Do you remember yourself when you had to attend a Physical Education class, when you were still a school kid?
To many people this was fun time, with a lot of game activities, playing with the ball, stretching, taking part in strength contests etc. It was a good laugh, in the end of the day, and it helped you feel better, stronger, healthier, and a more attractive and popular person.
Children: Dong Yang, China was originally posted on Flickr by Yi Chen and is reused here under the terms and conditions of the CC BY 2.0 DEED Attribution 2.0 Generic Creative Commons license
To an equally high number of people, attending a PE class was nothing less than torture, as their level of fitness was low, they were overweight, and in general, they had a hard time following the pace of physical training exercises.
A study performed by the University of Illinois on the effect of physical exercise on children aged between 7 and 9 years old, showed that having one hour of physical training activities after school increases the children's mental ability and performance.
Although I don't (and I can't) question the scientific findings of the study, I feel that I could add a few things from a personal point of view.
First of all, the study is focused on physical training after school. What about an early-morning workout? Would it have the same, or a similar, positive effect, or would it consume the children's energy, and result in making them feel sleepy at school, as they would feel really tired? Don't forget, first-thing-in-the-morning physical exercise is difficult to do and requires a lot of discipline to follow. I wonder if the actual time of having physical exercise is really important and determines whether it will have a positive or a negative result.
Another thing is that children, in my view, are not so much interested in physical training itself, as in game activities. Kids like to play, and they probably consider exercise as another game. Physical exercise as a game, helps them unwind pressure from school lessons and study. I doubt if they would feel the same way if they were forced to do so.
Source:
Physical activity may strengthen children's ability to pay attention
