There has been yet more proof that children need to be to active not just to avoid being above weight, but because it effects their brains in the future.
A study published on Monday in Pediatrics, was about how activities can help kids. Obesity isn't the only problem for children growing up as being a problem in the U.S. They like to play video games; using phones that can damn near do everything. Being less active could negatively effects the way they use their brains.
"If you consider the anthropology of humankind, we were designed to move," Charles Hillman, a professor of kinesiology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign told Shots.
Hillman and colleagues published the results from their study that showed 7- to 9-year-old children who run around and play like children normally do for at least 70 minutes a day show improved thinking skills, particularly in multitasking, compared to children who aren't as active, according to the report by wvxu.org.
The researchers looked at a nine-month after-school program, called Fitness Improves Thinking in Kids (FITKids) at the University of Illinois, according to the report. Over 100 students would meet after school for a snack and a lesson on being healthy. They would do such things as jump rope, soccer and playing tag. The kids would do these activities and more for about 70 hours.
"Kids tend to move and get their exercise intermittently," Hillman said."They don't go out and run four miles" like an adult might."
In order to test the children, they would be shown a character on a screen and had to use their thump to indicate whether the character was a certain color and shape. Those who participated in FITKids were much faster than those who did not.
Scans of the children's brains were done and showed an increase in brain activity. The more times they attended the after-school program, the greater the change.
