Breakfast and Physical Activity Improve Academic Performance In School Children

Previous research has said that greater physical activity may help children focus and improve school test scores, and children who eat breakfast perform better in school. Recently, a study in Health Education Research looked at the relationship between literacy and numeracy scores and health related factors such as nutritional quality of breakfast, physical activity, attitude and self-esteem. The results showed that eating a nutritious breakfast was associated with higher reading scores and engaging in greater amounts of physical activity was associated with higher math scores in children, regardless of that child’s socioeconomic status. While economic status is still a factor influencing children’s test scores, this influence can be mitigated to some extent by engaging in good health behaviors like eating breakfast and exercising regularly.

O’Dea JA, Mugridge AC. Nutritional quality of breakfast and physical activity independently predict the literacy and numeracy scores of children after adjusting for socioeconomic status.  Health Educ Res. 2012 Jul 13. [Epub ahead of print]