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Diabetes Health in the News Podcast: Exercise Could Improve Brain Function in Children

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A new study suggests that physical activity levels and weight in children could affect their learning skills and cognitive abilities. Researchers examined 45 children between the ages of 7-11 of normal weight. About half of them were physically active with organized activities like dance, soccer, gymnastics, and swimming, while the others were not. The study also examined 45 overweight and inactive kids.

The findings indicated that active children of normal weight had a lower resting heart rate and less body fat than the overweight, inactive children. Additionally, researchers found that active kids of normal weight did better on mental skills testing than the inactive participants. While this study did determine an association between mental skills and physical activity, a cause-and-effect relationship was not established.

These findings were published in Pediatric Exercise Science on October 2015.

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