Effect of Physical Exercise Program Based on Active Breaks on Physical Fitness and Vigilance Performance

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Our study aimed to analyze the effects of 8 weeks physical training on vigilance performance in high school students. Forty-two healthy students were assigned for convenience and matched into two groups, a Control Group (CG) and an Active-Break Group (ABG). The participants were assessed before the training program using the Alpha-Fitness test battery and Psychomotor Vigilance Task (PVT) to observe their physical fitness and vigilance performance. Compared with the pre-test, significant different were observed in the post-test PVT. Results showed a main effect of ABG responding faster than students in the CG group. This demonstrated that 8 weeks physical training have an effect on vigilance performance and improve the efficiency of vigilance in high school students. ABSTRACT: The scientific literature has shown the beneficial effects of chronic Physical Exercise (PE) on a wide range of tasks that involve high-order functioning. For this reason, the present study aimed to investigate the effects of active breaks on physical fitness and vigilance performance in high school students through eight weeks of physical training. A total of 42 healthy students (age = 16.50 ± 0.59 years; height = 171.08 ± 8.07 cm; weight = 67.10 ± 13.76 kg) from one Andalusian high school (Spain) were assigned for convenience and matched into two groups, a Control Group (CG) and an Active-Break Group (ABG). The ABG performed two active breaks (based on strength and self-loading exercises) during the school day, first at 10:00 a.m. and second at 12:30 p.m. The participants were assessed before and after the training program using the Alpha-Fitness test battery and the Psychomotor Vigilance Task (PVT). Significant differences were observed in the post-training PVT results, compared with the pretraining PVT, showing ABG responding faster than CG. Thus, the presents study demonstrated that eight weeks of physical training affects vigilance performance (compared to CG) and improves the efficiency of vigilance in high school students, contributing to enhancement of quality of education.