The college years are demanding, so many students feel great pressure to get good grades s, sometimes leaving them exhausted.Important exams can cause anxiety and emotional instability, because when they come close, it is common for them to lock themselves in their rooms (or in the libraries) for weeks, and they can adopt harmful habits such as: eating badly, not exercising, etc.

Adopting this attitude may not be the best. Several studies, such as the one presented by the American College of Sports Medicine , have shown that physical exercise helps relieve anxiety and leads to better grades .

The psychological benefits of exercise

For several decades now, experts have been recommending physical exercise for its many benefits on both the physical and mental levels. With regard to the latter, the regular practice of physical or sporting activities can help us to achieve greater well-being , but also to improve our cognitive functions, regardless of age or physical condition.

Psychiatrist John Ratey, professor at Harvard Medical School and author of the book The New and Revolutionary Science of Exercise and the Brain , explains: "Regular physical exercise is good for improving our perception of ourselves, our mood, memory or learning". Therefore, exercising regularly helps us to obtain greater academic performance, since, in addition to producing chemicals of happiness or improving our self-esteem, it provides us with other benefits that can favor a better outcome in academia: reduces stress, improves memory and learning, increases brain capacity and improves productivity.

To learn about the results of different studies that explain the psychological benefits of regular physical activity, I invite you to visit my article as well:

The 10 Psychological Benefits of Physical Exercise

Best marks for those who exercise

That exercising improves academic performance is not a new idea. That’s why researchers at Saginaw Valley State University (USA) decided to put this theory to the test. After analysing the exercise habits of 266 students, the researchers concluded that those individuals who exercised vigorously had higher scores on the GPA scale than those who did not.

The GPA scale is a grade point average ranging from 0.0 to 4.0, used by many academic institutions. The results of this research showed a higher average of 0.4 points for those who exercise regularly. Knowing this, you may want to schedule a few sessions of gymnastics, yoga, or running as part of your study time, if only to unwind.

Improvements in the academic performance of children and adolescents have also been documented

Improvements in academic performance through physical exercise not only affect university students, but children and adolescents also see their grades improve through physical activity .

A study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine states that those boys and girls who are more active perform better in school. For this study, a group of researchers from the United Kingdom, Scotland, and the United States measured the physical activity level of 5,000 11-year-old boys and girls. Their math, English, and science scores were assessed when they were 11, 13, and 16 years old.

After analyzing the study results, the researchers concluded that children who were more physically active at age 11 performed better in all three disciplines. Furthermore, 17 minutes of exercise per day is sufficient to improve academic performance in children . In the case of girls, 12 minutes a day is sufficient.

Studies on school performance in children

Another study, in this case carried out by a group of researchers from the Vrije University (Holland), relates the best cognitive performance of children to their level of physical activity .

But more studies support the claim that physical activity influences children’s school performance. According to the University of North Texas, a healthy heart and lungs have a beneficial impact on children’s reading and math levels. This may indicate that cardiovascular exercise improves both school skills. That’s why the study’s director, Trent A. Petrie, recommends that schools “review their physical education policies, since including more hours per week of this subject could have a beneficial effect on the performance of their students.

On the other hand, a research from the Autonomous University of Madrid, led by Irene Esteban-Cornejo, analyzed data from 2,038 Spanish children aged 6 to 8. The results showed that cardiorespiratory capacity and motor skills were positively correlated with academic performance , both independently and in combination.