Does Physical Exercise Help Kids with ADHD ?
There have been literally thousands of studies conducted on different treatment approaches for children with ADHD focusing on cognitive, academic achievement, behaviour and psychosocial functioning that have resulted in numerous treatment options ( medication, diet, sleep, cognitive behaviour therapy, family therapy, chiropractic adjustments, biofeedback, etc. etc. etc.). It is interesting to note that I can find only one study that attempted to determine if physical exercise can reduce behaviour problems and enhance academic performance in children with ADHD although there are a limited number of studies supporting the hypothesis that exercise is associated with improvement in the general population.
Many parents and teachers of children with ADHD report that physical activity is helpful, so you would think that this avenue would have been examined but it appears to have been largely ignored by the researchers.
I have found one study conducted if France a number of years ago that addressed this issue. They studied 21 children aged 7 – 12 years (19 male, 2 female) all diagnosed with hyperactive- impulsive ADHD. The children were assigned to either the exercise group or a control group. The children in the exercise group participated in a 10 week physical activity program 3 days a week with 45 minute sessions involving aerobic, muscular and motor skill exercises. The objective was to maintain moderate to vigorous physical activity. The children in the control group participated in whatever physical activity was offered routinely at their school. There were no changes to any child’s medication or academic program. Both parents and teachers completed behaviour checklists before and after the study and objective test scores for “attention functioning” and “impulse control” were obtain pre and post study.
Results
Analysis of the scores showed that children in the exercise group showed significantly improved results over the control group in the tests scores and rating scales of both the parents and teachers measuring attention, social problems, thought processing and impulsivity although they continued to be in the clinically elevated area on most scores.
This study suggests that exercise may be of value for children with ADHD although this study is limited because of the small sample size, the absence of random assignment and the fact that parents and teachers were not blind to the children’s groups.
It is surprising that despite 1000’s of studies conducted on ADHD that more interest has not been directed at this issue. In spite of this shortcoming, I whole heartedly recommend physical activity programs because of the health benefits they provide.