London, Nov 26 (PTI) Physical fitness in children mayincrease the volume of grey matter in specific brain regions,which in turn can improve their academic performance.
In particular, aerobic capacity is associated withgreater grey matter volume in regions important for theexecutive function as well as for learning, motor and visualprocesses.
The study, published in the journal NeuroImage, involvedover 100 overweight children.
"Our work aims at answering questions such as whether thebrain of children with better physical fitness is differentfrom that of children with worse physical fitness and if thisaffects their academic performance," said Francisco B Ortega,from University of Granada in Spain.
"Physical fitness in children is linked in a direct wayto important brain structure differences, and such differencesare reflected in the children's academic performance," saidOrtega, who led the study.
The research associates motor ability with higher greymatter volume in two regions essential for language processingand reading: the inferior frontal gyrus and the superiortemporal gyrus.
However, muscular strength did not show any independentassociation with gray matter volume in any brain region.
The grey matter volume in the cortical and subcorticalregions influenced by physical fitness improves in turn thechildren's academic performance, said Irene Esteban-Cornejo,postdoctoral researcher at the University of Granada.
Moreover, "physical fitness is a factor that can bemodified through physical exercise, and combining exercisesthat improve the aerobic capacity and the motor ability wouldbe an effective approach to stimulate brain development andacademic performance in overweight/obese children," saidEsteban-Cornejo. PTI MHNMHN.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.