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SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Children and Health
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1469998

Effectiveness of School-Based Active Breaks on Classroom Behavior, Executive Functions and Physical Fitness in Children and Adolescent: A Systematic Review

Provisionally accepted
Tomás Reyes Tomás Reyes 1*Gabriel Salinas-Gallardo Gabriel Salinas-Gallardo 1Edgardo Mendoza Edgardo Mendoza 1Camilo Ovalle-Fernández Camilo Ovalle-Fernández 1Jessica Ibarra Mora Jessica Ibarra Mora 2Nicolas Gómez-Álvarez Nicolas Gómez-Álvarez 3Hernaldo Carrasco Beltrán Hernaldo Carrasco Beltrán 1Jacqueline Paez Jacqueline Paez 4Juan Hurtado Juan Hurtado 4Rodrigo Yáñez-Sepúlveda Rodrigo Yáñez-Sepúlveda 5Rafael Zapata- Lamana Rafael Zapata- Lamana 6Felipe Sepulveda-Figueroaa Felipe Sepulveda-Figueroaa 1Jorge Olivares-Arancibia Jorge Olivares-Arancibia 7Jorge Mota Jorge Mota 8
  • 1 Physical Activity Sciences Observatory (OCAF), Department of Physical Activity Sciences, Universidad de Playa Ancha, Avenida Playa Ancha 850, Valparaíso, Chile, Valparaíso, Chile
  • 2 Physical Education, Universidad Metropolitana de las Ciencias de la Educación, Ñuñoa, Chile, Santiago, Chile
  • 3 Physical Activity, Health and Education Research Group (AFSYE), Physical Education Pedagogy, Universidad Adventista de Chile, Chillán, Chile, Chillan, Chile
  • 4 Physical Education School, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaísio, Avenida El Bosque 1290, Viña del Mar, Chile, Valparaíso, Chile
  • 5 Faculty of Education and Social Sciences, Universidad Andrés Bello, Quillota 980, Viña del Mar, Chile, Valparaíso, Chile
  • 6 School Education, Universidad de Concepción, Juan Antonio Coloma 201, Los Ángeles, Chile, Los Ángeles, Chile
  • 7 Grupo AFySE, Investigación en Actividad Física y Salud Escolar, Escuela de Pedagogía en Educación Física, Facultad de Educación, Universidad de las Américas, Santiago, Chile, Santiago, Chile
  • 8 Center for Research in Physical Activity, Health and Leisure, Faculty of Sports, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The classroom environment is ideal for promoting physical activity interventions since children spend most of their day there but often engage in sedentary behavior. Given this context, an emerging trend to promote physical activity is active breaks at school. This systematic review evaluated the effects of school-based physical activity interventions involving active breaks on children and adolescents' classroom behavior, executive functions, and physical fitness. This review was guided by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. A literature search was conducted using PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and EBSCOhost. Studies published between January 2010 and August 31, 2023, including participants aged 5 to 18, were included. Interventions involving active breaks and outcomes related to classroom behavior, executive functions, and physical fitness were considered. Initially, 145 studies were identified, with 22 duplicates excluded. After screening 123 articles by title and abstract, 86 were excluded. Subsequently, 37 articles underwent fulltext screening, resulting in 22 included studies. Six studies showed positive effects on classroom behavior; five studies showed improvements in executive functions, and only two studies indicated increases in physical fitness. This review suggests incorporating active breaks during school hours can improve classroom behavior in children and adolescents. However, the effects of active breaks on executive functions and physical fitness are unclear. More research is needed to fully understand the benefits of implementing active break programs in the classroom.

    Keywords: classroom, Cognition, fitness, intervention, childhood

    Received: 09 Aug 2024; Accepted: 07 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Reyes, Salinas-Gallardo, Mendoza, Ovalle-Fernández, Ibarra Mora, Gómez-Álvarez, Carrasco Beltrán, Paez, Hurtado, Yáñez-Sepúlveda, Lamana, Sepulveda-Figueroaa, Olivares-Arancibia and Mota. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Tomás Reyes, Physical Activity Sciences Observatory (OCAF), Department of Physical Activity Sciences, Universidad de Playa Ancha, Avenida Playa Ancha 850, Valparaíso, Chile, Valparaíso, Chile

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.