SPORT PLAYS A KEY ROLE IN CHILDREN'S NEURAL FUNCTION AND GROWTH

Giulia My, Lorenzo Giannotta, Santo Marsigliante, Antonella Muscella

Abstract


Several evidence show that physical activity promotes growth and development in childhood, with multiple psychological, physiological, and cognitive and neural functioning benefits.

To verify these adaptations, we analysed the effects of a football season in young male footballers (n=29; 11.6±1.2 years) and compared with control young’s (n=30; 11.4±0,8 years). Anthropometric, blood (cortisol, testosterone, growth hormone hGH) and physical assessments were measured before the start of season (T0), after training (T1), in the middle (T2), at the end of season (T3). The results showed changes for hormones values (P<0.01), with higher hGH concentration in footballers than in control group (P<0.001). Between the start of the training period and the end of the football season significant differences were observed in the anthropometric characteristics and in the physical form of the football players. In fact, a significant performance improvement, including the lower limb power (squat‐jump [SqJ], the counter‐movement‐jump [CMJ]) and the aerobic performance (Yo–Yo intermittent recovery test level 1 [YYIRT1]) was observed in young players. Finally, significant differences emerged between the young players and the control group in the D2 cognitive performance test: the players returned a higher value of total number of responses and of correct responses minus errors of confusion, on the contrary the number of errors was higher in the control group. The results confirm that physical activity induced physiological adaptations in young players and that these adaptations positively correlated to their physical growth and also to the improvement of attention and concentration.

Keywords


sport-physical activity-children-neural function-growth

Full Text:

PDF (Italiano)

References


Carson, V., Hunter, S., Kuzik, N., Wiebe, S. A., Spence, J. C., Friedman, A. Hinkley, T. (2016). Systematic review of physical activity and cognitive development in early childhood. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport. 19(7), 573–578.

Urhausen, A., Gabriel, H., Kindermann, W. (1995). Blood hormones as markers of training stress and overtraining. Sports Medicine. 20(4), 251–276.

Wood, R. I., & Stanton, S. J. Testosterone and sport: Current perspectives. (2012). Hormones and Behaviour. 61(1), 147–155.

Hammami, M. A., Ben Abderrahman, A., Hackney, A. C., Kebsi, W., Owen, A. L., Nebigh, A., Zouhal, H. Hormonal (cortical‐gonadotropic axis) and physical changes with two years intense exercise training in elite young soccer players. (2017). Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 31(9): 2388–2397.

Slimani, M., Baker, J. S., Cheour, F., Taylor, L., Bragazzi, N. L. Steroid hormones and psychological responses to soccer matches: Insights from a systematic review and meta‐analysis. (2017). PLoS One. 12(10), e0186100.

Hammami, M. A., Ben Abderrahman, A., Rhibi, F., Nebigh, A., Coppalle, S., Ravé, G., Zouhal, H. Somatotype hormone levels and physical fitness in elite young soccer players over a two‐year monitoring period. (2018). Journal of Sports Science & Medicine. 17(3): 455–464.

Donnelly JE, Hillman CH, Castelli D, Etnier JL, Lee S, Tomporowski P, Lambourne K, Szabo-Reed AN. Physical Activity, Fitness, Cognitive Function, and Academic Achievement in Children: A Systematic Review. (2016). Med Sci Sports Exerc. 48(6):1197-222.

Jackson, W. M., Davis, N., Sands, S. A., Whittington, R. A., & Sun, L. S. Physical Activity and Cognitive Development. (2016). Journal of Neurosurgical Anesthesiology. 28(4), 373–380.

Santana CCA, Azevedo LB, Cattuzzo MT, Hill JO, Andrade LP, Prado WL. Physical fitness and academic performance in youth: A systematic review. (2017). Scand J Med Sci Sports. 27(6):579-603.

de Greeff JW, Bosker RJ, Oosterlaan J, Visscher C, Hartman E. Effects of physical activity on executive functions, attention and academic performance in preadolescent children: a meta-analysis. (2018). J Sci Med Sport. 21(5):501-507.

Graf C, Koch B, Klippel S, Buttner S, Coburger S, Christ H, Lehmacher W, Bjarnason-Wehrens B, Platen P, Hollmann W. Relationship between physical activity and concentration in childhood—Initial results of the CHILT project. (2003). Dtsch. Z. Sportmed. 54: 242–246.

Janssen I, Leblanc AG. Systematic review of the health benefits of physical activity and fitness in school-aged children and youth. (2010). Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 7:40.

Leung MM, Agaronov A, Grytsenko K, Yeh MC. (2012). Intervening to Reduce Sedentary Behaviors and Childhood Obesity among School-Age Youth: A Systematic Review of Randomized Trials. J Obes. 2012:685430.

Wu XY, Han LH, Zhang JH, Luo S, Hu JW, Sun K. (2017). The influence of physical activity, sedentary behavior on health-related quality of life among the general population of children and adolescents: A systematic review. PLoS One. 12(11): e0187668.

Iannotti RJ, Kogan MD, Janssen I, Boyce WF. (2009). Patterns of adolescent physical activity, screen-based media use, and positive and negative health indicators in the U.S. and Canada. J Adolesc Health. 44(5): 493-9.

Tremblay MS, LeBlanc AG, Kho ME, Saunders TJ, Larouche R, Colley RC, Goldfield G, Connor Gorber S. (2011). Systematic review of sedentary behaviour and health indicators in school-aged children and youth. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 8:98.

Lipowski M, Lipowska M, Jochimek M, Krokosz D. (2016). Resiliency as a factor protecting youths from risky behaviour: Moderating effects of gender and sport. Eur J Sport Sci. 16(2): 246-55.

Graf C. Active at any age—Sports and nutrition in various stages of life: Children. (2016). Aktuel Ernahrungsmed. 41: 32–34.

Di Maglie, A., Marsigliante, S., My, G., Colazzo, S., Muscella, A. (2022). Effects of a physical activity intervention on schoolchildren fitness. Physiological reports, 10(2), e15115.

Pellis SM, Pellis VC, Bell HC. (2010). The function of play in the development of the social brain. Am J Play. 2: 278–96.

Cuneo, R. C., & Wallace, J. D. (1994). Growth hormone, insulin‐like growth factors and sport. Endocrinology and Metabolism. 1: 3–13.

Urhausen, A., Gabriel, H., Kindermann, W. (1995). Blood hormones as markers of training stress and overtraining. Sports Medicine. 20(4), 251–276.

Tomporowski PD. (2003). Effects of acute bouts of exercise on cognition, Acta Psychol. (Amst.). 12: 297–324.

Sibley BA, Etnier JL. (2003). The relationship between physical activity and cognition in children: a meta-analysis. Pediatr. Exerc. Sci. 15: 243–256.

Jackson, A. S., & Pollock, M. L. (1978). Generalized equations for predicting body density of men. British Journal of Nutrition. 40(3): 497–504.

Komi PV, Bosco C. (1978). Utilization of stored elastic energy in leg extensor muscles by men and women. Medicine and Science in Sports. 10(4): 261–265.

Bangsbo, J., Iaia, F. M., Krustrup, P. (2008). The Yo‐Yo intermittent recovery test: A useful tool for evaluation of physical performance in intermittent sports. Sports Medicine. 38: 37–51.

Bates, M., Lemay, E. (2004). The d2 Test of Attention: Construct validity and extensions in scoring techniques. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society. 10(3): 392-400.

Young, W. B., Hepner, J., & Robbins, D. W. (2012). Movement demands in Australian rules football as indicators of muscle damage. Journal of Strength Conditioning Research, 26, 492–496.

Adlercreutz, H., Härkönen, M., Kuoppasalmi, K., Näveri, H., Huhtaniemi, I., Tikkanen, H., Karvonen, J. (1986). Effect of training on plasma anabolic and catabolic steroid hormones and their response during physical exercise. International Journal of Sports Medicine, 7(Suppl 1), 27–28.

Brown, K. A., Patel, D. R., & Darmawan, D. (2017). Participation in sports in relation to adolescent growth and development. Translational Pediatrics, 6(3): 150–159.

Pontifex M.B., McGowan A.L., Chandler M.C., Gwizdala K.L., Parks A.C., Fenn K., Kamijo K. (2019). A primer on investigating the after effects of acute bouts of physical activity on cognition. Psychol. Sport. Exerc. 40:1–22.

Stillman C.M., Cohen J., Lehman M.E., Erickson K.I. (2016). Mediators of physical activity on neurocognitive function: A review at multiple levels of analysis. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 10:626.

Herold F., Müller P., Gronwald T., Müller N.G. (2019). Dose-response matters!—A perspective on the exercise prescription in exercise-cognition research. Front. Psychol. 10: 2338.

Herold F., Wiegel P., Scholkmann F., Müller N.G. (2018). Applications of functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fnirs) neuroimaging in exercise⁻cognition science: A systematic, methodology-focused review. J. Clin. Med. 7:466.

Hashimoto T., Tsukamoto H., Takenaka S., Olesen N.D., Petersen L.G., Sørensen H., Nielsen H.B., Secher N.H., Ogoh S. (2018). Maintained exercise-enhanced brain executive function related to cerebral lactate metabolism in men. FASEB J. 32:1417–1427.

Hwang J., Brothers R.M., Castelli D.M., Glowacki E.M., Chen Y.T., Salinas M.M., Kim J., Jung Y., Calvert H. (2016). Acute high-intensity exercise-induced cognitive enhancement and brain-derived neurotrophic factor in young, healthy adults. Neurosci. Lett. 630:247–253.

Törpel A., Herold F., Hamacher D., Müller N.G., Schega L. (2018). Strengthening the brain—Is resistance training with blood flow restriction an effective strategy for cognitive improvement? J. Clin. Med. 7:337.

Brooks G.A., Arevalo J.A., Osmond A.D., Leija R.G., Curl C.C., Tovar A.P. (2021). Lactate in contemporary biology: A phoenix risen. J Physiol. 1–23.




DOI: https://doi.org/10.32043/gsd.v6i1.554

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2022 Giornale Italiano di Educazione alla Salute, Sport e Didattica Inclusiva

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Italian Journal of Health Education, Sports and Inclusive Didactics 
ISSN: 2532-3296