Does Gym Help Students Perform Better in All Their Classes?

Does Gym Help Students Perform Better in All Their Classes?
Fifth-grade students stretch during an outdoor physical education class. Photo by Allison Shelley for EDUimages

    How much do you like PE? A lot? A little? Either way, you might have known this already, but PE actually does other things besides making you exercise. Surprisingly, PE helps you learn! There are other benefits that aren't being physically healthy like improved mood and better concentration, among other things. While it may seem hard to believe, your local physical education class might just help you with the rest of your schoolwork.

    I've always felt reenergized walking back from Kenney Gym after PE, and that I have a new mindset ready for my next class. I find it is easier to concentrate earlier in the day, right after PE. While I’ve had a better time learning after recovering from exercise, I haven’t always known why. Fortunately, there are reasons why exercise does this to people.

    It turns out that the way exercise helps you learn stuff is by helping the brain! Exercising improves the connection of your nerve cells and allows for new nerve cells to be made, both of these processes helping you learn. (Ratey, qtd. Barile). Knowing that, I’m sort of glad PE is 1st period and not at the end of the day.
    
    So, we know this production of nerve cells not only lets you learn new things, but it also helps you concentrate more, remember information better, and have a more positive mood! Even though it may not always feel like it, exercise generally lowers your stress levels and signals your brain to make endorphins. This means you'll likely feel happier and more relaxed after exercising ("Study-boosting Benefits of Exercise").
                                                    Student in Class, 19 September 2002, 14:44, AlbertHerring


    I don’t know about you, but I am glad exercise has other benefits that aren’t just physical health. Knowing that I’ll be able to have a boost of energy and help myself learn is reassuring when I think about the classes I have after PE. I do have a question though: does this information make you like PE any better?

- Citlali

Works Cited:

Barile, Nancy. "Exercise and the Brain: How Fitness Impacts Early." Hey Teach!, www.wgu.edu/heyteach/article/exercise-and-brain-how-fitness-impacts-learning1801.html. Accessed 4 May 2023.

"Study-boosting Benefits of Exercise." UCL, 5 May 2020, www.ucl.ac.uk/students/news/2020/may/study-boosting-benefits-exercise#:~:text=When%20you%20do%20any%20type,help%20you%20focus%20your%20learning. Accessed 4 May 2023.


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