Jun 11, 2015 07:21 PM EDT By Staff Reporter, UniversityHerald Reporter

New research found that fidgeting may help children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), NBC News reported.

Researchers at the University of California, Davis found that ADHD children who moved more intensely exhibited substantially better cognitive performance.

"Parents and teachers shouldn't try to keep them still. Let them move while they are doing their work or other challenging cognitive tasks," Julie Schweitzer, senior author of the study, said in a statement. "It may be that the hyperactivity we see in ADHD may actually be beneficial at times. Perhaps the movement increases their arousal level, which leads to better attention."

For the study, researchers recruited 26 children with validated ADHD diagnoses and 18 who were developing typically and served as controls. The research was conducted at the MIND Institute in Sacramento, Calif. The participants were between the ages of 10 years and 17 years when the study was conducted.

The participants' movements were measured when they took a test that required them to "focus and to dismiss distractions," HealthDay News reported.  They found that accuracy of the participants with ADHD was significantly improved when they were moving. In other words, correct answers were associated with more motion than incorrect answers.

"Maybe teachers shouldn't punish kids for movement, and should allow them to fidget as long as it doesn't disturb the rest of the class," said Arthur Hartanto, a study coordinator with the ADHD Program and the study's first author. "Instead, they should seek activities that are not disruptive that allow their students with ADHD to use movement, because it assists them with thinking."

The findings are detailed in the journal Child Neuropsychology.

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