Physical Activity, Fitness and Cognition development in Early Childhood: A Systematic Review

Shreya Suman, MPT 1st Year

Purpose: The objective of this paper is to examine the relationship between the physical activities, cognitive development and academic related outcomes in early childhood.

Design/Method: Systematic review

A search was conducted from PubMed, PsycINFO, Web of Science, ERIC databases, and reference lists for articles that had participants aged less than 6 years were written in English, and were in peer-reviewed journals, intervention(duration, intensity, frequency or pattern of physical activities) and outcome(cognitive development) study criteria.

Result:

Sixty-eight articles reporting on 72 studies (29 observational and 43 experimental) were included. The majority of study effects were mixed, and the quality of evidence varied from very low to low.

Conclusions:

A review provided the role of physical activity and fitness on academic-related outcomes in early childhood is still lacking and the physical activities may have beneficial effects during early childhood. Additional high-quality studies are needed to determine what specific dosages of physical activity are impactful at this age and the weak quality of available evidence, future research is needed to strengthen the evidence base in this area..

Keywords: academic performance; development; exercise; pediatrics; physical education; youth; child; pre-school; infant language; physical activity.