Children with serious behavioral disorders might fare better at school if they get some exercise during the day, a new study suggests.
The researchers focused on children and teenagers with conditions that included autism spectrum disorders, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), anxiety and depression.
They looked at whether structured exercise during the school day -- in the form of stationary "cybercycles" -- could help ease students' behavioral issues in the classroom.
Over a period of seven weeks, the study found it did.
Kids were about one-third to 50 percent less likely to act out in class, compared to a seven-week period when they took standard gym classes.
Those effects are meaningful, according to lead researcher April Bowling, who was a doctoral student at Harvard University at the time of the study.
"On days that the students biked, they were less likely to be taken out of the classroom for unacceptable behavior," said Bowling, who is now an assistant professor of health sciences at Merrimack College in North Andover, Mass.
[For more of this story go to https://consumer.healthday.com...students-718458.html]
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