Does telling students to exercise help them academically?

Many of us, during our student days, were told that exercising regularly is a good thing for school performance. Why? The argument put forth by elders and well-wishers was that physical activity improves brain function by increasing blood flow and oxygen to the brain, which, in turn, enhances concentration, memory, and cognitive processing speed. We were also told that exercise reduces stress and anxiety while improving mood and sleep quality, all of which create a more optimal mental state for learning and test-taking. Simply put, a healthy body leads to a healthy mind.

The above pronouncements may well be true, but since they were typically made without any supporting evidence, it was difficult to determine how seriously one ought to take these “healthy body, health mind” declarations. Happily, a group of economists have now thoroughly researched this topic and their findings provide interesting food for thought. These researchers conduct a large-scale randomized controlled trial to isolate the causal impact of exercise on academic achievement in higher education.

They recruited undergraduate students from two Norwegian institutions—the University of Bergen and Bergen City College—who did not already hold gym memberships, thereby targeting individuals less likely to exercise regularly. A total of 778 eligible students were randomly assigned either to a so-called treatment group or to a control group. Students in the treatment group received free gym memberships for the semester, with some additionally offered a personal trainer or a financial bonus conditional on frequent gym attendance. In contrast, the control group received no exercise incentives. Because treatment assignment occurred after course registration deadlines, the intervention could not influence course choice, thereby strengthening the task of causal identification.

A key strength of the study is its use of comprehensive administrative data. The researchers combined objective scanner data on gym attendance with complete university records on academic outcomes, including credits completed and grades earned. The administrative records were supplemented by baseline and follow-up surveys measuring lifestyle habits, study hours, happiness, and self-control. Importantly, the analysis followed a pre-registered pre-analysis plan, thereby reducing concerns about data mining.

As expected, the “free gym membership” intervention substantially increased exercise. About 69 percent of treated students attended the gym at least once during the semester, compared with only 12 percent in the control group. On average, treated students made more than three times as many gym visits as untreated students. This confirms that financial and in-kind incentives are effective at increasing physical activity.

The central finding of the study is that incentivizing exercise significantly improves academic performance. Overall academic achievement was measured using total grade points, which combined both the number of credits completed and the grades earned. Treated students improved their academic performance relative to the control group by a factor that was both economically meaningful and statistically salient. Decomposing this finding showed that the gains were driven primarily by an increase in completed study credits rather than higher grades per course. In other words, students induced to exercise were more likely to complete and pass courses, even if their average grade conditional on passing did not increase substantially.

These researchers proceeded to further explore heterogeneity in the treatment effects. They found that the positive impact of exercise on academic performance was concentrated among students who struggled at baseline. Specifically, students with poorer lifestyle habits, fewer study hours, lower happiness, or weaker self-control experienced large and statistically significant gains. In contrast, students who already reported healthy lifestyles and strong self-control showed little or no improvement. These results suggest that exercise interventions may be particularly effective for vulnerable or at-risk students.

To better understand the mechanisms underlying these effects, the researchers analyzed changes in self-reported behaviors and traits. Treated students reported healthier lifestyles and improved self-control in the follow-up survey. In addition, there was suggestive evidence of increased study effort and well-being. These findings support the interpretation that exercise improves non-cognitive skills—such as self-discipline and lifestyle regularity—which in turn enhance academic outcomes. Additional research with the data demonstrated that increased exercise causally raised academic performance.

This research is significant because of three reasons. First, it provides rare experimental evidence on the causal link between physical activity and academic achievement, thereby addressing a key limitation of earlier observational studies. Second, it supplements research on behavioral interventions, showing that incentives targeted at health behaviors can generate positive spillovers in education—an area where direct financial incentives for academic performance have often produced disappointing results. Finally, this research speaks to broader discussions of human capital formation by highlighting the importance of non-cognitive skills and lifestyle factors in educational success.

In conclusion, we now have credible evidence to support the contention that healthy bodies lead to healthy minds. From a broader policy perspective, we learn that incentivizing physical exercise can be an effective and scalable tool for improving academic performance in higher education. Therefore, it is worth emphasizing that relatively low-cost interventions promoting physical activity may yield substantial educational benefits, especially for students who are most in need of support.

Amitrajeet A. Batabyal is a Distinguished Professor, the Arthur J. Gosnell professor of economics, and the head of the Sustainability Department, all at Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester. These views are his own.

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