Elvar Smári Sævarsson, doctoral student at the Faculty of Sport, Leisure Studies and Social Education
"The study focuses on the connection between stamina in nine year olds and their results in standardised tests in Icelandic and mathematics in fourth, seventh and tenth grade."
Says Elvar Smári Sævarsson, doctoral student in sport and health sciences, but he is interested in studying the connections between physical activity and health in young people.
"The spark for this project comes from international research where a positive connection between cognitive abilities or educational performance and stamina or physical endurance among pupils has been established."
Elvar Smári says that this connection has never been studied in Iceland before. "I found it intriguing to see if this connection was to be found with Icelandic pupils."
Elvar Smári Sævarsson
International research has revealed that even though time is taken from academic subjects and used for physical exercise it does not affect academic performance.
According to Elvar, information on the educational performance of participants in the study "Lifestyle of nine to 15 year old Icelanders" was added to the existing data. " This study was conducted by the UI's Research for Sport and Health Sciences in 2003. The results at the time showed that around 20% of the children participating in the study were overweight."
Elvar Smári says it very interesting that results in the new study reveal that there is a positive link between educational performance and stamina in girls, where more strength is connected to higher grades. "No connection was found among the boys."
Elvar Smári says it not clear why this difference between the sexes occurs, but difference in maturity or ambition could possibly explain this. International research has revealed that even though time is taken from academic subjects and used for physical exercise it does not affect academic performance.
He says this is in all likelihood an addition to the hitherto know health promoting factors for young people. "These results could potentially be a motivation for school authorities and parents to take physical activity even more into consideration."
Supervisors: Erlingur S. Jóhannsson and Sigurbjörn Árni Arngrímsson, professors at the Faculty of Sport, Leisure Studies and Social Education, Erla Svansdóttir, post-doc at the same faculty, and Þórarinn Sveinsson, professor at the Faculty of Medicine.