TITLE:
An Innovative Approach towards Selecting Aerobic and Coordinative Exercises in Clinical Practice for Children and Young People with ADHD
AUTHORS:
Carsten Vogt
KEYWORDS:
ADHD, Physical Exercise, Aerobic Exercise, Coordinative Exercise, Continuous Performance Test (CPT), QbTest, Medication, Treatment
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Biosciences and Medicines,
Vol.12 No.8,
August
23,
2024
ABSTRACT: A growing body of studies and systematic reviews show evidence of the beneficial effects of physical exercise on core symptoms of ADHD. Furthermore, studies indicate that physical exercise as an adjuvant can enhance the effects of medication in the treatment of ADHD. Aerobic and coordinative exercises improve executive functioning through their effect on neurocognitive domains that are implicated in ADHD. It is postulated that through their specific modus operandi, aerobic exercise, by raising cortical arousal levels, improves impaired alerting functions whereas coordinative exercises improve the regulation of inhibitory control through the involvement of a higher variety of frontal-dependent cognitive processes. The increasing use of routine neurocognitive testing with continuous performance tests (CPT), such as the QbTest, at clinical assessments for ADHD allows for an innovative approach to identify the assessment impairments in alerting function and inhibition control that are related to ADHD and accordingly choose aerobic or coordinative physical exercise in a more targeted fashion.