Interrupting Prolonged Sitting With Activity
Condition: Physical Activity
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      This study tested the feasibility of interrupting prolonged sitting with 10, 3-minute
      activity breaks in elementary school classrooms. Three elementary schools in Southeast
      Michigan (20 teachers, 500 students) participated in this study.
    

Detailed description: 
      School environments have historically provided many opportunities for children to be
      physically active through comprehensive programs, including recess, intramural physical
      activity clubs, interscholastic sports and physical education. However, with recent cuts to
      public school funding and an increased emphasis on standardized test scores, schools
      districts across the country have reduced time allocated for structured physical activity in
      favor of additional academic instruction time. This is troubling as uninterrupted prolonged
      sitting time is associated with increased disruptive behavior, lower academic achievement and
      increased obesity risk in children. As such, developing low-cost, innovative physical
      activity interventions aimed at improving weight outcomes and cognitive function in children
      are warranted.

      Researchers have targeted the school classroom, where students spend the majority of their
      time, as a potential intervention site. Classroom-based physical activity interventions have
      been largely successful at increasing physical activity, improving physical fitness and
      academic achievement among children. Yet, no intervention to date has been able to produce
      significant improvements in weight status, in part due to the intensity, duration and
      frequency of activities employed (i.e., low-to-moderate intensity; 10-30 minutes per session;
      1-2 sessions per day). Preliminary evidence from our laboratory suggests intermittent
      activity breaks performed at a moderate-to-vigorous intensity elicits greater total daily
      physical activity energy expenditure without subsequent increases in food intake compared to
      lower intensity activities. Other researchers have confirmed greater reductions in weight and
      fat mass in response to higher rather than lower intensity physical activities. In addition,
      short bursts of activity rather than continuous movements more closely mimics children's
      natural activity patterns in free-living environments. Hence, incorporating intermittent
      activity breaks of moderate-to-vigorous intensity as an intervention component may increase
      the likelihood of classroom-based physical activity interventions improving weight outcomes
      in children.

      Implementing intermittent activity breaks in a classroom will require adjustments to both
      teaching curricula and classroom design. Current teaching curricula promotes sedentary
      behaviors by requiring children to spend between 6 and 8 hours in seated academic instruction
      per day. Moreover, current classroom designs (i.e., size of the classroom and interior areas,
      type of furniture, flooring and room arrangement) optimize student learning and classroom
      management with little consideration given to physical activity and movement. Yet, simple
      adjustments to teaching curricula (i.e. coupling physical activity with teacher's existing
      lessons) and classroom design (e.g. using smart floor planning to restructure spaces in a
      classroom) can dramatically increase movement and subsequent learning within that space. In
      partnership with the School of Education and the Taubman College of Architecture & Urban
      Planning, two traditionally non-health related fields, the overall objectives of this pilot
      study are to: 1) develop a classroom curriculum and floor plan that promotes movement,
      learning and positive behavioral outcomes; and 2) test the feasibility of implementing our
      classroom-based physical activity intervention (Interrupting Prolonged sitting with ACTivity
      or INPACT) in three elementary schools (20 classrooms) across the state of Michigan. Third
      thru fifth grade teachers and students from Columbia Elementary, Estabrook Elementary and
      Anderson Elementary will be recruited to participate in this pilot study with classroom
      teachers delivering the physical activity intervention.
    

Intervention name(s): Active classroom
Intervention type(s): Behavioral
Intervention description(s): 30 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity
Other intervention name(s): InPACT classroom
Intervention model: Single Group Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Prevention
Keywords: classroom; prolonged sitting; sedentary time; time-on-task; children