
Physical activity can have a positive effect on children who suffer from ADHD - Thevet
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/09/exercise-seems-to-be-beneficial-to-children/380844/
======
jordan0day
Was originally going to post "Well that's a big fat 'DUH!!!!'", but then I
thought better.

It's good to have studies to back up these sorts of things that typically get
treated as common sense.

~~~
Houshalter
Relevant, Hindsight Devalues Science:
[http://lesswrong.com/lw/im/hindsight_devalues_science/](http://lesswrong.com/lw/im/hindsight_devalues_science/)

>Daphna Baratz exposed college students to pairs of supposed findings, one
true ("In prosperous times people spend a larger portion of their income than
during a recession") and one the truth's opposite. In both sides of the pair,
students rated the supposed finding as what they "would have predicted".
Perfectly standard hindsight bias.

>Which leads people to think they have no need for science, because they
"could have predicted" that.

~~~
otakucode
And if the science contradicts what their intuition tells them is correct -
they disbelieve the science and cling to their intuition. Additionally, the
progress of civilization can be measured most accurately by seeing which
threats and dangers are removed from peoples lives. So when these people wish
to trust their intuition rather than science, they are vindicated - they are
protected by the umbrella of progress that intellectuals before them erected.
So they now have the luxury of sitting back and decrying the costs of
maintaining the infrastructure that protects them as unnecessary. This fuels
the vaccine nonsense, fears of GM crops, fears of wifi signals in England, and
all sorts of other similar issues. I expect these things will continue to
increase until eventually major portions of the infrastructure of modern
society will be dismantled or allowed to decay because no one believes they
are necessary.

------
lifeisstillgood
"Humans who evolved for constant outdoors activity and verbal co-ordination
amongst tribe members don't do so well being told to sit down and shut up"

There are somethings that "civilisation" has brought us like medicine and
plentiful energy and food that we want to keep - and some things like
industrial work patterns and sedentary indoor lifestyles that we will want to
remove.

Getting that balance right is not medication. It's whatever the opposite of
medication is.

Edit: thank you for the science of common sense mention - I forget that we
have too many politicians who already know what is common sense irrespective
of double blind controls and it is worth celebrating the effort to prove one.

------
carsongross
Children with ADHD, previously mislabeled "young boys", respond well to
physical activity, previously mislabeled "recess".

~~~
Eleopteryx
There's an argument for ADHD being over-diagnosed, but your sentiment
trivializes the issues that can prevent people like me from attaining a better
quality of life. I was about 23 by the time I got treated for ADHD. I often
wonder how different my trajectory as an adult might have been had I been
treated while I was still in high school. I got abysmal grades -- just barely
graduating, in fact -- and I dropped out of college rather quickly. I beat
myself up on account of my failures, over which in hindsight I had very little
control.

Amphetamines are no panacea. I don't truly know what I'm doing to my heart and
brain in the long term, anorexia is a constant concern, and coming down from
what I would describe as a 6-hour high can be devastating to my mood, but they
overall they improved my quality of life and facilitated me attaining a career
as a software developer. Perhaps more exercise would be just as effective as a
treatment, but knowing that I had a legitimate problem was crucial.

~~~
chunkiestbacon
+1 ADHD is real. It was a lot harder to get a career as a software developer
started. I feel like without finally discovering the root of my problem and
taking meds at age 18 it wouldn't have been possible. All those afternoons
spent over procrastinating on homework.

Excercise helps. I feel lasting positive effects on mood and concentration
when I lift regularly. Sadly, It doesn't alleviate the symptoms completly and
doesn't cure the syndrome.

I think we'll be able to treat ADHD much more efficently when we have cheaper
EEG that can be worn always. Recently the muse headband was introduced. I own
one and it's a great leap forward. Sadly there's no app for neurofeedback
training that is working with it yet...

------
lawtguy
I think this points out that the problem is we keep treating our children like
adults. We've pushed to make them learn skills earlier to the point that
kindergarden is now essentially first grade [0]. Additionally schools are
cutting back on PE to be able to cram more education in [1].

The result I believe is that normal childhood development of self-regulation
begins to look pathological and becomes diagnosed as ADHD. At the same time
we've been demanding more at younger ages, ADHD diagnosis have greatly
increased [2]. Additionally, roughly two-thirds of these kids won't have ADHD
by the time they become an adult [3]. I think this points to the fact that
we're simply expecting too much academically too early and we're compounding
this by taking away the physical play that would help them develop.

We need to reset kindergarden back to where it was so that most kids have a
chance to properly develop. We also need to restore the idea that children are
suppose to play, that it's good for them and not a waste of time.

P.S: For that other 30%, ADHD is real and drugs may be entirely appropriate.
I'd also suspect that more play and pushing learning later will help them as
well.

P.P.S: We also need to find a way for the kids that do have the self-
regulation to learn more advanced material. Right now schools do a terrible
job of dealing with the kids on either end of the bell curve of learning
skills.

P.P.P.S: Boys appear to lag girls by almost year in terms of their self-
regulation [4]. I suspect that is why boys are far more diagnosed with ADHD.
In any case, I believe this is hurting both boys and girls, it's just more
apparent in boys.

[0]: [http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/what-happened-
kin...](http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/what-happened-kindergarten)
[1]: [http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/education/many-schools-
cut...](http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/education/many-schools-cutting-back-
physical-education) [2]: [http://psychcentral.com/news/2013/11/25/adhd-
diagnosis-treat...](http://psychcentral.com/news/2013/11/25/adhd-diagnosis-
treatment-on-the-rise-in-u-s/62500.html) [3]:
[http://www.healthline.com/health-news/mental-adhd-causes-
pro...](http://www.healthline.com/health-news/mental-adhd-causes-problems-
into-adulthood-030413) [4]:
[http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/09/why-
gir...](http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/09/why-girls-get-
better-grades-than-boys-do/380318/)

~~~
ANTSANTS
Probably even worse than the reduction of PE time is the reduction of
playground time and the overbearing focus on child safety ruining what
remains. As stereotypical dorky kid, I never liked PE, but I'd happily run
around outside for hours if I was playing tag or basketball or something with
friends. I'm not sure if kids these days get to have that experience.

------
joncooper
John Ratey wrote several good books on ADD/ADHD as well as this one: _Spark:
The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain_
[http://www.amazon.com/Spark-Revolutionary-Science-
Exercise-B...](http://www.amazon.com/Spark-Revolutionary-Science-Exercise-
Brain/dp/0316113514) \- it is pretty good.

------
Thevet
Didn't use the existing title because it's potential hyperbolic/confusing
(medication suggests a pharmaceutical, at least to me). Still, a potentially
very important finding. Here's the newly-released paper cited in the article:
[http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2014/09/...](http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2014/09/24/peds.2013-3219.abstract)

~~~
tjradcliffe
It appears that paper has nothing to do with kids who have been diagnosed with
ADHD... at least there's no mention of that in summary unless I'm really
missing something. The article in the Atlantic cites other work that is ADHD-
specific.

This is important because it is not uncommon to find interventions (including
drugs) that benefit people who do not have a given condition that do nothing
for people who have the condition.

To take a ridiculous but hopefully memorable example: steroids will not help a
person with no arms lift more weight, even though they may help other people a
lot. In the case of metabolic diseases, sufferers are generally missing
important metabolic pathways that the rest of us have, so the example isn't
completely irrelevant.

In the present case, I think it's perfectly reasonable that exercise will help
(although what I think is perfectly reasonable and what is true have nothing
to do with each other) and as the Atlantic articles says, other studies have
shown this, but I just wanted to make a pedantic point about that particular
pediatric paper.

~~~
Animats
The study says "The exclusion criteria included special educational services
related to cognitive or attentional disorders ...". So kids diagnosed with
ADHD had been specifically excluded. This should be tried on ADHD-diagnosed
kids. If they're physically healthy, 70 minutes a day of mild exercise won't
hurt them.

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nether
I'd rather keep my kid in and teach him to code.

