title: Acute Effects of Classroom Exercise Breaks on Executive Function and Math Performance: A Dose-Response Study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to determine the acute dose-response relationship of classroom exercise breaks with executive function and math performance in 9- to 12-year-old children by comparing 5-min, 10-min, or 20-min classroom exercise breaks to 10 min of sedentary classroom activity.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study used a within-subjects experimental design conducted in the spring of 2012. Ninety-six 4th- and 5th-grade students in 5 classrooms in South Carolina were randomized to receive each of 4 treatments: 5-min, 10-min, or 20-min exercise breaks or 10 min of a sedentary lesson led by research staff. Students completed the Trail-Making Test, an Operational Digit Recall test, and a math fluency test immediately before and after each condition. Planned linear contrasts were used to compare posttest scores between conditions using a repeated-measures mixed model, adjusted for gender, classroom, and the time-varying pretest scores. Potential effect modifiers were added as interaction terms.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Math scores were higher after the 10-min and 20-min exercise breaks compared with the sedentary condition (d = 0.24, p = .04, and d = 0.27, p = .02, respectively), and an interaction was observed with gender, IQ, aerobic fitness, and lower engagement in some of the conditions. There were no improvements in executive function tasks.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A 10-min and 20-min classroom exercise break moderately improved math performance in students compared with a seated classroom lesson.
authors.affiliation: a University of South Carolina.
authors.forename: Erin K
authors.initials: EK
authors.lastname: Howie
authors.forename: Jeffrey
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schatz
authors.forename: Russell R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Pate
mesh_terms: D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D004522:Educational Status; D056344:Executive Function; D015444:Exercise / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence; D008297:Male; D008433:Mathematics; D010809:Physical Fitness; D012737:Sex Factors; D013997:Time Factors
keywords: academic achievement; children; cognition; school