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Exercise Improves Thinking, Reduces Diabetes Risk in Overweight Children |
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From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Just three months of daily, vigorous physical activity in overweight children improves their thinking and reduces their diabetes risk, researchers say. Studies of about 200 overweight, inactive children ages 7-11 also showed that a regular exercise program reduces body fat and improves bone density. They are still overweight but less so, with less fat, a healthier metabolism and an improved ability to handle life," says Dr. Catherine Davis, clinical health psychologist at the Medical College of Georgia and lead investigator. All study participants learned about healthy nutrition and the benefits of physical activity; one-third also exercised 20 minutes after school and another third exercised for 40 minutes. "Aerobic exercise training showed dose-response benefits on executive function (decision-making) and possibly math achievement, in overweight children," researchers write in an abstract being presented during The Obesity Society's Annual Scientific Meeting Oct. 20-24 in New Orleans. Functional magnetic resonance imaging studies, which show the brain at work, were performed on a percentage of children in each group and found those who exercised had different patterns of brain activity during an executive function task. "There have been several studies that have shown that exercise produces kind of a selective effect, particularly with older adults, in cognitive tasks that require regulation of behaviors," says Dr. Phillip D. Tomporowski, experimental psychologist at the University of Georgia and a key collaborator. Looking at the children's insulin resistance, a precursor of type 2 diabetes in which it takes more insulin to convert glucose into energy, researchers found levels dropped 15 percent in the 20-minute exercise group and 21 percent in the 40-minute group. Adult studies have yielded comparable findings regarding exercise's impact on insulin resistance and cognition.
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