New Study: Cognitive Aerobic Exercise Boosts Working Memory

February 27, 2025

Cognitive-aerobic exercise improves working memory more than aerobic exercise alone in children and adolescents with ADHD, according to a new study¹ published in Frontiers in Psychology. 

Previous research has shown that exercise relieves ADHD symptoms by increasing endorphins and neurotransmitters in the brain. This new study is the first network meta-analysis to evaluate the efficacy of various exercise interventions on working memory in children with ADHD.

The study’s results indicate the following impacts of various types of exercise on children with ADHD:

• Cognitive-aerobic exercise demonstrates the most significant effect on working memory, or the capacity for holding and using information over a short period of time.
• Ball sports follow closely behind with a moderate to high improvement effect.
• Mindy-body exercises and interactive games display a moderate improvement in working memory.
• Simple aerobic exercise and interactive games exhibit the smallest improvement effect on children with ADHD.

“For developing children, aerobic exercise expands the growth of brain connections, the frontal cortex, and the brain chemicals (such as serotonin and dopamine) that support self-regulation and executive functioning,” said Joel Nigg, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist and a professor in the departments of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Oregon Health & Science University. “These surprisingly specific findings in typically developing children have led to excitement about the possibility that the right kind of exercise can help ADHD.”²

Further analysis suggests that the effectiveness of cognitive-aerobic exercise in improving working memory in children with ADHD may depend on higher intervention frequency and longer cumulative intervention duration.

Cognitive-Aerobic Exercise for Working Memory

“Cognitive-aerobic exercise,” as defined by the researchers, combines physical activity with mentally stimulating tasks like decision-making and problem-solving, e.g., dual-task exercises, strategy-based games, and exergaming. It may involve activities with rules and objectives that increase the load on the prefrontal cortex, which is closely associated with working memory.

The researchers propose that cognitive-aerobic exercise is particularly powerful because it requires quick decision-making, memory retrieval, and cognitive switching in addition to physical activity, thus “working out” the working memory.

Ball Sports for Working Memory

Ball sports exert a positive impact on working memory, perhaps due to their reliance on strategy and social skills.  “Sports such as soccer or basketball typically require children to remain highly focused while also remembering and analyzing the actions of teammates and opponents, which places a high demand on task memory,” the researchers wrote. “In ball sports, children not only need to plan and execute movements but also continuously adjust strategies and predict the opponent’s actions. These multitasking and real-time adjustment characteristics directly exercise their working memory load, information storage, and response speed.”

This seems consistent with one ADDitude reader’s experience with her son, who has ADHD and plays sports like football and lacrosse.

“The strategizing required when playing these sports is helpful,” said Deborah from New York. “He is receiving many different stimuli at one time, helping him to decipher information and build his executive function skills.”

Mind-Body Exercise for Working Memory

Mind-body exercises (e.g., yoga, Tai Chi) only moderately affect working memory and “may be more significant in improving attention and emotional regulation but… may lack the high cognitive load stimulation required for direct improvements” in working memory, the researchers said.

Interactive Games for Working Memory

Sports-based interactive games primarily enhance social and cooperative skills by motivating children to engage in collaborative tasks or fun competitions in virtual environments. “Although these games have a positive impact on the social behavior and emotional regulation of children with ADHD, the cognitive challenges in these games are limited and generally do not involve high-intensity memory tasks or complex decision-making, making their direct impact on working memory relatively modest,” the researchers wrote.

Traditional Aerobic Exercise

Traditional aerobic exercise involves “repetitive and rhythmic movements, such as swimming or cycling, aimed solely at improving physical endurance and fitness.”

Due to its more straightforward physical activity format, traditional aerobic exercise had the smallest impact on working memory, the researchers proposed.

“Activities like running and skipping, while improving overall physical fitness and stimulating dopamine secretion, can help children with ADHD maintain attention in the short term,” the researchers wrote. “However, since they lack demands for memory and multitasking, they are often insufficient to activate the prefrontal cortex’s executive function areas. As a result, their direct impact on working memory is relatively small.”

The study’s overall findings suggest that “when designing exercise interventions for children with ADHD, priority should be given to exercise types with higher cognitive load,” the researchers wrote.

The meta-analysis analyzed data from 17 studies, which collectively had 419 participants with ADHD, ages 3 to 18. Studies included structured aerobic exercise (e.g., running, swimming), strength training (e.g., resistance training), cognitive exercise, and balance or coordination exercises. The intervention periods ranged from one to 13 weeks, with exercise frequency ranging from one to five times per week and lasting 10 to 90 minutes.

According to researchers, the study had several limitations, including a disproportionately small percentage of female participants. Further research is needed to explore how different kinds of exercise may impact people of various genders and why these types of exercise have different efficacy levels.

The researchers caution that their findings do not mean that children should treat their ADHD exclusively with exercise. According to the American Academy Of Pediatrics (APA), the most effective treatment for ADHD is parental behavior therapy paired with ADHD medication for children over age 6.

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