Improving Cognitive Performance of 9–12 Years Old Children: Just Dance? A Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

Exercise is assumed to have positive effects on children’s cognitive performance. However, given the inconclusive evidence for the long-term effects of exercise, it is difficult to advice schools on what specific exercise programs can improve children’s cognitive performance. In particular, little is known about the effects of small exercise programs that may be feasible in daily school practice. Therefore, we assessed the effects of a 9-weeks program consisting of daily exercise breaks on children’s cognitive performance, aerobic fitness and physical activity levels. We conducted a cluster-randomized controlled trial in 21 classes of eight Dutch primary schools. A total of 512 children aged 9–12 years participated. The exercise intervention had a duration of 9 weeks and consisted of a daily 10-min classroom-based exercise break of moderate to vigorous intensity. Before and after the intervention, we used four cognitive tasks (i.e., the Attention Network Test, Stroop test, d2 test of attention and Fluency task) to measure children’s cognitive performance in domains of selective attention, inhibition and memory retrieval. In addition, we measured aerobic fitness with a Shuttle Run test and physical activity during school hours by accelerometers. We analyzed data using mixed models, adjusting for baseline scores, class and school. After 9 weeks, there were no intervention effects on children’s cognitive performance or aerobic fitness. Children in the intervention group spent 2.9 min more of their school hours in moderate to vigorous physical activity as compared to the children in the control group. In conclusion, daily 10-min exercise breaks in the classroom did not improve, nor deteriorate cognitive performance in children. The exercise breaks had no effect on children’s fitness, and resulted in 2.9 min more time spent in moderate to vigorous physical activity during school hours. Daily exercise breaks can be implemented in the classroom to promote children’s physical activity during school time, without adverse effect on their cognitive performance.

Classroom Active Breaks to Increase Children’s Physical Activity: A Cross-Sectional Study in the Province of Naples, Italy

“…In the present study, we found that children who performed two 5-min CABs in a typical school day, spent about 6 min less time in sedentary behavior and increased their light and MVPA (of about 4 and 2 min) with respect to controls. Our findings show the effectiveness of AulAttiva in increasing time dedicated to PA along the school day in the real world, in agreement with other similar studies [ 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 ].…”

The Influence of MEDULA (Education Media for Snakes and Ladders) on Adolescent Knowledge Levels on Reproductive Health

“…Apart from Powerpoint, respondents were also given material through the snake and ladder game. The use of snakes and ladders in this study contains elements of play and aims in order to encourage respondents to learn about what they did in the game (Berg et al, 2019). Which refers to our findings, this further strengthens the participants' efforts in capturing the health education material we imply.…”

“…Meanwhile, one of the health education methods that we would like to highlight here is a method that uses the snake and ladder playing technique. In the previous research which directed, the game of snakes and ladders has been proven to transform a passive learning atmosphere to become active and children become cheerful, which makes them able to capture more information (Berg et al, 2019). This learning technique has been used so that learning objectives can be achieved effectively and efficiently in a happy atmosphere even though discussing difficult things (Raiyn, 2017;Sites, 2016).…”

Active Breaks: A Pilot and Feasibility Study to Evaluate the Effectiveness of Physical Activity Levels in a School Based Intervention in an Italian Primary School

“…Despite these limitations, this pilot and feasibility study was useful to test how to implement this type of intervention in the school setting. The results encourage us to implement the protocol with a structured study involving a larger sample of children and teachers, and investigating other aspects, in particular the effects of ABs on cognitive functions and quality of life [47,48].…”