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Roe_More_BullMarch 3, 2023

I couldn’t find anything in the article that actually supported the headline. The only findings discussed in the article are these:

Children who exercise are less likely to be hyperactive and have behavioral problems such as loss of temper, fighting, lying and stealing

Higher levels of moderate or intense physical activity had a small but detectable association with decreases in depressive symptoms and emotional difficulties

Researchers said the findings suggest regular moderate and intense physical activity may have a small protective influence on mental health in early adolescence.

I believe all of those findings to be true, and that exercise can help to relieve some of the symptoms of ADHD, but that does not support the statement that exercise “slashes…risk of ADHD”. In fact, the article does not indicate that the researchers made ANY mention of ADHD, let alone commented on the “risk factor” of ADHD. If your headline states that the risk factor was “slashed”, wouldn’t you want to provide the supporting metric, or any evidence of it at all?

Every reference to ADHD in the article pertains to the increase in Adderall diagnoses/prescriptions, and refers to it as a “behavioral issue”, when it is in fact a neurological disorder that may or may not result in behavioral issues.

It seems to me that the author incorrectly extrapolated the actual findings to support her own pre-existing beliefs about ADHD and medications, and presented her opinion as fact. Poorly written article all around.

RikkiTikkiTavi [OP]March 3, 2023

I agree. Well said.