What are the effects of 10 minutes of exercise breaks during the school curriculum on the cognitive and academic performance in children.

Recent studies indicate that a single bout of physical exercise can have immediate positive effects on cognitive performance of children and adolescents. However, the type of exercise that affects cognitive performance the most in young adolescents is not fully understood. Therefore, this controlled study examined the acute effects of three types of 12-min classroom-based exercise sessions on information processing speed and selective attention. The three conditions consisted of aerobic, coordination, and strength exercises, respectively. In particular, this study focused on the feasibility and efficiency of introducing short bouts of exercise in the classroom. One hundred and ninety five students (5th and 6th grade; 10–13 years old) participated in a double baseline within-subjects design, with students acting as their own control. Exercise type was randomly assigned to each class and acted as between-subject factor. Before and immediately after both the control and the exercise session, students performed two cognitive tests that measured information processing speed (Letter Digit Substitution Test) and selective attention (d2 Test of Attention). The results revealed that exercising at low to moderate intensity does not have an effect on the cognitive parameters tested in young adolescents. Furthermore, there were no differential effects of exercise type. The results of this study are discussed in terms of the caution which should be taken when conducting exercise sessions in a classroom setting aimed at improving cognitive performance.



Keywords: acute exercise, exercise type, cognition, selective attention, information processing speed, adolescents, school setting

A single exercise bout with a minimum duration of 10 minutes and a moderate to vigorous intensity level has small but positive effects on cognitive performance in children. These acute effects on cognitive performance are thought to be mediated by an increase in physiological arousal, resulting in the release of catecholamines (noradrenaline, dopamine) and indolamines (serotonin).

We hypothesize that the acute effects of such daily exercise breaks will have a cumulative effect, resulting in larger and more enduring benefits for the cognitive and academic performance of children.

Baseline: 22 august until 5th of september 2016



Post intervention: First two weeks of december 2016

The intervention group will perform an exercise break of 10 minutes with a moderate to vigorous intensity level for 5 days a week, from September to December 2016. The exercise break consists of 10 minutes dancing to "Just Dance" videos online (Ubisoft, streamed online via YouTube). Each video consists of digital characters demonstrating a choreography to a popular song. The children are asked to perform each choreography as shown in the video. Each 10 minute exercise break consists of a minimum of three such videos. All selected videos were previously tested to ensure that each dance choreography had a moderate to vigorous intensity level.
The exercise break will take place during the school curriculum, between the first and the last subject taught on the first half of the school day (that is before the lunch break). All children present in the class will perform the exercise intervention. Experimental outcomes will be analyzed only for children who have a signed informed consent form.



The control group will follow their regular school curriculum. However, to prevent biases, participants in the control group will be asked to perform 10 minutes of reading once a week as a placebo condition.