Exercise and Academic Performance

by Doug Jackson, M.Ed., CSCS

I promised you a look into academic "brains" and exercise today. I think you'll find what I present to be interesting and thought-provoking.

First, I must give a thank you to all of you who have passed along information about www.FamilyFitPlan.com to those you know. A special thanks goes out to Brian Schiff of www.theFitnessEdge.com, Billy Beck of www.BillyBeck.com, and Eric Ruth of www.HowtoSellFitness.com who have promoted our information about the program to their entire customer and client base.

Thank you to all who have stepped up and have shown that you are willing to do what it takes to make a difference. In the last several weeks there's been an increasing interest in the program that Jonathan Ross and I will be releasing in about one month. I'm happy to say that there has been much support in the fitness industry. People are excited about the release of a product that is pure in its intentions to help get people fit without gimmicks and other sales ploys.

For those of you who haven't acted yet, I invite you to download the free reports "7 Secrets to Family Fitness" and "Family Fitness Action Plan" that are available for free when you go to www.FamilyFitPlan.com I, and Jonathan Ross my co-author, want to truly make a difference in the health of Americans. We'll take the lead, but we need your support. Please pass along the information about www.FamilyFitPlan.com to those who may benefit.

"If we don't do something now, I believe America has the potential to truly lose its lead as the premier world power. The sickness and disease that it seems will take over our society could lead to our downfall."

That's a statement I made to a group of Weston, Florida business people yesterday. At first it may sound like the blabbering of an extremist. But I'll argue the point and back it up with alarming and staggering statistics regarding the health of our society. And I believe our freedom, technology, innovation, and economic health are built on a foundation of physical health.

The fact is that we are getting fatter and weaker than any other society and we are doing it in record time.

We are getting dumber too.

Our academic achievement has been outpaced by other countries for quite a while now. That's no surprise to anyone.

Initiatives to curb this poor performance in our schools has led to drastic cutbacks in the areas of physical education in our schools. However, the American College of Sports Medicine has recently released a research study stating that getting some exercise may be the best thing a student could do.

In a study of 214 middle school-aged students, those who performed best academically were also the most active. There was a high positive correlation between student test scores and vigorous physical activity at least three times per week.

Further, moderate exercise had no effect on student performance. The controversy whether health and fitness professionals should promote more moderate or more vigorous physical activity has raged for at least a decade. This study gives another win to the camp in favor of vigorous exercise.

I can simply say that Jonathan Ross and I agree that harder is better than easier when it comes to exercise and we've designed the Family Fit Plan program to encourage vigorous activity. That's the type of activity that gets real results in minimal time. Isn't that what our busy society needs?

Because there's a correlation between high test scores and vigorous activity doesn't necessarily mean there's a cause and effect relationship. However, there are physiological reasons that students who exercise more will likely think more clearly and focus better in school. And that goes for you parents in your professions as well. I was just flipping through a book today and saw where the author asserted that almost all top business leaders exercise far more and harder than the Average Joe on the street.

And I'll go into that in my next issue of this newsletter that will be released Thursday or Friday. In that issue, I'll be taking on the big drug companies and parents as I question the efficacy of using drugs to treat the controversial ADHD diagnoses in children.