Children’s Fitness Levels and Teen Brain Fitness and Mental Health
Study highlights importance of kids’ fitness to boost teenage well-being.
Higher levels of motor and aerobic fitness in childhood are linked with better cognitive performance and mental health in adolescence, as reported in Sports Medicine (2024). Researchers from University of Eastern Finland conducted a longitudinal study with 241 boys and girls beginning from the ages of six to 9 years old over an 8-year follow-up period. Investigators measured aerobic fitness, motor fitness–including agility, balance, coordination, power, reaction time and speed—muscular fitness, cognitive performance, perceived stress and depression symptoms.
They found that higher levels of motor fitness in childhood and teen years were linked with better cognitive performance. Higher and increasing levels of cardiorespiratory fitness form childhood to adolescence were related to better mental health as an adolescent.
Study authors support investing in kids’ physical fitness as a strategy to enhance cognitive and mental health in teen years.
Shirley Eichenberger-Archer, JD, MA
Shirley Eichenberger-Archer, JD, MA, is an internationally acknowledged integrative health and mindfulness specialist, best-selling author of 16 fitness and wellness books translated into multiple languages and sold worldwide, award-winning health journalist, contributing editor to Fitness Journal, media spokesperson, and IDEA's 2008 Fitness Instructor of the Year. She's a 25-year industry veteran and former health and fitness educator at the Stanford Prevention Research Center, who has served on multiple industry committees and co-authored trade books and manuals for ACE, ACSM and YMCA of the USA. She has appeared on TV worldwide and was a featured trainer on America's Next Top Model.
