Small pilot studies provide preliminary evidence that exercise interventions improve behavioral symptoms and neuropsychological functioning in children with ADHD¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (4 entries) · causal r1 · q2
Currency · newest study 2012 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Acute 30-minute aerobic exercise in boys with ADHD immediately improved response speed, response speed variability, vigilance, and anticipatory responding relative to a stretching control. → Berwid Olga G. 2012 q2 i? A single bout of moderate aerobic exercise produced significant Stroop Color-Word and selected WCST gains relative to a video-viewing comparison in children with ADHD. → Berwid Olga G. 2012 (2) q2 i? An eight-week before-school physical activity pilot improved response inhibition and parent and teacher ratings of ADHD symptoms and disruptive behaviors. → Berwid Olga G. 2012 (3) q2 i? A 10-week moderate- to high-intensity program improved motor skills, visual search speed, sustained auditory attention, and parent CBCL ratings in children with ADHD, without improving fitness. → Berwid Olga G. 2012 (4)

Evidence¶

Berwid Olga G. 2012¶

Berwid Olga G., Halperin Jeffrey M. (2012). Emerging Support for a Role of Exercise in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Intervention Planning. Current Psychiatry Reports. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-012-0297-4

q2 · i? · causal · r1

Acute experimental pilot by Medina et al. comparing aerobic treadmill exercise to a stretching control session on a go/no-go task in 25 boys with ADHD aged 7 to 15 years.

"30 minutes of aerobic treadmill exercise immediately resulted in increased response speed, lower response speed variability, improvements in vigilance and impulsivity (anticipatory responding), and marginal improvements in stimulus discriminability"

Berwid Olga G. 2012 (2)¶

Berwid Olga G., Halperin Jeffrey M. (2012). Emerging Support for a Role of Exercise in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Intervention Planning. Current Psychiatry Reports. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-012-0297-4

q2 · i? · causal · r1

Acute experimental pilot by Chang et al. in 40 school-age children with ADHD comparing 30 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic exercise to viewing exercise videos, with pre/post Stroop Color-Word and Wisconsin Card Sort administration. Baseline WCST differences complicate interpretation.

"Children in the exercise group demonstrated specific significant gains relative to controls on the Color-Word subtest of the Stroop, with no differences on the two control conditions."

Berwid Olga G. 2012 (3)¶

Berwid Olga G., Halperin Jeffrey M. (2012). Emerging Support for a Role of Exercise in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Intervention Planning. Current Psychiatry Reports. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-012-0297-4

q2 · i? · review · r2

Pilot by Smith et al. of a before-school physical activity intervention in 17 children in Grades K-3 exhibiting at least four hyperactivity/impulsivity symptoms, completing approximately 26 minutes of continuous moderate-to-vigorous activity daily over eight school weeks with good adherence.

"Findings indicated significant improvement on post-intervention and weekly measures of response inhibition, as well as parent and teacher ratings of ADHD symptoms and disruptive behaviors."

Berwid Olga G. 2012 (4)¶

Berwid Olga G., Halperin Jeffrey M. (2012). Emerging Support for a Role of Exercise in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Intervention Planning. Current Psychiatry Reports. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-012-0297-4

q2 · i? · review · r2

Between-subjects pilot by Verret et al. of a 10-week moderate- to high-intensity program (45 minutes, 3 times a week) in 21 children with ADHD aged 7–12; there was a trend toward improvement on teacher CBCL ratings in most areas.

"exercised children experienced significant gains in motor skills, neuropsychological measures of visual search speed and sustained auditory attention, and parent ratings on the CBCL social problems, thought problems, and attention problems indices."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Aerobic exercise improves executive functioning, most notably inhibitory control, in typically developing children, though evidence is tentative and one week-long study found no main effect — related
• Acute cardio exercise improves executive functions, response time, and academic performance in children with ADHD — possibly the same claim (merge candidate)
• Physical activity, including brief aerobic exercise sessions, improves children's selective attention — a broader claim this one bears on
• Acute moderate aerobic exercise speeds children's reaction times without improving accuracy, with greater speed gains on choice than simple reaction time tasks — related
• Chronic cardio exercise programs improve executive functions, attention, and behavior in children with ADHD — related
• Adolescents with high weekly physical exercise hours (more than 4 h/week) show significantly better selective attention, concentration, and processing speed than lower-exercise groups, with no differences between low and moderate groups — related
• A 10-minute bout of moderate-intensity exercise improves Stroop inhibitory control with increased left dorsolateral prefrontal activation in young adults — related
• Exercise effect sizes on ADHD functional outcomes are not related to exercise intensity, mean age of participants, or gender distribution
• Adults with ADHD who frequently engage in physical exercise report healthier psychological well-being than those who do not — related
• Under normal conditions children with ADHD show deficits in vigilance, visual search and divided attention relative to TD children — related
• Non-cardio exercise (yoga, tai chi, walking) shows predominantly positive but questionable acute and chronic effects in children with ADHD — related
• Physical exercise has a significant modest positive effect on functional outcomes (executive functions and motor skills) in children with ADHD — a broader claim this one bears on
• Intervention studies show stronger physical-activity effects on children's cognition than correlational studies — related
• In a randomized three-arm trial, medication but not physical exercise or neurofeedback was related to improved response inhibition and reduced theta power in children with ADHD — related
• Daily moderate-to-vigorous physical activity is associated with better executive functioning in boys with ADHD — related