A recent Finnish study shows that higher levels of physical activities are linked to improved performance in academics during the first three primary school years, especially in boys.

The study published Wednesday in the online journal "PLOS ONE" was carried out with a partnership to the Physical Activity and Nutrition in Children Study and was organized at the First Steps Study at the University of Jyväskylä and at the University of Eastern Finland.

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The research looked into the link between various kinds of physical activity and the sedentary behavior seen in the first grade, and the arithmetic and reading skills in 186 children from grades one through three. The group of children was composed of 107 boys and 79 girls, aged six to eight years old.

The study found that participation in organized sports was related to better mathematics test scores and that higher levels of physical activity was linked to better reading skills.

The boys who were more active, especially the ones riding bicycles and walking to school and back, were better at reading than boys who were less active.

Additionally, boys who spent more of their time on activities that involve reading and writing fared better that those who did not.

On the other hand, boys who spent more time on the computer and playing video games were able to receive higher arithmetic exam scores than those who did not.

In girls, however, there were just a couple of associations of sedentary behavior and physical activity with academic achievements when several factors were accounted for.

The results of the study suggest the potential of participating in organized sports and exercise during idle time could improve the academic performance in the young children.

Boys, specifically, have better academic achievements when given active school transportation, physical activities, reading and writing, as well as the right amount of video games and computer use.

Tagsexercise, children, Academics, Finland, Playing, Video games, Writing, Reading, Arithmetic, math, Mathematics