Why Exercise Is So Important For Children With ADHD

Effective ADHD management in children often involves a combination of different forms of treatment. Your child may be prescribed medication for their ADHD, and might also undergo behavioral therapy. Introducing regular exercise into your child's treatment plan can also be beneficial. 

Exercise and ADHD 

A number of studies have come to the same consensus: physical exercise reduces ADHD symptoms in both adults and children. This leads to improvements in a patient's neuropsychological indications, motor skills, and perhaps highly relevant to children—a patient's social behavior. 

The Benefits of Exercise

Implementing exercise into your child's ADHD treatment plan can improve your child's interaction with their peers when playing a sport as part of a team. This can also foster a child's self-esteem, and may help a child avoid the potentially adverse effects of a sedentary lifestyle.

The Best Form of Exercise

The benefits of exercise for children with ADHD aren't in doubt, and yet there can still be some trial and error in finding the best form of exercise. It has been suggested that aerobic and cardiovascular activity will provide the best results. So while pastimes such as golf and bowling may technically be sports, activities such as these are too low-intensity to be useful in this context. 

Trialing Different Options

Finding the best aerobic activity for your child may involve trying a few different options. Enquire about different sports offered at their school, or from local community organizations. Independent, self-regulated sporting activities are also a viable option. Depending on your child's interests, it could be as simple as going for regular jogs or bike rides, or joining a team and playing a regular game or match. Different sporting disciplines can also be utilized—so it's not like your child can only play one particular sport.

Scheduled and Maintained

Whatever the chosen activity (or activities) might be, the important thing is to regulate the activity, which admittedly is easier when it involves practice or a game at a set time. When a particular activity is independent, you must ensure that it's scheduled and maintained. Consistency is important when reaping the benefits of exercise in managing your child's ADHD.

Exercise to help manage ADHD in children is an adjunct therapy, meaning it's only truly going to be beneficial when combined with your child's existing forms of treatment. But it can be truly satisfying to observe these improvements, while also marveling that such striking results can be due to something as straightforward as exercise.

Contact a local children's ADHD management service to learn more.