Exercise with your Children

This rise in pediatric obesity is painful to hear in the brain science community, especially because we know so much about the relationship between physical activity and mental acuity. Exercise—especially aerobic exercise—is fanastic for the brain, increasing executive function scores anywhere from 50 percent to 100 percent. This is true across the life span, from young children to members of the golden-parachute crowd. Strengthening exercises do not give you these numbers (though there are many other reasons to do them).

 

Parents who start their kids out on a vigorous exercise schedule are more likely to have children for whom exercise becomes a steady, even lifelong, habit (up to 1½ times more, depending upon the study). Fit kids score higher on executive function tests than sedentary controls, and those scores remain as long as the exercise does. The best results accrue, by the way, if you do the exerciseswith your children. Remember that deferred-imitation business? Encouraging an active lifestyle is one of the best gifts you can give your child.

John Medina, Brain Rules for Baby: How to Raise a Smart and Happy Child from Zero to Five (2010-10-12)

• child rearing
• exercise
• obesity
• parenting