Exercise improves behavioral, neurocognitive, and scholastic performance in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
OBJECTIVE
To examine the effect of a single bout of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise on preadolescent children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) using objective measures of attention, brain neurophysiology, and academic performance.


METHODS
Using a within-participants design, task performance and event-related brain potentials were assessed while participants performed an attentional-control task following a bout of exercise or seated reading during 2 separate, counterbalanced sessions.


RESULTS
Following a single 20-minute bout of exercise, both children with ADHD and healthy match control children exhibited greater response accuracy and stimulus-related processing, with the children with ADHD also exhibiting selective enhancements in regulatory processes, compared with after a similar duration of seated reading. In addition, greater performance in the areas of reading and arithmetic were observed following exercise in both groups.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings indicate that single bouts of moderately intense aerobic exercise may have positive implications for aspects of neurocognitive function and inhibitory control in children with ADHD.
Department of Kinesiology and Community Health, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA. pontifex@msu.edu
Matthew B
MB
Pontifex
Brian J
BJ
Saliba
Lauren B
LB
Raine
Daniel L
DL
Picchietti
Charles H
CH
Hillman
D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002648:Child; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male