Promoting Physical Activity in Elementary Schools: Needs Assessment and a Pilot Study of Brain Breaks

Abstract

A sedentary life style contributes to many chronic diseases and poor educational performance. Since elementary school-aged children spend most wakeful hours in school, classroom teachers are essential for providing physical activity (PA) breaks during school. As first objective, we assessed current PA levels for Oregon public elementary schools (379 schools responded) and learned that 92% of schools did not meet the physical education recommendation of the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). As second objective, we evaluated teacher’s preferences for increasing students’ PA levels with a cross-sectional anonymous mail survey (116 teachers responded) and learned that teachers were concerned about students’ PA levels (84%) and interested in incorporating short PA breaks into their classroom curriculum (88%). As third objective, a follow-up survey was mailed to teachers along with the exercise DVD “Brain Breaks: Classroom Fitness for Children” that provides 5-7 minute PA segments (43 teachers responded). Teachers perceived that Brain Breaks provided students a beneficial amount of PA (86%) and improved their concentration (91%); teachers intended to continue using Brain Breaks (91%). In conclusion, short PA breaks during the school day is a promising method for promoting increased levels of PA in elementary schools.

Keywords: Elementary school teachers, Physical activity, Preferences, Current status