Abstract

THE ASSOCIATION OF BMI, PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND STRESS WITH THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF ADOLESCENT SCHOOL BOYS OF A SCHOOL IN NORTH 24 PARGANA DISTRICT

Kuntal Gupta, Mosarraf Hossain and Subha Bose Banerjee*

ABSTRACT

Physical activity is very much important for healthy life. Physical activity increases academic performance. It improves the social skills that might result in academic outcomes. Adolescent who learn to co-operate, share and abide by the rules of group physical activities are likely to feel more connected to their school and community. It can also decreases some diseases Increased physical fitness improves brain oxygenation, resulting in higher capacity for concentration and improvement in cognitive capacities. Several studies are there on the relation of BMI, physical activity and stress with academic performance level in different countries such as USA, Malaysia, Taiwan, Saudi Arab, Japan, Thailand, and South Africa. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between being overweight/ obesity and academic performance among the students of sarada prasad institute, kolkata. Several prior cross-sectional studies have found a positive relationship between physical activity and academic performance. The present results also support this. Some authors have also suggested that practice of physical activity can promote improvement in mental functioning and cognitive development. Findings of present study support the positive relationship of physical activity with both cognitive and academic performance (approximately the 75% of studies supporting a positive association). Cognitive performance seems to be associated with vigorous physical activity, while academic per-formance seems to be related to general physical activity. In addition, the results of our study suggest that a healthy diet, which could contribute to a healthy BMI, should be emphasized during student‟s education period.

Keywords: BMI, Physical activity, Adolescent boys, Stress, Academic performance, Cognitive performance.