Fitness in Youth = Smartness in Adulthood

Gentle readers who scanned too hastily the most recent edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences may have missed a report about research conducted by scientists at a half dozen reputable Swedish institutions revealing that fitness at age 18 is a pretty good indicator of academic achievement later in life. The study, summarized in the Scientific American, reviewed the records of more than a million men
who enlisted for military service at the age of 18. First, Sciam reports, the researchers found that
cardiovascular fitness, but not muscle strength, was associated with
overall intelligence. But the more they looked, the more evident became the correlation between overall fitness and overall smartness. Sciam reports that a review of national Swedish databases showed that
physical fitness, not just cardio fitness, at the age of 18 also foreshadowed greater academic
achievement later in life.

Read more in the Scientific American.