Want better grades? Hit the gym!!!

By Robert Walter

We have all been countlessly told that exercise is good for our health and well-being, but, in what may be a surprise to some, studies have shown that exercise is correlated to increased study times and higher GPAs. While this link has been shown in many studies involving children, recent studies looking at collage age students have shown similar positive results of exercise, even when factoring for study time, age, sex, ethnicity, etc.

Now one would think that students increasing their time exercising would decrease time available for studying, however a 2009 paper in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise found the opposite. Compared to students who studied less than one hour per day, students who reported studying more than three hours a day were around 3.5 times more likely to engage in vigorous physical activity and 2.6 times more likely for moderate physical activity. The same study also found that students with a GPA over 3.5 were over three times more likely to participate in vigorous physical activity than those with a GPA under 3.0.

While these are all correlational studies, meaning it isn’t clear if exercising is a cause for improved academic performance, there is lots of evidence that exercising increases brain function and high BMI scores, often associated with low physical activity, is correlated with impaired brain function. Stanek et al. in 2011 found that obesity and high BMIs were associated with reduced white mater (Stanek et al., 2011) and another study found that high BMI was linked to reduced blood flow in brain areas involved in reasoning and executive function (Willeumier et al., 2011). Studies in rodents have found that even moderate endurance exercise increases the formation of new neurons in the hippocampus, a brain area associated with memory, and increases in brain plasticity, and cognitive performance. Rodents that exercised also experienced less brain damage from neurodegenerative disorders.

Exercise has other indirect impacts on academic performance as well. For one, it makes you feel better, which puts you in a better state of mind for studying. Building and sticking with an exercise regimen also develops the same discipline and goal completion skills that are utilized in earning good grades. And there are even bigger bonuses if the exercising encourages you to eat and sleep better.

Of course, one doesn’t need to get ripped to enjoy the academic benefits of exercise. While more is better (to a point), just 20 mins of moderate exercise a few times a week can begin to show an impact. Recreational activities such as running, swimming, or playing sports also help, however care must be taken to avoid activities that may cause head trauma, such as football and soccer, as concussions can cause temporary and long lasting cognitive decline.

What’s the big take away? Taking time for even moderate exercise, in addition to the multitude of physical benefits, could pay dividends in helping your academic performance. So if you want to bump up your GPA, get out there and sweat a little!

Citations:

Huh, J.Y. (2017). The role of exercise-induced myokines in regulating metabolism. Archives of Pharmacal Research, 41, pp. 14–29

Keating, X. D., Castelli, D., & Ayers, S. F. (2013). Association of Weekly Strength Exercise Frequency and Academic Performance Among Students at a Large University in the United States. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 27(7), 1988–1993. doi:10.1519/jsc.0b013e318276bb4c

So, B., Kim, H-J., Song, W. (2014). Exercise-induced myokines in health and metabolic diseases. Integrative Medicine Research, 3, pp. 172–179.

Stanek, K.M., Grieve, S.M., Brickman, A.M., Korgaonkar, M.S., Paul, R.H., Cohen, R.A., and Gunstad, J.J. (2011). Obesity is associated with reduced white matter integrity in otherwise healthy adults. Obesity (Silver Spring) 19, 500–504.

Willeumier, K.C., Taylor, D.V., and Amen, D.G. (2011). Elevated BMI is associated with decreased blood flow in the prefrontal cortex using SPECT imaging in healthy adults. Obesity (Silver Spring) 19, 1095–1097.

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