Preliminary evidence suggests exercise enhances mental health and cognitive performance among typically developing children and children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The goal of this study was to determine whether improvements vary depending on exercise intensity (e.g., high vs. low) or outcome domains (e.g., mood, behavior, academic productivity), and whether effects vary over time. Participants were 130 children (73% in ADHD group) aged 6 to 13 who completed daily exercise (high or low intensity) across 15 days as well as daily measures of pre- and post-activity mood, behavior and academic productivity. Results indicated no differences in the effectiveness of low- versus high- intensity exercise for youth with and without ADHD on overall mood, behavior, or academic productivity. Moreover, although there were no differences in academic productivity over time among children with and without ADHD in the low or high intensity exercise conditions, there were differences in behavior and mood over time among children with and without ADHD in the high, but not low, intensity condition. Specifically, relative to children without ADHD, children with ADHD had a wider range of behavior problems immediately after high intensity exercise and showed worse initial moods and more negative change over time in mood. Findings suggest that high intensity exercise delivered in certain formats can be associated with worse mood and behavior over time among youth with ADHD. Future research is needed to draw firmer conclusions about the relative short- and long-term effectiveness of high and low intensity exercise for youth with and without ADHD.

初步证据表明，运动可改善典型发育中的儿童和患有注意缺陷多动障碍（ADHD）的儿童的心理健康和认知能力。这项研究的目的是确定改善是否根据运动强度（例如，高与低）或结果域（例如，情绪，行为，学术生产力）而变化，以及效果是否随时间变化。参与者为130名儿童（6至13岁）（占ADHD组的73％），他们在15天内完成了日常运动（高强度或低强度），并进行了运动前和运动后情绪，行为和学习效率的每日测量。结果表明，无论有无ADHD的青年，低强度和高强度运动的效果在总体情绪，行为或学业上均无差异。此外，尽管在低强度或高强度运动条件下有或没有ADHD的孩子，随着时间的推移，学术生产率没有差异，但在高强度但不是低强度的条件下，有ADHD和没有ADHD的孩子的行为和情绪却随时间变化。 。具体而言，相对于没有多动症的儿童，多动症的儿童在进行高强度运动后立即表现出较广泛的行为问题，并且表现出较差的初始情绪，并且随着时间的推移会出现更多的负面变化。研究结果表明，以某种形式进行的高强度运动可能会导致多动症青年的情绪和行为随着时间的流逝而恶化。对于有或没有ADHD的青年，高强度和低强度运动的相对短期和长期有效性，需要进一步的研究得出更坚定的结论。