Mini review: physically active schools as an arena for promoting health and cognition at the same time

Children and young adults spend a large part of their daily lives at school. Due to the increasingly critical physical and mental health of students, various concepts have been developed over the past decades to ensure that physical activity is implemented regularly and wherever possible in everyday...

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Main Authors: Jennifer Liersch, Karin Eckenbach, Michael Pfitzner
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2025-05-01
Series:Frontiers in Sports and Active Living
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fspor.2025.1532809/full
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author Jennifer Liersch
Karin Eckenbach
Michael Pfitzner
author_facet Jennifer Liersch
Karin Eckenbach
Michael Pfitzner
author_sort Jennifer Liersch
collection DOAJ
description Children and young adults spend a large part of their daily lives at school. Due to the increasingly critical physical and mental health of students, various concepts have been developed over the past decades to ensure that physical activity is implemented regularly and wherever possible in everyday school life. Although the relevance of these concepts is widely recognized, physical activities are often cancelled first when time is (suddenly) short. To secure cognitive components, low-movement core subjects are given preference over health-relevant physically active parts. However, there is empirical evidence that targeted integration of physical activity can improve students' cognitive performance, even when the amount of academic core subjects is reduced. The promotion of executive functions through movement has been demonstrated to be a useful approach. The findings of relevant studies are presented and discussed here in relation to different settings in everyday school life, including physical education, extracurricular school sports, and other learning areas. The aim is to demonstrate and justify ways of implementing physical activity in everyday school life and to promote the health and cognitive development of the students at the same time.
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spelling doaj-art-5f8aaebd35004aaa95ee492f6285d76e2025-08-20T03:10:42ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Sports and Active Living2624-93672025-05-01710.3389/fspor.2025.15328091532809Mini review: physically active schools as an arena for promoting health and cognition at the same timeJennifer LierschKarin EckenbachMichael PfitznerChildren and young adults spend a large part of their daily lives at school. Due to the increasingly critical physical and mental health of students, various concepts have been developed over the past decades to ensure that physical activity is implemented regularly and wherever possible in everyday school life. Although the relevance of these concepts is widely recognized, physical activities are often cancelled first when time is (suddenly) short. To secure cognitive components, low-movement core subjects are given preference over health-relevant physically active parts. However, there is empirical evidence that targeted integration of physical activity can improve students' cognitive performance, even when the amount of academic core subjects is reduced. The promotion of executive functions through movement has been demonstrated to be a useful approach. The findings of relevant studies are presented and discussed here in relation to different settings in everyday school life, including physical education, extracurricular school sports, and other learning areas. The aim is to demonstrate and justify ways of implementing physical activity in everyday school life and to promote the health and cognitive development of the students at the same time.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fspor.2025.1532809/fullexecutive functionsphysical activityphysical educationclassroomschool sportsphysically active breaks
spellingShingle Jennifer Liersch
Karin Eckenbach
Michael Pfitzner
Mini review: physically active schools as an arena for promoting health and cognition at the same time
Frontiers in Sports and Active Living
executive functions
physical activity
physical education
classroom
school sports
physically active breaks
title Mini review: physically active schools as an arena for promoting health and cognition at the same time
title_full Mini review: physically active schools as an arena for promoting health and cognition at the same time
title_fullStr Mini review: physically active schools as an arena for promoting health and cognition at the same time
title_full_unstemmed Mini review: physically active schools as an arena for promoting health and cognition at the same time
title_short Mini review: physically active schools as an arena for promoting health and cognition at the same time
title_sort mini review physically active schools as an arena for promoting health and cognition at the same time
topic executive functions
physical activity
physical education
classroom
school sports
physically active breaks
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fspor.2025.1532809/full
work_keys_str_mv AT jenniferliersch minireviewphysicallyactiveschoolsasanarenaforpromotinghealthandcognitionatthesametime
AT karineckenbach minireviewphysicallyactiveschoolsasanarenaforpromotinghealthandcognitionatthesametime
AT michaelpfitzner minireviewphysicallyactiveschoolsasanarenaforpromotinghealthandcognitionatthesametime