The effects of active breaks on sustained attention among sports college students

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to analyse the acute effects of active breaks (AB) on vigilance among sports college students in Portugal. Methods: Thirty-two students following a sports degree programme (24 males and 8 females, aged 20.7 ± 2.5 years) voluntarily participated in this crossover randomised study. All participants completed a psychomotor vigilance task (PVT), a reaction time task widely used to assess sustained attention and alertness, during a regular class session. Afterwards, they attended a 60-minute lecture before repeating the PVT. A 10-minute break ensued: half the participants remained seated passively (control condition), while the other half performed moderate-intensity individual calisthenic exercises (AB condition). A three-way repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to examine the effects of condition (control vs AB), time-on-task (minutes 1–5) and assessment moment (baseline, pre, post). Results: No significant main effects of condition were found; however, a significant three-way interaction between condition, time and assessment moment (p = .025) was evident. Post hoc comparisons revealed a significant increase in reaction time from minute 3 to minute 5 during the post-intervention PVT in the AB condition, suggesting potential fatigue or reduced vigilance over time. Conclusion: These findings indicate that ABs may transiently affect vigilance, but their effects may not persist during prolonged tasks. Further research is warranted to determine the optimal parameters for implementing ABs in an academic context, particularly among physically active populations.