Physical activity is good for the body and mind. A sedentary lifestyle, on the other hand, is harmful, especially if the rest time is spent in front of a screen. A simple message, which however clashes with a slightly more complex reality: a Finnish study reveals that children who spend more time in front of smartphones, television and PCs do not show cognitive deficits as adolescents, but on the contrary record better performances in mental processing tests. The research, published on Pediatric Exercise Sciencesuggests that the determining factor is therefore not the amount of time spent on devices, but the type of interaction and cognitive stimulus offered by digital activities, and that the same – probably – applies to physical and outdoor activities.
The research
To verify the effects of physical activity and sedentary lifestyle linked to the use of digital devices on the cognitive development of children, Finnish researchers drew on data from the Panic (Physical Activity and Nutrition in Children) study, a survey carried out in Finland to study the consequences of children’s movement and nutrition. The study followed 124 girls and 136 boys from childhood through adolescence. During this period of time, the team tracked physical activity levels and sedentary periods by cross-referencing periodic questionnaires submitted to participants and wearable sensors capable of simultaneously measuring heart rate and body movements.
Once participants reached adolescence, they underwent a battery of neuropsychological tests designed to evaluate specific parameters such as attention, working memory and information processing speed. Data analysis highlighted that greater overall exposure to digital devices corresponded to superior cognitive performance. A fact that goes in the opposite direction to previous scientific literature, and which according to the authors must be interpreted by reasoning on the nature of the stimuli provided by modern screens: the use of digital tools to play video games and other pastimes that train problem solving, active learning and planning could in short act as a form of training for the maturing brain, clearly differentiating itself from the purely passive use of multimedia contents, which could perhaps have been more widespread in the past.
What about physical activity?
The study also revealed a complex picture regarding body movement. In girls, light intensity physical activity maintained from childhood was associated with better working memory in adolescence. In males, the same benefit was found mainly in the presence of structured and guided motor activity. Surprisingly, however, low levels of unsupervised physical activity were associated with better cognitive test results as adolescents.
“Our research indicates that the connection between physical activity, sedentary behavior and cognitive abilities is complex, and depends on gender and the type of monitoring carried out,” concludes Petri Jalanko, researcher at the University of Jyväskylä and first author of the study. “However, further research will be needed to try to identify the causal relationships and effects of gender in this field.”