Abstract
Simple SummaryOur 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.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.
Highlights
In the last decade, there has been a rapidly growing interest in the scientific knowledge that links chronic physical exercise (PE) and cognitive performance [1,2,3,4,5]
The outcome of the present study suggests that an eight-week PE program based on AB of 16.10 ± 1.21 of the Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE) scale improves vigilance performance
The importance of these findings is partly due to the sample of adolescent participants since most previous research has been done on children and adults
Summary
There has been a rapidly growing interest in the scientific knowledge that links chronic physical exercise (PE) and cognitive performance [1,2,3,4,5]. A comprehensive review of the scientific literature has shown the beneficial effects of chronic PE on a wide range of tasks involving high-order functioning, such as attention, cognitive control, memory, and perception, among others [6]. Current research has shown that regular PE produces different constant changes, such as those at the structural level involving angiogenesis or neurogenesis in different areas of the brain, especially in the hippocampus [13,14]. It has been widely demonstrated that performing regular exercise at moderate aerobic intensities (40% to 80% of maximum oxygen consumption (VO2máx)) acts positively on cognitive tasks such as processing speed, selective attention, and short-term memory [3,5]. The evidence suggests that these adaptations produce a better cognitive response in various tasks, including memory, attention, processing speed, cognitive flexibility, and inhibition
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