TEAM SPORTS: THE ULTIMATE BRAIN BOOSTER

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Not all activities equally benefit children’s brains.

A recent study pub­lished in JAMA Net­work Open reveals that team sports—not just exercise—may sig­nif­i­cant­ly enhance children’s cog­ni­tive skills, chal­leng­ing tra­di­tion­al beliefs about child devel­op­ment.

Team Sports vs. Individual Activities

The research focused on 880 Dutch chil­dren, with an aver­age age of 11, and cat­e­go­rized their activ­i­ties into 11 team sports (like soc­cer) and 22 indi­vid­ual sports (such as gym­nas­tics and mar­tial arts). The find­ings? Kids involved in team sports showed supe­ri­or exec­u­tive function—the crit­i­cal think­ing skills need­ed to plan, focus, and make decisions—compared to those par­tic­i­pat­ing in indi­vid­ual sports.

What makes team sports unique? The need for quick deci­sion-mak­ing, adapt­abil­i­ty, and coor­di­na­tion like­ly con­tributes to their cog­ni­tive ben­e­fits.

Surprising Insights into Activity and Brainpower

Inter­est­ing­ly, while team sports stood out, gen­er­al phys­i­cal activ­i­ty didn’t show the same cog­ni­tive ben­e­fits. Even chil­dren who met the rec­om­mend­ed 60 min­utes of dai­ly exer­cise didn’t exhib­it sig­nif­i­cant improve­ments in brain func­tion.

On the flip side, increased seden­tary behav­ior, like read­ing, was linked to bet­ter impulse con­trol and self-mon­i­tor­ing. How­ev­er, exces­sive screen time could have the oppo­site effect, high­light­ing the com­plex­i­ty of these find­ings.

Expert Insights on Team Sports

Dr. Ali­son Brooks from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Wis­con­sin empha­sized the advan­tages of team sports in an invit­ed com­men­tary. She not­ed that chil­dren involved in team activ­i­ties often dis­play bet­ter impulse con­trol, emo­tion­al reg­u­la­tion, and inter­per­son­al skills.

“Team sports fos­ter crit­i­cal life skills like plan­ning, orga­niz­ing, and the abil­i­ty to adapt to chang­ing tasks,” Brooks explained.

Encouraging a Balanced Approach

The study authors rec­om­mend inte­grat­ing team sports into children’s rou­tines to enhance both cog­ni­tive and phys­i­cal devel­op­ment. Com­bin­ing struc­tured activ­i­ties like sports with oth­er enrich­ing expe­ri­ences, such as read­ing and a healthy diet, can yield the best out­comes, as sup­port­ed by pri­or research.

This grow­ing body of evi­dence under­scores the pow­er of team sports to nur­ture young minds—and reminds par­ents and edu­ca­tors of their poten­tial as a tool for suc­cess.