Gym class may not hinder academics
In fact, government researchers found girls who spent more time in gym class showed a higher average performance in math and reading than girls who got little to no physical education.
Susan A. Carlson and colleagues at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta say their findings suggest that concerns about hurting children's academic achievement "may not be legitimate reasons to limit physical education programs."
They report the results in the American Journal of Public Health.
The growing problem of childhood inactivity and obesity has prompted calls to bring more physical education (PE) back to the schools. While there is no evidence that doing so detracts from children's classroom learning, there are some concerns this could be the case, according to Carlson's team.
To study the question, they used data from a nationally representative sample of 5,316 children who entered kindergarten in 1998 and were followed through fifth grade. Teachers reported the number of minutes per week the students spent in PE, and the children took standard tests to measure their math and reading skills.
Overall, the study found, time spent in gym class had no effect on boys' math and reading performance. On the other hand, girls who spent an average of one to five hours in gym class each week performed better on the academic tests than did girls who spent 35 minutes or less in PE each week.
Besides improving children's fitness, Carlson's team notes, physical education may help boost their self-esteem, ease stress and help develop their social skills and ability to think and reason.
Other studies, they add, have suggested that gym class particularly improves girls' fitness levels, since they are typically less active and fit than boys. This may help explain why PE was related to better academic performance among girls, but not boys, the researchers speculate.
Whatever the reason for the gender difference, the findings suggest that gym class is unlikely to harm, and may in fact benefit, academic performance, Carlson and her colleagues conclude.
"Schools should strive to meet the national health objective of daily physical education," they write, "and offer students a balanced academic program that includes opportunities for physical activity."
SOURCE: American Journal of Public Health, April 2008.
Copyright © 2008 Reuters Limited.