Exercise Helps Children Deal with Stress

A sedentary lifestyle is not good for a child's healthy growth. Gathering more evidence to prove this theory, researchers say that inactive children are more likely to experience stress and are incapable of coping with stressful situations in their daily life, compared to active children.

Silja Martikainen from the University of Helsinki, Finland, and team reached the conclusion by analyzing 252 children. All the participants were aged 8. They measured the physical activity of the children with the help of a device called accelerometer. Levels of the stress hormone cortisol were measured through saliva samples.

Children were later exposed to everyday stressors through arithmetic and story-telling tasks. According to the physical activity of participants, researchers created different categories - most active, intermediate and least active.

They found levels of the stress hormones cortisol shooting up when the inactive children were exposed to the stressors. Cortisol levels in the most active children remained unchanged.

"The findings suggest physical activity plays a role in mental health by buffering children from the effects of daily stressors, such as public speaking,"  lead author of the study Martikainen said in a news release.

However, the study couldn't fully explain the factors that lead to this occurrence.

"Clearly, there is a link between mental and physical well-being, but the nature of the connection is not well understood," Martikainen said. "These results suggest exercise promotes mental health by regulating the stress hormone response to stressors."

Physical activity is an integral part of childhood. But, research shows that these days, children are allotting very little time for physical activities and more time for watching TV and playing video games. Apart from affecting mental health, a sedentary lifestyle can affect a child's physical health. Previous studies have shown that spending more time in front of the TV and lack of exercise places children at higher risks of putting on unnecessary weight.

Showing the benefits of remaining physically fit at childhood, a study published in 2012 found children who are physically fit performing better on school tests, particularly math and reading.