Improvement of students' physical condition and health after a physical activity breaks program

Background: Obesity is one of the main pandemics of the 21st century and the 5th risk factor for death in the world. Every year more than 2.8 million people die due to this disease. This study aims to demonstrate the effectiveness of physical activity breaks programs to improve health in elementary school students, reducing their body fat percentage and BMI and increasing their physical condition. Methods: The physical activity breaks program called Movete 15 was developed in Curros Enriquez School from Celanova (Galicia-Spain), during 2016-17 school year. This consisted in interrupting the daily school day for 15 minutes to perform physical activity of moderate and vigorous intensity. A pretest-posttest study design was proposed, using descriptive statistical techniques (frequencies and statistics) and inferential techniques (t-Student, ANOVA, Marginal Homogeneity) on anthropometric variables (Fat, BMI) and physical condition (Eurofit test) as health indicators. Results: The programme Movete 15 achieved significant improvements (p < 0.05) in the participants' health, manifested in the reduction of the average percentage of fat, -1.33% (0.49 kg); and in the increase of physical condition, with improvements in speed-coordination (-1.45 seconds/circuit) and aerobic resistance (+1.46 phases). Conclusions: Movete 15 is an appropriate program to improve physical condition and health in elementary school students.