Abstract
Objectives
Physical fitness in children and adolescents determines their health status and predicts if they are prone to co-morbidities that may extend in adulthood. The initial literature on the benefits of being physically fit was limited to the musculoskeletal and cardio-respiratory systems. The recent trends have shown that physical fitness has an effect on the neurological system as well. Considering physical inactivity to be a problem in today’s world and the growing evidences on physical fitness being related to cognition and academic performance, there is a need to explore more on these relationships. Thus, this study aims to find the correlation between physical fitness with academic performance and cognitive functions in adolescent urban school children.
Hypothesis
There is an association between physical fitness with academic performance and cognitive function.
Methodology
Three hundred and ninteen children were approached out of which 107 children consented for assessment. Their physical fitness was measured using the Progressive Aerobic Cardiovascular Endurance Run (PACER) test, the cognitive function was assessed using the Stroop test and the academic performance were taken from their final exam grades of 2019.
Results
A moderate positive correlation was found between physical fitness with cognitive function (r=0.528), with academic performance (r=0.545) and with self-reported physical activity per week (r=0.427). A fair negative correlation was found between physical fitness and Body Mass Index (BMI) (r=0.296).
Conclusion
This study confirms that physical fitness is positively associated with cognitive function, academic performance and self-reported physical activities and has a negative correlation with BMI.
Acknowledgment
We wish to deepest thank the esteemed principals of all the schools for allowing us to conduct the study and yielding time between their school timings to perform the assessments on the students. We are also grateful to the parents/guardians of the students who allowed us to perform the study on their children.
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Conflict of interests: None.
References
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© 2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Reviews
- Effective strategies to improve health worker performance in delivering adolescent-friendly sexual and reproductive health services
- Sleep disturbance and depression in adolescence: an integrative review of literature
- Multiple behavioural risk factors of non-communicable diseases among adolescents in four Caribbean countries: prevalence and correlates
- The post 16 gap: how do young people conceptualise PE? An exploration of the barriers to participation in physical education, physical activity and sport in senior school pupils
- The effect of cognitive behavior therapy on body image and self-esteem in female adolescents: a systematic review and meta-analysis
- Polycystic ovary syndrome and reproductive health of women: a curious association
- Correlation between obesity, gestational diabetes mellitus, and pregnancy outcomes: an overview
- Mindfulness and eudaimonic well-being: the mediating roles of rumination and emotion dysregulation
- Acute neurological conditions during pregnancy and their management: a review
- Depression and anxiety in women with polycystic ovarian syndrome: a literature survey
- Significance of sugar intake in young adults: a review
- Original Articles
- Prevalence and factors associated with smoking among Tunisian secondary school-adolescents
- Physical fitness and its association with overweight among early adolescents in Puducherry, Southern India
- Knowledge and awareness of individual sickle cell genotype among adolescents in a unity school in Southeast, Nigeria: a cross-sectional study
- Popular water pipe smoking, medical sciences students' awareness, perceptions, and motivations
- Investigation E-health literacy and correlates factors among Alborz medical sciences students: a cross sectional study
- Risk of eating disorders in university students: an international study in Hungary, Poland and Ukraine
- Prevalence and associated factors of oral and hand hygiene behaviour among adolescents in six Southeast Asian countries
- Assessment of academic performance of licensed athletes
- Gender-based differences in risk-taking behaviors among high school students in Southeast Iran
- Experience of sexual and gender minority youth when accessing health care in Turkey
- Use of modern contraceptives among advanced-level secondary school girls in the Rukwa Region, Tanzania, 2018
- The effect of poetry reading on self-concept of primary adolescents
- The association of acne and menstrual symptoms among young women (18–25 years) in Egypt: a population-based cross-sectional study
- Sexual risk behaviors and influencing factors among Muslim adolescents on southern border of Thailand
- Not just studies, but fitness can also get you the intelligence and the grades!!
- Effectiveness of a school-based intervention in Guatemala to increase knowledge of sexual and reproductive health
- Stressful life events and depressive symptoms among adolescents in Malaysia: the mediating role of maladaptive cognitive schema
- Sexual risk behaviour and its correlates among adolescents in Indonesia, Laos, Thailand and Timor-Leste: results from national school surveys in 2015
- Utilization rate and factors influencing the use of HIV counseling and testing services among young females: a community-based study from Nigeria
- Pattern and quitting of tobacco smoking among Egyptian university students
- Association between parents and peer attachment with health locus of control: a cross-sectional study among Iranian adolescents
- Body dissatisfaction and its association with domains of physical activity and of sedentary behavior in a sample of 15,632 adolescents
- Effect of Bhramari pranayama practice on simple reaction time in healthy adolescents – a randomized control trial
- Short Communications
- Survey of school nurses’ experiences of providing counselling on sexual orientation to high school students in Japan
- Prevalence and correlates of fruit and vegetable consumption among adolescents in Laos
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Reviews
- Effective strategies to improve health worker performance in delivering adolescent-friendly sexual and reproductive health services
- Sleep disturbance and depression in adolescence: an integrative review of literature
- Multiple behavioural risk factors of non-communicable diseases among adolescents in four Caribbean countries: prevalence and correlates
- The post 16 gap: how do young people conceptualise PE? An exploration of the barriers to participation in physical education, physical activity and sport in senior school pupils
- The effect of cognitive behavior therapy on body image and self-esteem in female adolescents: a systematic review and meta-analysis
- Polycystic ovary syndrome and reproductive health of women: a curious association
- Correlation between obesity, gestational diabetes mellitus, and pregnancy outcomes: an overview
- Mindfulness and eudaimonic well-being: the mediating roles of rumination and emotion dysregulation
- Acute neurological conditions during pregnancy and their management: a review
- Depression and anxiety in women with polycystic ovarian syndrome: a literature survey
- Significance of sugar intake in young adults: a review
- Original Articles
- Prevalence and factors associated with smoking among Tunisian secondary school-adolescents
- Physical fitness and its association with overweight among early adolescents in Puducherry, Southern India
- Knowledge and awareness of individual sickle cell genotype among adolescents in a unity school in Southeast, Nigeria: a cross-sectional study
- Popular water pipe smoking, medical sciences students' awareness, perceptions, and motivations
- Investigation E-health literacy and correlates factors among Alborz medical sciences students: a cross sectional study
- Risk of eating disorders in university students: an international study in Hungary, Poland and Ukraine
- Prevalence and associated factors of oral and hand hygiene behaviour among adolescents in six Southeast Asian countries
- Assessment of academic performance of licensed athletes
- Gender-based differences in risk-taking behaviors among high school students in Southeast Iran
- Experience of sexual and gender minority youth when accessing health care in Turkey
- Use of modern contraceptives among advanced-level secondary school girls in the Rukwa Region, Tanzania, 2018
- The effect of poetry reading on self-concept of primary adolescents
- The association of acne and menstrual symptoms among young women (18–25 years) in Egypt: a population-based cross-sectional study
- Sexual risk behaviors and influencing factors among Muslim adolescents on southern border of Thailand
- Not just studies, but fitness can also get you the intelligence and the grades!!
- Effectiveness of a school-based intervention in Guatemala to increase knowledge of sexual and reproductive health
- Stressful life events and depressive symptoms among adolescents in Malaysia: the mediating role of maladaptive cognitive schema
- Sexual risk behaviour and its correlates among adolescents in Indonesia, Laos, Thailand and Timor-Leste: results from national school surveys in 2015
- Utilization rate and factors influencing the use of HIV counseling and testing services among young females: a community-based study from Nigeria
- Pattern and quitting of tobacco smoking among Egyptian university students
- Association between parents and peer attachment with health locus of control: a cross-sectional study among Iranian adolescents
- Body dissatisfaction and its association with domains of physical activity and of sedentary behavior in a sample of 15,632 adolescents
- Effect of Bhramari pranayama practice on simple reaction time in healthy adolescents – a randomized control trial
- Short Communications
- Survey of school nurses’ experiences of providing counselling on sexual orientation to high school students in Japan
- Prevalence and correlates of fruit and vegetable consumption among adolescents in Laos