Schools are to be strengthened as the heart of health. To intervene for better outcomes in both health and academic achievement, identifying factors that impact children, is essential. The course of a child's development arises from an interaction of congenital, familial, cultural, and environmental factors. These and a wide range of other factors play a crucial role in cognitive development and a child's learning abilities. Cognitive performance is often related to physical health. Thus, children who experience medical distress are at risk for low academic achievement. Moreover, improper health impedes participation in daily school activities. Frequent absence, discomfort or pain, movement limitations, sleepiness, physical and psychological side effects of received medications among other factors limit students’ abilities to engage in the education process. In addition to the deleterious outcomes related to school functioning, children with medical conditions experience restrictions in developing critical emotional bonds not only with their parents, but also with their teachers. As research says, student health predicts low educational level, social and economic inequalities, and results in behavior problems in adulthood. Focusing on the crucial role health occupies in students’ educational development, it is important for school authorities to become responsible and make leading efforts to improve students’ health and consequently decrease the risk associated with various medical issues. Students who are unhealthy are at higher risk for school problems than students who are free from medical problems. Students with poor health have a higher probability of school failure, grade retention, and dropout. Student health and academic performance is a serious issue. Common manageable factors of student health are nutrition, maintaining healthy weight, and physical fitness. Through a comprehensive literature review the effect of health on school achievement and nutrition, maintaining healthy weight, and physical fitness are examined. Furthermore, the efficacy of educational programs to improve nutrition, maintain healthy weight, and increase physical fitness is evaluated. This paper not only deals with the effect of health on academic performance in High School students, but also deals with those areas which are responsible for future research and practice for school authorities. Immense efforts are also made to study the relationship and association between health assets and academic achievement, thus making great efforts to reduce inequalities in both academic achievement and student health.
Academic achievement, health behavior, health assets, nutrition, pre-adolescence
