Peer-reviewed article

Study on the influence of school active break on children's physical activity level and classroom on-task concentration.

Guoliang Li, Wenbo Liu, Yiran Zhao · 3 Aug 2026

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Children's sedentary, lack of activities and low attention in class are common problems in global public health and education. Long-term sedentary will reduce children's moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), damage attention and executive function, and be detrimental to physical and mental health and academic performance. This paper explores the intervention function of structured active break. METHODS: In this study, 1,248 students from grades 1-6 were enrolled in a stratified cluster randomized controlled trial, with individual classes defined as randomization and clustering correction units and grouped according to grade, gender and BMI. The intervention group had a 5-min structured in-class active break, while the control group maintained routine work and rest. The intervention period was 12 weeks. Activity data were collected by ActiGraph triaxial accelerometer, and concentration was evaluated by momentary time sampling and cancellation test. Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) was used to correct the clustering effect, and 95%CI, Cohen's d and partial η2 were reported. The test level was α = 0.05, and Bonferroni multiple comparison correction was used for subgroup analysis. RESULTS: After the intervention, the MVPA and light physical activity (LPA) in the intervention group increased by 18.6 min and 27.4 min, respectively, and the sedentary behavior duration decreased by 36.8 min, and the differences in various indexes and concentration related indexes were extremely significant compared with those in the control group (P < 0.001). Stratified analysis showed that children with lower grades, overweight and weak baseline concentration benefited more from intervention, and there was a significant three-way interaction effect (corrected P < 0.01), but there was no statistical difference between gender subgroups. CONCLUSION: Short-term structured active break in class can improve children's activity, reduce sedentary, and improve their concentration, which has a significant effect on junior, obese and attention-deficit students. This study is limited by a single-site sample, short-term follow-up, and a lack of physiological biomarker measurements, which restricts the generalizability of its conclusions. The related neural mechanism is still theoretical speculation and needs long-term multi-center research to prove it. This low-cost intervention can improve school-based health outcomes and classroom learning efficiency, and provide empirical evidence.