Active Bodies, Creative Minds: A Systematic Review on The Impact of Physical Activity on Creativity in Children and Adolescents

Abstract

Background: Creativity is increasingly vital in today’s fast-paced world, and fostering it in youth—future drivers of societal progress and breeding grounds for cognitive development—holds great potential. While physical activity has been linked to cognitive benefits and creativity in adults, its impact on children and adolescents remains less explored. 

Hypothesis: Physical activity has a positive impact on creativity levels of children and adolescents. 

Methods: 5,728 studies were screened from OVID MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and Web of Science, selecting 48 primary research studies that examined physical activity interventions or exposures in youth (<18 years) and reported creativity measures.

Results: Among the included studies, 85.4% showed a positive relationship between physical activity and creativity, while 14.6% reported mixed or inconclusive findings. By age, 50% of studies focused on children (<9 years) and 34.8% on adolescents (>9 years), with 87% and 87.5% of them, respectively, reporting positive effects. Sports (41.7%) was the most studied activity, with 90% of studies showing positive results. Other categories included dance (18.8%; 77.8% positive), exercise/fitness programs (16.7%; 87.5% positive), free play (4.2%; 50% positive), and "other" physical activity measures (22.9%; 90.9% positive). Acute physical activity intervention studies (21.4%) reported 100% positive effects, while chronic interventions (78.6%) were positive in 81.8% of the cases.

Limitations: Difficulty in language translation led to the exclusion of relevant studies. Variability in creativity definitions and measures across studies also limits direct comparisons.

Conclusions: Physical activity positively influences creativity in children and adolescents. Further research is needed to refine methodologies and deepen understanding.

Authors:

Aariz Sardar(1), Sarah Hammoud(1), Alex Thabane (2), Mohit Bhandari (2,3)

1Honours Health Sciences Program, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada

2 Department of Health Research, Evidence, and Impact, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada

3Department of Surgery, McMaster University Medical Centre, Hamilton, Canada