How physical activity can benefit your child's learning and well-being at school

For some time now, the relationship between physical activity, leisure and academic achievement has been rather complex with low levels of association.

Although it's fairly obvious that physical activity in general (i.e. going to the gym, running, playing football and safe swimming) can boost mental health as well as keep us in good physical shape.

Prior studies have discovered that school-based physical activity, particularly with physical education, can significantly improve a child's classroom performance. Despite this, there have been very few studies that have actively examined the association.

Regarding physical activity and school well-being, most of the previous evidence established by past studies is focused solely on university students.

Now, let's travel over to Finland, where a recently-published study led by the University of Eastern Finland delves into this association a bit deeper than previous analyses.

The study in question was conducted in collaboration with the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, along with the nationwide School Health Promotion study.

Leading the nationwide project was Juuso Jusilla, a doctoral researcher at the University of Eastern Finland, and a researcher in the Climate Nudge project, which is also funded by the Academy of Finland.

In the Finnish study, which featured over 34,000 adolescents, researchers observed that active school transport was associated with greater odds of high academic performance, whilst improving the learning and general well-being of a child.

This association proved to be even stronger for leisure-time physical activities ranging from moderate to vigorous. Additionally, and similar to previous studies, the relationship between leisure-time physical activity and improved mathematical skills also stood out.

Yep, you read that correctly – regular physical activity could potentially turn you into a maths wiz.

"The results regarding active school transport were particularly intriguing as researchers are increasingly interested in the health benefits of travel-related walking and cycling.

"Being physically active before school could, for example, enhance concentration in classroom, explaining our observations. However, due to the cross-sectional design, our study cannot establish causality."

Juuso Jussila, Doctoral Researcher at the University of Eastern Finland.

Researchers at the Finnish university found that leisure-time physical activity was also inversely associated with school burnout. To be more specific, as little as 30 minutes a week of engaging in moderate-to-vigorous activity was also associated with 24 per cent lower odds of school burnout.

Evidently, the adolescents who engaged in this kind of physical activity for approximately 4 to 6 hours a week were found to have a 46 per cent lower risk of school burnout compared to inactive students.

Both leisure-time physical activity and active school transport were, ultimately, also positively associated with school enjoyment, healthier learning and general well-being among secondary school children.

Jussila summarised her findings by saying: "To the best of my knowledge, this was the first large-scale study to examine the association between physical activity and school burnout among adolescents. Leisure-time physical activity can be an effective way to disconnect from schoolwork and the potential stress related to it."

"If we can increase the amount leisure-time physical activity among youth, both learning and well-being benefits can be significant," she concluded, respectively.

The findings of this study were published in the European Journal of Public Health.