Sport improves concentration in primary students

The benefits of sports have been demonstrated in numerous studies. Now, a new study has revealed that sports can improve concentration and lead to a better quality of life in primary school students.

The findings of the study were published in the journal, 'Journal of Clinical Medicine'. The study involved 3,285 girls and 3,248 boys from Bavaria's Berchtesgadener Land district. The key criteria were physical strength and endurance, the ability to concentrate and health-related quality of life, as determined by the scientists according to internationally standardised test procedures.

The results of the study have shown that the higher the level of children's physical fitness, the better they can concentrate and the higher their health-related quality of life.

While the boys did better on the fitness tests, the girls performed better in terms of concentration and quality of life values.

At the same time, in all tests for physical fitness overweight and obese children had significantly poorer results than underweight children and children with normal body weight.

Obese children also had significantly poorer values for health-related quality of life, on the whole, physical well-being, self-esteem as well as well-being in friendships and at school.

"Primary school students with good physical fitness and a good ability to concentrate are more likely to make it to secondary grammar schools," said prof Renate Oberhofer-Fritz, chairman of Preventive Pediatrics and Dean of the TUM Department of Sport and Health Sciences.

"This means it's all the more important to encourage motor development in children at an early stage since this can also have a positive impact on the development of mental fitness," added prof Oberhofer-Fritz.

"Collaboration among parents, schools, communities and athletic clubs is very important when it comes to creating a comprehensive and appropriate range of possibilities," he concluded.

Thorsten Schulz, head of the study team at TUM said, "Based on the results of the study since 2019 the Berchtesgadener Land District Administration Office has been giving all first-grade pupils in the region a voucher for a one-year membership in a sports club. This is a great example of how different stakeholders can work together and help motivate children to be more athletically active."