BACKGROUND The purpose of this paper is to review relationships of academic performance and some of its determinants to participation in school-based physical activities, including physical education (PE), free school physical activity (PA) and school sports. METHODS Linkages between academic achievement and involvement in PE, school PA and sport programmes have been examined, based on a syst...

AIMS To evaluate the effect of physical performance and extracurricular organized physical activities (EOPA) in normal- and overweight children. METHODS A random sample of 1,068 schoolchildren (7-12 years old) representative of the region of Aragon (Spain) was selected and divided into normal-, overweight and obese groups based on previously published body mass index reference standards. Phys...

26 Children’s participation in physical activity (PA) has important positive benefits for 27 their health and academic outcomes. Within the school day, physical education (PE) 28 is increasingly endorsed as a key time for children to accumulate PA. Despite this 29 increasing emphasis, research papers and policy documents frequently identify PE 30 lessons as ‘not active enough’. However, contemp...

In California, more than 1.3 million adolescents (38%) do not participate in physical education (PE) at school, and this rate increases dramatically with age, from just 5% at age 12 to 77% at age 17. In addition, only 19% of teens meet current physical activity recommendations. Participation in PE at school is associated with more overall physical activity. Policies that promote more opportunit...

Digital games combining exercise with game play, known as exergames, can improve youths' health status and provide social and academic benefits. Exergame play increases caloric expenditure, heart rate, and coordination. Psychosocial and cognitive impacts of exergame play may include increased self-esteem, social interaction, motivation, attention, and visual-spatial skills. This article summari...

This study examined the effectiveness of an intervention to increase levels of moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA) during girls' physical education lessons. Two Year 7 classes (age 11-12 years) were randomly appointed to control and experimental groups. Both followed the same six-lesson unit of gymnastics with identical lesson objectives. The experimental class teacher inclu...