This new research, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), focused on young adults and revealed that those who are physically fit, have a higher IQ and are more likely to go to university.

The researched studied 1.2 million Swedish men born between 1950-1976, who were enlisted for military service at 18. Physical fitness and intelligence performance data was collected during conscription examinations and linked with other national databases for information on school achievement, socioeconomic status and sibship.

After adjusting for relevant confounders there was a positive association with intelligence with cardiovascular fitness as measured by ergometer cycling.

Good physical fitness provided the strongest association with logical thinking and also verbal comprehension. Only cardiovascular fitness was found to play a role in the results of the IQ test, in contrast strength was not linked with cognitive performance.

“Being fit means that you also have good heart and lung capacity and that your brain gets plenty of oxygen,” says Michael Nilsson, professor at the Sahlgrenska Academy and chief physician at the Sahlgrenska University Hospital. “This may be one of the reasons why we can see a clear link with fitness, but not with muscular strength.”

Relationships between cardiovascular fitness and intelligence at age 18 were also evaluated and compared between twins and other siblings

Analysis between siblings suggested less than 15% was due to heritable factors and >80% of the cardiovascular intelligence association was due to environmental factors rather than genes to explain the link between fitness and a higher IQ.

The study also showed that cardiovascular fitness changes between ages 15-18 predict cognitive performance at 18. The researchers suggest that physical education is a subject that has an important place in schools and is an absolute must if we want to do well in maths and other theoretical subjects. This is interesting as certainly in my experience, I got to opt out of school physical exercise at age 15 by choosing to go 10 pin bowling or ice skating. I certainly did do anything that would improve my cardiovascular fitness at school.

Cardiovascular fitness at age 18 was also found to predict educational achievements later in life. The researchers compared the socioeconomic status of the men later in life and found that those who were fit at 18 were more likely to go into higher education and secured more qualified jobs.

Author Maria A. I. Åberg concluded that physical exercise could be an important instrument for public health initiatives to optimize educational achievements, cognitive performance, as well as disease prevention at the society level.

The studies finding make great headlines, but I wouldn’t consider them typical of the British youth. Over 1000 school children aged 8-15 were questioned in an online survey, restricting the demographic of the study to those who have access to the computer and internet and also the time and inclination to fill in an online survey (which from my experience you have to be referred to by an adult who is signed up to an online survey company). Taking into account this selected group of respondents it’s not too surprising that 55% of the children said that they spent 60 minutes or more a day texting, talking on the phone or using instant messaging and social networking sites. Apparently in this selective group of children, one in three did less than an hour a week of physical activity, surprising considering compulsory sports lessons at school.

If the same survey was taken of the children who visit the park from my house the results may be very different. Large groups of children hang around from the end of school till dusk, kicking a football on the astro-turfed pitch, cycling round the surrounding paths or just running and chasing each other. Although I doubt if you asked this group if they did regular exercise they would think that they did. Also the secondary schools in my area are over a mile away and each day you see the constant stream of children walking to and from school. If brisk walking is classified as moderate exercise then most of these are getting at least 60 minutess exercise a day without even trying or being aware of it.

One statistic that was interesting is that 20% said they thought they did not need to exercise because they were not overweight. Most health advertising is about watching watch you eat and being active to reduce obesity. Those in a healthy weight range probably don’t think it applies to them, so it is good that this year’s campaign is to encourage the importance of physical activity for all through an Ultimate Dodgeball event.

I teach both private and school swimming lessons and yes there are some obese children and those who try to get out of the lesson, but at the junior school age group I would estimate only 10% of those I teach are overweight. I have noticed however, that increasingly religion is becoming an excuse, the girls can’t swim because the costumes clings to their body when it gets wet, they are weak from fasting or the pool water can’t touch their lips. Perhaps these excuses should be addressed by the relevant bodies so children are freely able to participate in exercise classes and learn valuable live saving skills though swimming, without restrictions through their religion.

The BHF’s Food4Thought is a valid campaign and to make it into the tabloids it needed its shock statistics about the downfall of modern Britain, for papers like the Daily Mail to publish and promote the scheme. But can we have too many surveys like this putting down today’s youth and will children pay attention to a campaign that is already so critical of them? Maybe to be more active children need more freedom and fewer restrictions and they will happily ride their bikes to their friends’ house, choose to go to the swimming pool after school, or kick about the football in the park, without seeing exercise as a chore.