Active brains need active bodies.

Exercise improves blood flow to the brain.

More blood flow may increase the flow of nutrients to the brain, and, in turn, improve cognition.

Exercise can also influence cognition indirectly, by improving general well-being, notes Daniel Sanabria Lucena, a neuroscientist at the University of Granada.

Exercise can also boost memory and thinking indirectly by improving mood and sleep, and by reducing stress and anxiety.

I don’t pay too much attention to what the NHS say but they do say that toddlers (aged 1-2) should be physically active every day for at least 180 minutes (3 hours). The more the better. This should be spread throughout the day, including playing outdoors.

Look at that again.

180 minutes.

Children aged 3-4 should also be active for 180 minutes a day!

The 180 minutes reduces drastically to 60 minutes for children aged 5-18. I completely disagree.

Why on earth should it reduce so much?

Children must be more active than this.

Over the last 15 years I have noticed a huge link between my students who are super successful in their assessments and the amount of activities that they do throughout the day. My students who take part in a variety of sports every day, go for long walks with their parents, skip, roller skate, roller blade, go ice skating, swim, play cricket, play golf or do gymnastics.

I have always been on a mission to get our children moving more.

When I worked full time in schools (private and state), I started to pay close attention to how much I was sitting down each day and I did not like it. I started to pay attention to how long my students sat down each day and I didn’t like it. That’s why I introduced The Daily Mile at my last school (in Wembley) and every single day we would get out on the field and walk for 2 miles (at a minimum). My students loved it. We all started feeling better and results definitely improved. As much as possible, I would take learning outside. We would just take our books and go and sit out in the field and do our learning out there.

Active brains need active bodies.

Pay attention to how much movement your child is getting each day (pay attention to yours too!) Perhaps it will surprise you.

Get moving.