Two new studies give insight into children’s exercise. We take a closer look at the findings

Setting up exercise classes that include group activities for both mothers and kids, or that are held before school, could be a winning formula for health club operators, suggests new research.

Mum’s the word
Scientists from Cambridge and Southampton universities in the UK have found there’s a direct link between the physical activity levels of mums and their children. In fact, it discovered that youngsters are not naturally active and that mothers play an important role in the amount of exercise their kids get. This suggests clubs that want to get results from younger members would benefit from creating classes where parents and their kids exercise together.

The study*, published the journal Pediatrics in March, was based on 554 mothers and their children who were aged four and not yet at school (but most went to nursey). All wore a heart-rate monitor and accelerometer continuously for seven days.

The data revealed that, for every minute of moderate-to-vigorous exercise a mum did, her child would be 10 per cent more active. Yet it was also noted that only 53 per cent of mothers performed 30 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous activity at least once a week.

Co-author Kathryn Hesketh, who’s now a research associate at University College London, told the BBC: “The more activity the mother did, the more active her child. Although it’s not possible to tell from this study whether active children were making their mothers run around them, it’s likely that activity in one of the pair influences activity in the other.”

Hesketh added that, while 10 per cent extra a week doesn’t sound like much, it’s more significant when looking at exercise over a month or even a year.

Helping with ADHD
Another piece of research**, published in the Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology last month, found that before-school exercise may reduce the symptoms of ADHD in children at school and home; gym operators might look at scheduling exercise classes earlier in the day.

Researchers from Michigan State University and the University of Vermont, US, studied 202 early elementary students ranging from kindergarten years through to second grade. Some of the children showed signs of ADHD, while others did not.

The children were randomly split into two groups, with one conducting moderate exercise for 30 minutes before school, while the other group was asked to complete more sedentary tasks.

All children in the exercise group showed improvements in areas such as attention and mood compared to those who did no physical activity.

These benefits applied to those with or without risk of ADHD symptoms.

Lead study author Betsy Hoza told the Wall Street Journal: “This is the first large-scale study demonstration of improvements in ADHD symptoms from aerobic physical activity using a randomised controlled trial methodology.” She also said that “this shows promise as a new avenue of treatment for ADHD”, and that the results were comparable to those expected from the treatment of ADHD by a trained professional.

It was suggested that further studies should investigate how the frequency and amount of physical activity can impact on children, with the issue of age-related benefits also being explored.

Alan Smith, chair of the kinesiology department at Michigan State, said:“This gives schools one more good reason to incorporate physical activity into the school day.”

*Hesketh K et al. Activity Levels in Mothers and Their Prescool Children. Pediatrics. March 2014; **Hoza B et al. A Randomized Trial Examining the Effects of Aerobic Physical Activity on Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disoder Symptoms in Young Children. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology. September 2014.