Running Head: EXERCISE AND BRAIN FUNCTION

PPE 310: Health Literacy for Schools

Exercise vs. Brain Function
Signature Assignment
Annie DeRemer and Helena Moore
Course #25966
Dr. Hesse

Running Head: EXERCISE AND BRAIN FUNCTION

Introduction
Exercise improves mood and sleep, and reduces stress and anxiety. Problems in
these areas frequently cause or contribute to cognitive impairment (Harvard Medical
School 2015). This statement directly tells us that exercise has a direct impact on the
brain and how it functions. When a child is in a classroom learning all day, it is hard to
stay focused. Brains cant function to the best of its abilities when it is getting little to no
physical movement. This is the exact reason why we have recess and brain breaks during
school. You cannot expect a child to sit for 6+ hours without letting them move freely
for at least an hour a day. Some examples you can use is to do a brain break, play a
physical game, or have a mid day recess besides the one the kids get a lunch. One recess
is not enough, especially for kids in elementary school. The students academics will
also begin to drop and their bad behaviors will soon increase without the correct amount
of exercise because they arent able to get all the use out of their brain if it isnt awake
and alert. Overall, exercise it is a vital part of the kids day. The more exercise the kids
get during the day will increase their brain function and improve their academics and
behaviors. Because exercise is so vital, we have come up with a fundraiser to where the
kids get donations to run and whichever class wins the most donations will win a field
trip to a museum to learn more about their bodies and how they work. The link to
Annies E-portfolio is ms.anniederemer.weeebly.com and the link to Helenas EPortfolio is mooreteaching.weebly.com.

Running Head: EXERCISE AND BRAIN FUNCTION

Literature Review
The article Promoting Healthy Lifestyles for Children at School illustrated the
effects a study would have on third grade students. The study consisted of bringing in
trainers to different schools to talk about how health promotes how you learn and they
had some of the students work out using this intervention program and others who didnt
use this intervention program. The results were that the intervention programs grades
increased by 25.2% over the group who didnt do the intervention. This directly shows
that exercise improves brain function.
The article of Physical Exercise and Brain Function in Older adults states that
exercise is an efficient, non-pharmaceutical way to improve brain function in an older
adult. It also states that exercise will help maintain brain function when the patient gets
into their 70s or 80s and beyond. This article makes the reader believe that exercise
even helps patients with dementia or a mild cognitive impairment maintain brain
function because it exercise keeps the mind always thinking and working.
In the article Department of Physical Therapy, it clearly states that when patients
get older, especially ones who have cognitive disabilities such as dementia or any type
of neurological impairment, exercise is highly needed. The professionals of this study
claim that exercise is what will help lower the risk of developing dementia or a cognitive
disability as the patient gets older. The conclusion of this article says that Exercise
programs that are structured, individualized, higher intensity, longer duration, and
multicomponent show promise for preserving cognitive performance in older adults.

Running Head: EXERCISE AND BRAIN FUNCTION

While reading the article titled Preliminary Assessment of a School-Based

Healthy Lifestyle Intervention Among Rural Elementary School Children talked about
what we all know to be true. The childhood obesity rates have skyrocketed during this
last generation across America. This article was implementing interventions including
promoting their physical education more in elementary schools, improving health
education, parent and family involvement, and school wellness policies. The conclusion
of this article says that the effect of implementing these interventions made a difference
in the students physical activities but more research would need to be done to see a
long-term effect.
The article titled Be smart, exercise your heart: Exercise effects on brain and
cognition talked about how a number of studies have been done to where exercise helps
a persons brain function at a higher rate. Exercise helps a person with their physical
health but also their cognitive health. Their conclusion of this article was that physical
exercise would drastically increase a persons mental health through their lifetime.
School Context
While getting more information about my school on schooldigger.com, I found
out some pretty interesting information. Percy L. Julian School in Phoenix, AZ is ranked
926th out of 929 Arizona Elementary Schools. That means my school is ranked 3rd worst
in all of Arizona and it is ranked the worst in the Phoenix Area. This school is mostly
Hispanic and African-American. Only 4.5% of students are on free or reduced lunch and
average class size is about 21 students per teacher. Lastly, the test scores are very low.
The entire school was only about 10% proficient on AZ Merit last year.

Running Head: EXERCISE AND BRAIN FUNCTION

Synthesis of Current Literature

Overall, the majority of the articles determined that Exercise has a positive
relationship with Brain Function in students. The articles also shared a common
conclusion in that students who exercise more often will have better function and use of
their brains than students who dont exercise regularly. A majority of the articles also did
studies and those had a common theme also meaning that the studies consisted of a
group of children were split into two groups and one group exercised then did a brain
function test and the other group didnt exercise and did the same test. Article two and
article three are very similar because they talk about how exercise helps dementia in
elderly me and women and both of these articles state that exercise can reduce the risk of
dementia. All of these articles were actually similar, mostly they all found that the more
active and fit a child was, the better the child did on the assessment. The overall
conclusion was that students who were required to do more physical activity or were
more physical fit performed better than the students who didnt exercise. These studies
show that exercise is directly related to brain function and academics.
Practical Implications
Marketing
The Health program that will be implemented in the school is going to be a
service-learning project implemented by students that focuses on informing both
community and their fellow classmates about the positive effects of physical activity on
brain function and ultimately the effects of physical activity on student success.
Educational Components

Running Head: EXERCISE AND BRAIN FUNCTION

For the educational component students will be learning about the anatomy of
the human body and how to stay healthy. The benefits of this particular topic are that it
can be immersed into every academic subject. Students can of course learn about
anatomy in science, percentages when learning about nutrition, for social studies
students can learn about diets from around the world, and reading and writing can be
immersed in every subject. No matter the age the content can be tailored to the grade and
the level of critical thinking can be tailored as well.
Committee
As far as the service part it is the students responsibility to implement a
fundraiser and to do this the students will have to form committees in order to divide up
the different tasks among the class. As a class the types of committees and the number of
students per committee will be determined. Students will have to submit applications for
a position they want and the teacher, the students, or a mixture depending on the
classroom environment can determine the final committees.
One of the committees that will be required to have will be a marketing team.
The team will have to design posters and pamphlets that help inform the students, staff,
and community about the fundraising project that will be set-up in order to promote a
healthy living. Students in the marketing committee will also have to work closely with
the decorations/design committee in order have a cohesive look.
Student Engagement
This health related service-learning project is able to create student engagement
on multiple levels. Within the class, students become involved in the content because it

Running Head: EXERCISE AND BRAIN FUNCTION

is focused on involving physical activity within the lessons. All students become more
engaged in school concerns because of the school wide fundraiser. Finally, all students
become more involved in their community as well by spreading the information from
the pamphlets. Student engagement is what drives this project.
Another student committee that will focus on the student engagement and
organize it is the scheduling committee. One of the rules of the run is that there has to be
at least one student on the course from each class at all times. Because of the rule, each
class will have a sign-up for students to sign-up for a specific time to run. The
committee is responsible for creating master schedules and to make sure that every slot
is filled for each class.
Funding
Thankfully the materials needed for the fundraiser can all be obtained from
school or a district office with no money necessary. There will be a goal amount set for
students to focuses on reaching. By reaching the goal amount the funds will buy
playground toys and activities, an active toy for every student in the class that raised the
most money, and field trip expenses for the class that set-up the project to go to the Halle
Heart Childrens museum.
With such a large project a clear outline for students as well as set expectations
for each committee will help keep both the students and you fully aware of each persons
responsibilities. Since the project does still allow for a large amount of adjusting the
service-learning project can be implemented in almost any grade level. The subject is
most definitely applicable to every grade level.

Running Head: EXERCISE AND BRAIN FUNCTION

Conclusion
After extensive research, we have come to the conclusion that exercise is directly
related to brain function. With this, it is vital that exercise is included into the daily
curriculum of students in order for them to perform academically. Our service-learning
project we would like to implement type of fundraiser involving running and raising
money. This would correlate with our topic because the fundraiser that the students are
involved with would have the students raise money in order to run and the money went
towards a field trip to a museum for the class that raised the most money total and the
class that implemented the service- learning project. Not only does it promote healthy
and active lifestyle, it promotes a sense of community through involving the students
and their families to be apart of raising the money to improve their lifestyle through an
academic field trip as well as connecting it back to the content they are learning in the
classroom. This provides an overall view of the benefits of a physical activity and brain
function. n one year my program should be an annual event to raise money for the kids
to go to an educational place or event. In 3 years, it should still be an annual event but it
should be a known event in that neighborhood and we should be able to raise money for
more than one class to go on the field trip or maybe even all. In 3 years, this program
should be made a community wide event and not just for students. I see this program
expanding a generous amount to even raise money for the school in general and not just
for the fieldtrip. By the end of five years, this money should be going toward exercise
programs in the school also. I think our program has high potential in schools and it
could really make a huge difference for the schools and for the kids.

Running Head: EXERCISE AND BRAIN FUNCTION

Exercise and Brain

Your kids are
currently receiving
about 60 minutes
of physical activity
per week at school
during their PE
class.

The more physical

activity a child gets, the
better their brain
functions in an academic
setting.

9
Games:
Hopscotch,
tag, hide and
seek

Park : Go play on
the
jungle
gym and run around
in the grass at your
local neighborhood
park
Outside/
Day Trips:

Go to a
water park,
swim, play in
the
sprinklers,
go on a
hiking trip,
or go
camping

Weekly Goal: 60
minutes of physical
activity daily and use
the fi ve food groups as
a guide to healthy

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Running Head: EXERCISE AND BRAIN FUNCTION

Appendix C: School Shirts

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The more I get to move the stronger I am physically and

mentally!

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References
Hillman, C. H., Erickson, K. I., & Kramer, A. F. (2008). Be smart, exercise your
heart: Exercise
effects on brain and cognition. Nature Reviews Neuroscience Nat Rev
Neurosci, 9(1), 58-65.

Ling, J., King, K. M., Speck, B. J., Kim, S., & Wu, D. (2014). Preliminary
Assessment of a SchoolBased Healthy Lifestyle Intervention Among Rural Elementary School
Children. J School Health Journal of School Health, 84(4), 247-255.

Louis Bherer, Kirk I. Erickson, and Teresa Liu-Ambrose, Physical Exercise and
Brain
Functions in Older Adults, Journal of Aging Research, vol. 2013, Article ID
197326, 2 pages, 2013. doi:10.1155/2013/197326

Neva J Kirk-Sanchez, Ellen L McGough "Department of Physical Therapy"

University of Miami
Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL, USA;

Department of Rehabilitation

Medicine,
University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

Percy. L Julian School (n.d). Retrieved April 03, 2016

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Sanders, M. J., Reynolds, J., Bagatell, N., Treu, J. A., Oconnor, E., & Katz, D. L.
(2015).
Promoting Healthy Lifestyles to Children at School. Journal of Public Health
Management and Practice, 21(4).