Physical Fitness, Self Control and ADHD

The Journal of Psychophysiology investigated the relationship between physical fitness and resting-state electroencephalographic (EEG) oscillations in 28 children (23 boys and 5 girls) with ADHD.   In addition, each child completed a battery of physical fitness assessments including flexibility, muscular endurance, power, and agility tests.

The results indicated the following:

1.  ADHD children with higher power fitness exhibited a smaller theta/alpha ratio than those with lower power fitness.

The researchers concluded that power fitness may be associated with improved attentional self-control in children with ADHD.

Power is the ability to exert a maximal amount of force in as short of a time as possible.  Here is a previous blog post entitled 5 Physical Activities to Increase Power In Children  at http://yourtherapysource.com/blog1/2014/04/24/5-physical-activities-to-increase-power-in-children/.

High Fast Skips are a great exercise to increase power.  This exercise is available in the 25+ Bilateral Coordination Exercises download.

Reference:  Huang, C. et al. Physical Fitness and Resting EEG in Children With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Journal of Psychophysiology. Volume 29, Number 1 / 2015. DOI 10.1027/0269-8803/a000131

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