Study: Exercise could raise grades

BALTIMORE, June 4 (UPI) -- Twenty minutes of brisk physical exercise daily could improve your grade point average, U.S. researchers said.

A study by the American College of Sports Medicine found college students who exercised 20 minutes a day had grade point averages about .4 higher, on a scale of 4.0, compared with students who did not exercise, CNN reported Friday.

The results suggest exercise reduces stress, improves performance and increases a sense of well-being, said Joshua Ode, who supervised the study.

"If the students are improving in the classroom, it may create a better campus environment. You're creating more successful students, which is the goal of universities," Ode said.

Ode and his team studied 266 undergraduates and defined moderate activity as exercises that don't make you sweat or breathe hard, and vigorous activity as exercises that do make you break a sweat.

The results were consistent regardless of gender or major, said Ode, who presented the study Thursday at the American College of Sports Medicine's annual conference in Baltimore.