Classroom Movement Breaks in Relation to Health and Academic Outcomes: An Umbrella Review.

Abstract

Background: Classroom movement breaks (CMBs) reduce school-day sedentary time. This umbrella review synthesized evidence on health and academic benefits of CMBs among school-aged children and explored outcomes by race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status (SES).

Methods: A systematic search of systematic reviews and meta-analyses up to April 2024 was conducted in five databases. Reviews examining CMBs' impacts on health and/or academic outcomes were included. Study quality was assessed using AMSTAR2.

Findings: Sixteen reviews examined PA (physical activity; n = 12), classroom behaviors (n = 5), academics (n = 9, 4-overall and 6-domain-specific academics), cognition (n = 8), and health (n = 5). All PA-outcome reviews reported benefits. Most reviews reported improved classroom behaviors (3/5), cognition (6/8), and overall academics (3/4). Findings were mixed for domain-specific academics and inconclusive for health. Methodological quality of all reviews was rated as low/critically low. Few reviews assessed differences by race, ethnicity, or SES.

Implications for school health policy, practice, and equity: Although CMBs showed potential benefits, recommendations for school implementation should be made with caution. Equity impacts remain understudied.

Conclusions: CMBs may benefit students' activity, classroom behaviors, overall academics, and cognition, but evidence for subject-specific academics and health remained mixed or inconclusive. Current findings should be interpreted cautiously. Future research should address low methodological quality, utilize long-term designs, incorporate uniform CMBs interventions/outcome measures, and address equity gaps.