The physical activity and sport are key elements for a healthy lifestyle. However, a little-investigated element is the presence of a possible relationship between school or academic performance an...

The current study examined the effects of cardiorespiratory fitness, identified with a continuous graded cycle ergometry, and aerobic exercise on cognitive functioning and entropy of the electroencephalogram (EEG) in 30 adolescents between the ages of 13 and 14 years. Higher and lower fit participants performed an executive function task after a bout of acute exercise and after rest while watching a film. EEG entropy, using the sample entropy measure, was repeatedly measured during the 1500ms post-stimulus interval to evaluate changes in (...) entropy over time. Analysis of the behavioural data for lower and higher fit groups revealed an interaction between fitness levels and acute physical exercise. Notably, lower fit, but not higher fit, participants had higher error rates for NoGo relative to Go trials in the rest condition, whereas in the acute exercise condition there were no differences in error rates between groups; higher fit participants also had significantly faster reaction times in the exercise condition in comparison with the rest condition. Analysis of EEG data revealed that higher fit participants demonstrated lower entropy post-stimulus than lower fit participants in the left frontal hemisphere, possibly indicating increased efficiency of early stage stimulus processing and more efficient allocation of cognitive resources to the task demands. The results suggest that EEG entropy is sensitive to stimulus processing demands and varies as a function of physical fitness levels, but not acute exercise. Physical fitness, in turn, may enhance cognition in adolescence by facilitating higher functionality of the attentional system in the context of lower levels of frontal EEG entropy. (shrink)

ObjectiveTo determine to what extent physical fitness indicators and/or moderate to vigorous physical activity may account for final mathematics academic performance awarded at the end of primary school.MethodsSchool-aged youth were sampled in a repeated-measures, longitudinal design in Grade 6, and again in Grade 9. The youth completed a fitness test battery consisting of: flamingo balance test, standing long jump, backward obstacle course, plate tapping, sit ups, sit and reach, handgrip, and 20-m shuttle run. APmath scores were obtained for all children (...) at the end of Grade 5, end of Grade 8, and end of Grade 9. In a sub-sample of Grade 6 youth, MVPA was measured objectively via SenseWear Pro Armbands for seven consecutive days, with measurements repeated in Grade 9.ResultsMath scores decreased from Grade 6 to 9 for both boys and girls. MVPAOB was reduced by ∼45.7 min from Grade 6 to 9. Significant main and interaction effects are noted for each fitness indicator. A backward stepwise multiple regression analysis determined significant shared variance in final APmath grade to the change scores from Grade 6 to Grade 9 in: ΔAPmath, Δbackward obstacle course, Δsit and reach, and Δsit-ups [R2 = 0.494, F = 43.67, p < 0.0001]. A second regression was performed only for the youth who completed MVPAOB measurements. In this sub-sample, MVPAOB did not significantly contribute to the model.ConclusionLongitudinal changes in youth fitness and their delta change in APmath score accounted for 49.4% of the variance in the final math grade awarded at the end of Grade 9. Aerobic power, upper body strength, and muscular endurance share more common variance to final math grade in boys, whereas whole-body coordination was the more relevant index in girls; this finding suggests that future research exploring the relationship of AP and PF should not be limited to cardiorespiratory fitness, instead encompassing muscular and neuro-muscular components of PF. (shrink)