2 activities to improve child’s brain functioning

Studies have shown that continued physical exercise and learning to play a musical instrument are both linked to improved academic achievement. A study conducted on 408 twelve-year-olds in Sweden by the University of Gothenburg found that just two hours of extra physical education each week doubled the chances that a child will achieve the national learning goals.

Another study mentioned in the Journal of the American Medical Association found strong evidence of a significant positive relationship between physical activity and academic performance. They found that exercise may help cognition by increasing blood and oxygen to the brain, increasing levels of norepinephrine, and endorphins to decrease stress and improve mood, and increasing growth factors that help create new nerve cells and support synaptic plasticity. The authors stated that the children have increased attention and concentration and also pointed that this stands as an alternative to medication in the treatment of autism and ADHD.

Supporting that statement the Society for Research in Child Development published an article in 2014 discussing recent findings that physically active children tend to outperform their inactive peers in the classroom and on tests of achievement.

Another study by San Fransisco University proved that use of an academic music curriculum has dramatically improved math scores for the entire school, going from a 51% to a 75% rate of scoring at or above the national average.

AW: Lizitha