is that there is a direct correlation between physical fitness and academic performance. Therefore, it is critical for parents to get involved in the early stages of their childre’s academic career to ensure that their students are physically fit and on track to achieve academic success!
Tier One Tutoring understands the importance of supplementing student’s regular education with physical fitness. Tier One Tutoring offers athletic physical training sessions that result in healthier, happier, and smarter children. For more information, visit http://www.tier-one-tutoring.com/training.html or contact Carl Smith, the Director of Tier One Tutoring’s Scholar Athlete Division at carl@tier-one-tutoring.com.
Additional resources: To learn more about the American Heart Association’s advocacy efforts to strengthen physical education programs in schools, visit fitkidsact.org.
