Bizzy Break! The Effect of a Classroom-Based Activity Break on In-School Physical Activity Levels of Primary School Children

Abstract

The school has been identified as a key setting to promote physical activity. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of a classroom-based activity break on in-school step counts of primary school children. Data for 90 children (49 boys, 41 girls, 9.3 ± 1.4 years) from three Irish primary schools is presented. In each school one class was randomly assigned as the intervention group and another as controls. Children’s step counts were measured for five consecutive days during school hours at baseline and follow-up. Teachers of the intervention classes led a 10 min activity break in the classroom each day (Bizzy Break!). Mean daily in-school steps for the intervention at baseline and follow-up were 5351 and 5054. Corresponding values for the control group were 5469 and 4246. There was a significant difference in the change in daily steps from baseline to follow-up between groups (p < .05). There was no evidence that girls and boys responded differently to the intervention (p > .05). Children participating in a daily 10 min classroom-based activity break undertake more physical activity during school hours than controls.

Preliminary findings of Active Classrooms: An intervention to increase physical activity levels of primary school children during class time

“…This is an interesting finding since females are often shown to be less active than males, especially during school (Murtagh et al, 2013). It can be suggested that the physical activity accumulated by both males and females during the lessons are similar because all children present in the classroom were presented with the same opportunities to participate and engage in the same activities during the lessons and were requested to do so as part of their teacher's instruction of the English and Mathematics lessons.…”

“…A study which evaluated Irish primary school children's physical activity levels during the segmented school-day found that the children accumulated a mean of 18.6 min of MVPA (Murtagh et al, 2013) during the whole school day. Murtagh et al (2013) reported that children achieved the least amount of physical activity during class time with the accumulation of only 8 min of MVPA. This is much lower than the present study which accrued a mean of 15 min of MVPA during the same period of the day.…”

“…(Spruijt-Metz, Nguyen-Michel, Goran, Chou, & Huang, 2008), Bizzy Breaks (Murtagh, Mulvihill, & Markey, 2013), Active and Healthy Schools (Ball, Kovarik, & Leidy, 2015) and Take 10! (Stewart, Dennison, Kohl, & Doyle, 2004) that integrate physical activity throughout the day have been identified as effective tools for increasing physical activity levels (Spruijt-Metz et al, 2008).…”

An intervention to improve the physical activity levels of children: Design and rationale of the ‘Active Classrooms’ cluster randomised controlled trial

“…Participants will be asked to wear the accelerometers during normal school day activities [18,48] except while swimming, for five consecutive school days of baseline and intervention measurement. The age and sex of the children in each class will be recorded and an identifying code paired with an accelerometer will be assigned to each student.…”

The effect of a classroom activity break on physical activity levels and adiposity in primary school children

“…However, many children are not meeting the recommended guidelines of 60 min of daily moderate‐to‐vigorous PA . The school has been identified as an ideal setting in which to promote PA as it gives access to children regardless of age, ethnicity, gender and socio‐economic class . Potentially beneficial initiatives range from school‐wide PA and nutrition interventions to stand‐alone programmes such as ‘walking buses’ and playground redesign .…”