Exercise Improves Academic Performance
The paper titled "Exercise Improves Academic Performance" by Alexander W. Cappelen, Gary Charness, Mathias Ekström, Uri Gneezy and Bertil Tungodden has been published in Journal of the Political Economy.
abstract
In a randomized controlled trial, we test whether removal of a barrier to exercise canimprove academic performance. We find strong support for this hypothesis: university students who were provided with a free gym card exercised more and had a significant improvement inacademic performance. The treated students were both less likely to drop out of classes and to fail at the exam. We provide evidence showing that exercise caused a healthier lifestyle and increased perceived self-control, which ultimately improved academic performance. The study demonstrates that removing barriers to physical activity can be an important tool for improving educational achievements.