Effects of exercise on cognitive performance in children and adolescents with ADHD: potential mechanisms and evidence-based recommendations

While the worldwide prevalence of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has increased dramatically to around 7% of children and adolescents over the past decade, this 2019 study highlights the problems associated with the current conventional treatments such as central nervous stimulants. Christiansen et al. review the current evidence on the effects of exercise on the cognitive functions in children with and without ADHD. Exercise is a safe and low-cost therapy for ADHD and has been suggested to positively affect several aspects of cognitive function in children. The author found that acute aerobic exercise can have a beneficial impact on executive functions in children with ADHD. According to the meta-analysis results, exercise had small positive effects on the population-based control children. Moreover, the data suggested that long-term interventions that incorporated exercises consistently had positive effects on children and adolescents with ADHD. It is difficult to draw conclusions due to the low number of studies investigating the effect of different exercise parameters. But the existing preliminary evidence indicates that exercise can enhance cognitive performance in children with and without ADHD.
[NPID: ADHD, attention deficit disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, exercise, physical activity, children, adolescents, review, cognition, cognitive function]

Year: 2019

Reference: Christiansen, L., Beck, M. M., Bilenberg, N., Wienecke, J., Astrup, A., & Lundbye-Jensen, J. (2019). Effects of Exercise on Cognitive Performance in Children and Adolescents with ADHD: Potential Mechanisms and Evidence-based Recommendations. Journal of clinical medicine, 8(6), 841. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm8060841