Physically active classroom lessons provide a buffer to prevent the steep reduction in TOT experienced after a period of inactivity in all children, especially those who are overweight.

Background-Although schools are an ideal location to conduct interventions that target children, the emphasis on standardized testing makes it difficult to implement interventions that do not directly support academic instruction. In response, physically active academic lessons have been developed as a strategy to increase physical activity while also addressing core educational goals. Texas I-CAN! is one incarnation of this approach.

Background Physically active academic lessons are an effective intervention to reduce sedentary time and increase student physical activity. They have also been shown to enhance task engagement, as indicated by observations of attention and behavior control, Time On Task (TOT). However, it is not clear if the improved TOT stems from the physical activity or if it is the result of an enjoyable break from traditional instruction? If it is due to physical activity, what dose of intensity is required for the effect? This study was designed to test these questions. Methods Participants were 320 children (7–9 yrs) recruited from school districts in Central Texas in 2012. They were assigned by classroom (n=20) to one of four conditions: 1) sedentary, standard lesson (n=72); 2) sedentary academic game (n=87); 3) low to moderate intensity PA (LMPA), academic game (n=81); and 4) moderate to vigorous intensity PA (MVPA), academic game (n=76). Measures included PA via accelerometer; and TOT. Results Mixed-method RMANOVA indicated TOT decreased following the standard lesson (p < 0.001), showed no change following the sedentary academic game (p = 0.68), and increased following the LMPA (p < 0.01) and MVPA (p < 0.001) academic games. Conclusions While the sedentary, academic game prevented the reduction in TOT observed in the standard lesson, PA resulted in increased TOT. Future research should be designed to examine the potential academic benefits of the change in TOT.

The use of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) has served to significantly reduce the mortality of HIV-infected persons. However, this treatment is associated with a host of adverse effects: fatigue, nausea, pain, anxiety and depression. Rather than utilise traditional pharmacological treatments for these effects, many HIV/AIDS patients are utilising adjunct therapies to maintain their quality of life while they undergo treatment. Exercise has consistently been listed as one of the most popular self-care therapies and a small number of studies have been conducted to examine the impact of exercise on the most common self-reported symptoms of HIV and AIDS and the adverse effects of treatment. Although the results are generally positive, there are clear limitations to this work. The existing studies have utilised small samples and experienced high rates of attrition. In addition, the majority of the studies were conducted prior to the widespread use of HAART, which limits the ability to generalise these data. As a result, data from other chronic disease and healthy samples are used to suggest that exercise has the potential to be a beneficial treatment across the range of symptoms and adverse effects experienced by HIV-infected individuals. However, additional research is required with this population to demonstrate these effects.

Background Active learning is designed to pair physical activity with the teaching of academic content. This has been shown to be a successful strategy to increase physical activity and improve academic performance. The existing designs have confounded academic lessons with physical activity. As a result, it is impossible to determine if the subsequent improvement in academic performance is due to: (1) physical activity, (2) the academic content of the active learning, or (3) the combination of academic material taught through physical activity. Methods / Design The Texas I-CAN project is a 3-arm, cluster randomized control trial in which 28 elementary schools were assigned to either control, math intervention, or spelling intervention. As a result, each intervention condition serves as an unrelated content control for the other arm of the trial, allowing the impact of physical activity to be separated from the content. That is, schools that perform only active math lessons provide a content control for the spelling schools on spelling outcomes. This also calculated direct observations of attention and behavior control following periods of active learning. Discussion This design is unique in its ability to separate the impact of physical activity, in general, from the combination of physical activity and specific academic content. This, in combination with the ability to examine both proximal and distal outcomes along with measures of time on task will do much to guide the design of future, school-based interventions. Trial Registration NCT03087279 (Retrospectively Registered 03/21/2017)