Cardiovascular fitness may sharpen mind (Sweden)

"A healthy body may be the first step to achieving a healthy mind and appetite for learning. A large new study links cardiovascular fitness in early adulthood to increased intelligence, better performance on cognitive tests, and higher educational achievement later in life. Researchers say the results suggest that promoting physical and cardiovascular fitness as a public health strategy could maximize educational achievement as well as prevent disease at the societal level. "We believe the present results provide scientific support for educational policies to maintain or increase physical education in school curricula as a means to stem the growing trend toward a sedentary lifestyle, which is accompanied by an increased risk for diseases and perhaps intellectual and academic underachievement," write researchers Maria Aberg and colleagues of the University of Gothenburg in Gothenburg, Sweden in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The study followed more than 1 million men born in 1950 through 1976 who were enlisted for military service in Sweden at age 18. The sample included 3,147 twin pairs, of which 1,432 were identical. - webMD