A randomized trial in China tested two kinds of exercise for children with ADHD. It included 107 children aged 6 to 10 who had been diagnosed with ADHD. Most were boys, and all had average or above-average IQ. About 12% were taking medication at the start.
The children were split into three groups. One group did a program that combined movement with thinking tasks. One did aerobic exercise. One was on a wait list with only minimal contact. Both exercise groups met for 45 minutes, three times a week, for 12 weeks, at low to moderate intensity.
Parents rated inattention and hyperactivity, and both fell more in the two exercise groups than in the wait-list group. The two programs did about equally well on these symptoms. The combined program did better than aerobic exercise on holding back an automatic response and on short-term memory. Both exercise groups improved about equally on switching between tasks. Parents were more satisfied with the combined program. No harms from the exercise were reported.
There was no long-term follow-up, so no one knows how long the gains last. Symptoms were rated only by parents. The two programs also differed in variety, games and social contact, not just in thinking demands. A few children dropped out (2, 4 and 6 across the three groups), but all 107 were included in the analysis.
The authors suggest a program like this could be a feasible and enjoyable add-on treatment for children with ADHD.
Talk to a clinician about your own situation or your child's.
The numbers Stats and what the terms mean
The statistics behind the plain-language claims above.
- Zhu, 2026: drop in inattention, combined program versus wait list, beta = -3.11, 95% CI -5.31 to -0.91, P = 0.010.
- Zhu, 2026: drop in inattention, aerobic exercise versus wait list, beta = -3.26, 95% CI -5.47 to -1.05, P = 0.010.
- Zhu, 2026: inattention, combined program versus aerobic exercise, beta = 0.15, 95% CI -2.06 to 2.36, P = 0.896.
- Zhu, 2026: drop in hyperactivity, combined program versus wait list, beta = -3.06, 95% CI -4.94 to -1.18, P = 0.003.
- Zhu, 2026: drop in hyperactivity, aerobic exercise versus wait list, beta = -3.65, 95% CI -5.53 to -1.77, P = 0.001.
- Zhu, 2026: hyperactivity, combined program versus aerobic exercise, beta = 0.59 (95% CI -1.29 to 2.47, P = 0.539).
- Zhu, 2026: time on a task that tests holding back an automatic response, combined program versus aerobic exercise, beta = -6.24, 95% CI -12.28 to -0.20, P = 0.045.
- Zhu, 2026: the same task, combined program versus wait list, beta = -13.97, 95% CI -19.97 to -7.97, P < 0.001.
- Zhu, 2026: change within each group on the same task, Cohen d was 1.25 for the combined program, 0.59 for aerobic exercise and -0.21 for the wait list.
- Zhu, 2026: short-term memory, combined program versus wait list, beta = 3.57, 95% CI 1.83 to 5.31, P < 0.001.
- Zhu, 2026: short-term memory, combined program versus aerobic exercise, beta = 2.09, 95% CI 0.33 to 3.85, P = 0.032.
- Zhu, 2026: time on a task-switching test, combined program versus wait list, beta = -43.76, 95% CI -60.22 to -27.30, P < 0.001.
- Zhu, 2026: time on the task-switching test, aerobic exercise versus wait list, beta = -40.00, 95% CI -57.27 to -22.73, P < 0.001.
- Zhu, 2026: task switching, combined program versus aerobic exercise, beta = -3.76 (95% CI -21.03 to 13.51, P = 0.671).
- Zhu, 2026: parent satisfaction on a 5-point scale, 4.15 (SD 0.70) for the combined program versus 3.26 (SD 0.73) for aerobic exercise, t = 5.007, P < 0.001. What the terms mean:
- beta The estimated difference between two groups in how much a score changed. A minus sign shows the direction of the change, not its size.
- 95% CI The range where the true difference likely falls. If it crosses zero, the groups may not really differ.
- P How likely a result this large would be if there were no real difference. Below 0.05 is usually read as unlikely to be down to chance.
- Cohen d A standard measure of how big a change is. Roughly, 0.2 is small, 0.5 is moderate and 0.8 is large. A minus sign shows the direction of the change, not its size.
- SD Standard deviation, a measure of how spread out the scores were.
- t A test score used to compare the averages of two groups.
Source: Zhu F, Dong Z, Lu H, et al.. Integrated cognitive-motor exercise for core symptoms and executive functions in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: a randomized clinical trial. World Journal of Pediatrics (2026). doi:10.1007/s12519-026-01019-4