Exercise, Kids & Learning

 June 23, 2009

Interview with Irene Smalls, Founder of Literacise
www.literacise.com

Mike Carruthers:
For kids to do well in school they need to study but what you don't hear much about is the connection between doing well in school and exercise.

Irene Smalls:
Exercise stimulates the formulation of new brain cells. Exercise helps overweight youngsters learn; physically fit kids do better in school.

 
            Irene Smalls

 Irene Smalls, Children's author and founder of Literacise, says there is solid scientific evidence to support all this and yet exercise is becoming less and less a part of the lives of today's kids.

With the current push to pass the standardized tests, a lot of schools have eliminated gym and recess to put more time on task. And we're running into a problem with childhood obesity - it's becoming an epidemic.

Besides the connection between exercise and health and exercise and learning there's also a connection between exercise and behavior...

Particularly among boys there is a hormone called serotonin and girls have more serotonin than boys and so girls are able to generally be more quiet but boys are fidgety. And so what recess does is it gives them an opportunity to get the wiggles out so that when they come back in class they can sit down and they can learn.

Irene's advice for parents is to keep kids moving.

We have animal bodies, we need to move and part of that translates into learning and part of that translates also into good health.

To hear the complete unedited interview, click here.