Breaking the sedentary: investigating the effects of active breaks on physical Activity and psychosocial well-being in primary school children

Purpose: Sedentary behavior is a growing concern and has been linked to various health problems (Janssen et al., 2010). Moderate to vigorous Physical Activity (PA) Active Breaks (ABs), performed during sedentary periods, may be helpful in promoting physical activity and well-being in developmental ages. However, despite promising results, ABs are not widely used in schools (Biddle et al. 2016; Roset et al., 2020). Therefore, this study investigated the effect of an ABs intervention on PA levels and psychosocial aspects in primary school children. Methods: A non-randomized controlled design was employed. The sample consisted of 67 primary school children (35 F and 32 M—avg. age 8.79 ± 0.94 y.). Throughout a three-month duration, children were engaged in 10-min ABs sessions twice a day during the cur- ricular school activities. PA levels were measured using the Physical Activity Questionnaire for Children (PAQ-C), and an ad-hoc ques- tionnaire was created to measure well-being and time-on-task behavior before and after ABs intervention. The questionnaire con- tained three subscales: well-being, concentration, and learning. Results: Results showed an increment in the PA levels (F = 19.80, p \ 0.001) and a higher scores on the Classroom Behavior Ques- tionnaire in the well-being subscale (F = 4.18, p = 0.04). Concentration subscale did not reveal differences between the pre- and post-intervention (F = 1.67, p [ 0.05) while learning subscale revealed lower score in the post- compared to the pre-intervention (F = 18.81, p < 0.001). Conclusions: Even though this study follows a non-randomized controlled design, in accordance with existent literature (e.g., Janssen et al., 2010), its results offer compelling evidence for the effectiveness of ABs in promoting PA and psychosocial well-being among primary school children. This evidence is important for the classroom climate and the quality of the teaching–learning processes. However, the learning and concentration subscales did not produce the expected results, and they could be influenced by other variables. Therefore, our further investigations are orienteed to gain a com- prehensive understanding of this phenomenon. References: Biddle, et al. (2016). Too much sitting and all-cause mortality: Is there a causal link? BMC Pub. Health. Janssen et al. (2010). Systematic review of the health benefits of P.A. and fitness in school-aged children and youth. Int. J. of Behav- ioral Nutrition and P.A.. Røset et al. (2020). Norwegian youngsters’ perceptions of P.E.: Exploring the implications for mental health. Sport, Edu. & Society.