Not All Exercise Is Equal: Team Sports May Enhance Children’s Cognition

Not all activities are created equal when it comes to boosting brainpower.

The researchers classified sports into 11 team activities and 22 individual ones, including soccer, gymnastics, and martial arts. Team sports necessitate skills such as quick decision-making and adaptability, likely contributing to the observed enhancements in executive function, according to the researchers.

Those who played on sports teams scored three points lower in tests measuring their brain function and self-control abilities than their counterparts in individual sports, with a lower score indicating better performance.

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Team Sports Enhance Brain Function, General Activity Doesn’t

While participation in team sports significantly enhanced cognitive function in children, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity did not correlate similarly with cognitive performance during middle childhood, a period generally considered to be between age 6 and 12.

Engaging in at least 60 minutes of daily physical activity at a young age did not have a clear connection to later brain function scores during middle childhood.​

Sedentary Behavior and Cognitive Performance

The study also found that increased sedentary behavior was associated with better impulse control and self-monitoring scores.

The authors noted that this finding aligns with prior research but cautioned that “other studies reported no association or negative associations.”

They attributed this inconsistency to the different sedentary activities children can do; for example, reading may strengthen brain connections related to cognitive control, while excessive screen time could weaken them.

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Tracking Childhood Movement

The research was conducted by the Department of Human Movement Sciences, University Medical Center Groningen, in the Netherlands, using data from the Groningen Expert Center for Kids with Obesity (GECKO) cohort study. It involved a sample of 880 Dutch children.

Researchers assessed the participants’ daily physical activity levels at ages 5 to 6 using wrist-worn devices, which provided detailed data on the intensity and duration of the children’s movements.

Children had their physical activity levels assessed when they were 5 or 6 using accelerometers that measure movement speed and intensity. At ages 10 to 11, children were reevaluated using a parental questionnaire measuring different cognitive control aspects, including inhibition, emotional control, working memory, and overall executive function.

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Executive Functioning Skills Essential for Success: Expert

In an invited commentary, Dr. Alison Brooks, a professor in the sports medicine division of the Department of Orthopedics at the University of Wisconsin, highlighted that athletes in team sports typically exhibit better impulse control, emotional regulation, and sensitivity to others’ needs. “This means team sport athletes [have] superior impulse and emotional control and interpersonal awareness as well as superior ability to retain information and to plan, organize, and initiate a task and then stay on task and switch tasks as needed,” she wrote.

The study authors encourage parents and educators to facilitate children’s participation in team sports as part of a comprehensive approach to enhancing children’s cognitive and physical development.

The new findings echo those of prior research.

The best results were observed when participants combined increased sports and reading time with a healthy diet. “Improved diet quality and increased organized sports and reading were associated with improved cognition,” the study authors concluded.

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