Not All Exercise Is Equal: Team Sports May Enhance Children’s Cognition

A new study links team sports with improved cognitive development in children, highlighting the importance of structured physical activities for brain function.

matimix/Shutterstock

Not all activities are created equal when it comes to boosting brainpower.

A new study suggests that team sports—not just exercise—may hold the secret to enhancing children’s cognitive skills, challenging conventional wisdom about child development.

Team Sports Boosted Executive Function in Children

The cohort study, published in JAMA Network Open on Dec. 17, found that children with a mean age of 11 involved in team sports exhibited superior executive function—the thinking skills needed to organize, remember details, make decisions, and stay focused—compared to those engaged in individual sports.

The researchers classified sports into 11 team activities and 22 individual ones, including soccer, gymnastics, and martial arts. Team sports necessitate skills such as quick decision-making and adaptability, likely contributing to the observed enhancements in executive function, according to the researchers.

Story continues below advertisement

In tests in which a lower score indicates better performance, those who played on sports teams scored three points lower in tests measuring their brain function and self-control abilities than their counterparts in individual sports.

Team Sports Enhance Brain Function, General Activity Doesn’t

While participation in team sports significantly enhanced cognitive function in children, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity did not correlate similarly with cognitive performance during middle childhood, a period generally considered to be between ages 6 and 12.

Specifically, engaging in at least 60 minutes of daily physical activity at a young age did not have a clear connection to later brain function scores during middle childhood.​

Sedentary Behavior and Cognitive Performance

The study also found that increased sedentary behavior was associated with better impulse control and self-monitoring scores.

The authors noted that this finding aligns with prior research but cautioned that “other studies reported no association or negative associations.”

They attributed this inconsistency to the different sedentary activities children can perform; for example, reading may strengthen brain connections related to cognitive control, while excessive screen time could weaken them.

Tracking Childhood Movement

The research was conducted by the Department of Human Movement Sciences of the University Medical Center Groningen in the Netherlands using data from the Groningen Expert Center for Kids with Obesity cohort study. It involved a sample of 880 Dutch children.

Story continues below advertisement

Researchers assessed the participants’ daily physical activity levels at ages 5 to 6 using wrist-worn accelerometers, which provided detailed data on the intensity and duration of the children’s movements.

At ages 10 to 11, children were reevaluated using a parental questionnaire measuring different aspects of cognition, including inhibition, emotional control, working memory, and overall executive function.

Executive Functioning Skills Essential for Success: Expert

In an invited commentary, Dr. Alison Brooks, a professor in the sports medicine division of the Department of Orthopedics at the University of Wisconsin, highlighted that athletes in team sports typically exhibit better impulse control, emotional regulation, and sensitivity to others’ needs.

“This means team sport athletes [have] superior impulse and emotional control and interpersonal awareness as well as superior ability to retain information and to plan, organize, and initiate a task and then stay on task and switch tasks as needed,” she wrote.

The study authors encourage parents and educators to facilitate children’s participation in team sports as part of a comprehensive approach to enhancing children’s cognitive and physical development.

Story continues below advertisement

The new findings echo those of prior research.

A similar study published in 2023 on children ages 6 to 9 found that those who dedicated more time to reading and who participated in team sports exhibited better cognitive skills than those engaged in other activities, such as unsupervised computer access and unstructured free play.

The best results were observed when participants combined increased sports and reading time with a healthy diet.

“Improved diet quality and increased organized sports and reading were associated with improved cognition,” the study authors concluded.