Abstract:

Health benefits of regular physical activity have been scientifically well corroborated and widely accepted. Despite these findings, the prevalence trends show an increase in insufficient physical activity in Croatian children and youth. Many studies have shown that in recent years, sedentary lifestyle is increasing rapidly. The number of children engaged in physical activity decreases. Particularly concerning is that the number of hours of regular and extra-curricular physical education is reducing, despite all of its benefits. Physical inactivity, however, is a serious health risk factor considered to be the major public health problem of the 21st century. Unfortunately, there are alarming worldwide trends that demonstrate a high prevalence of physical inactivity among children and adolescents, with Croatia being no exception to the trend.

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of providing video exercise lessons to primary school children during class breaks. A total of 203 students of the elementary school "Pavleka Miškine" in Zagreb, Croatia, had active breaks on a daily basis. During the intervention period, experimental group participated in a 5-minute group physical activity daily in the middle of a 45-minute academic lesson by imitating video animations projected on the board (Brain Break by HOPSports®). Some of the findings indicate increased activity in all students by 55%, and in overweight and obese students for 23%. The study also explored the effect such lessons have on the students’ perceptions of, attitudes towards, and motivation for physical activity, as well as its impact on their physical self-confidence, and acquisition of health-related and specific academic knowledge. Results show that the strongest effect was on children’s self-efficacy in using video exercise. After the intervention 81,8 % agreed they know how to choose physical activity in video exercise that suits them, 87,7% of students agreed they know how to do physical activity if there is a video to follow, 84,7 % agreed they can follow video exercise with minimal mistakes and 82,1% agreed they know which video exercise is their favourite. Overall, the associations were primarily observed in girls.

There are benefits children got from a daily group exercise, as well as there are differences between genders. Intervention and policies that leverage school physical activity levels might serve as an avenue for health promotion in youth. Additional studies are needed to identify interventions that can increase physical activity to engender healthy habits with the ultimate goal of achieving healthier students.

Keywords:

Active breaks, Children, Physical education.