EurekAlert! – Public Release
“Weight and physical activity levels are both factors in a child’s ability to acquire and use knowledge, a new study finds. “The question this paper asks that has not been asked before is whether it is just fitness that influences children’s cognition,” said Dr. Catherine Davis, clinical health psychologist at the Georgia Prevention Institute at the Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Regents University. “What we found is weight and physical activity both matter.”…When researchers used the well-verified Cognitive Assessment System, the advantages continued to hold. For example, comparing the active, healthy-weight group with the overweight, inactive children, the active group scored nine points higher for planning – things such as figuring out and carrying out a strategy and using knowledge – and eight points higher for their ability to pay attention…The good news is that children, with the help of their families and schools, have time to make healthy lifestyle changes that will modify their weight trajectory, Davis said.”(more)