How to boost children’s self control.

Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.

Short sessions of exercise increase self control.

Published evidence in the British Journal of Sports Medicine indicates that short sessions of exercise increase self control.  The feeling is that the increased blood flow to the pre-frontal cortex improves the function of this area.  The pre-frontal cortex is the part of the brain that is responsible for the so called “higher functions”.  In this case the monitoring of behavior and inhibition of inappropriate behavior.

Interestingly the studies did not demonstrate a high correlation between regular exercise and specific brain functions.

Regular exercise didn’t seem to have much impact on higher brain functions, the analysis showed, but the studies were too few in number, and their results too inconsistent to enable firm conclusions to be drawn, caution the authors.*

When trawling multiple articles for information on a specific topic it is important to be very cognizant of the often different intentions of various studies.  How a study is set up and how its data is analyzed may not easily lead to cross study generalizations.

To increase self control, short periods of exercise worked best.

 …short bouts of exercise did boost higher brain function in all three age groups.

…12 of the 19 studies looked at self control, and the analysis indicated that short bouts of exercise did improve this higher brain function across all three age groups, registering a small to moderate impact.

This is particularly important for children and teens, because well developed higher brain functions are important for academic achievement and other aspect of daily life, say the authors.*

As parents, how often do you find yourself saying “What were you thinking?”
The truth is that depending on the child’s age there may not be all that much thinking going on.  Especially in terms of outcome or consequence.  So, something that would increase self control is welcome.

“These positive effects of physical exercise on inhibition/interference control are encouraging and highly relevant, given the importance of inhibitory control and interference control in daily life, inhibition is essential for regulation of behaviour and emotions in social, academic, and sport settings”.*

I feel that I must point out that just because there is this burst of increased blood flow to the brain does not mean that will increase self control as well.  The thinking that is referred to in step two of the graphic above has to be based on something.  That something is the parental job of ingraining logic, concern for self and others, and responsibility.  And like any hard to penetrate scratch-resistant surface, many multiple scratchings will be required to leave an impression on your child’s brain!

So, how does knowing this help increase self control in your child?

Well one thing that occurs to me is that properly supervised playground time must remain an important piece of a child’s day.  Regular gym class with exertion must be retained also.  Both of these along with behavior patterning and modeling may increase self control in our children.

Exercise might be a useful treatment for conditions characterised by impaired higher brain functions, such as attention hyperactivity deficit disorder (ADHD) and autism, and may help delay the ravages of dementia.*

 What do you think will increase self control in our children, and by extension our society as a whole?  Please Comment and Share.

*BMJ-British Medical Journal. “Short bouts of exercise boost self control.” ScienceDaily, 6 Mar. 2013. Web. 17 Mar. 2013.

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