Effectiveness of Physical Activity Intervention during Music Lessons

Abstract

There are many previously published studies that examine the integration of children’s physical activity into various school subjects. However, studies that integrate children’s physical activity into music lessons are very rare. Therefore, we decided to use an accelerometer to measure the amount and intensity of individual physical activity phenotypes of first graders during a music-only lesson, with and without a physical activity intervention. One hundred and eight children, aged six to seven, from two Slovenian elementary schools in the coastal region wore the accelerometer during two music lessons. We compared the physical activity phenotypes during music lessons with and without an intervention. On average, children were more physically inactive during music lessons without an intervention than during music lessons with an intervention (p = 0.001, d = 2.8) and spent a higher proportion of time doing moderate (p = 0.001, d = 5.9) and vigorous (p = 0.001, d = 30) physical activity during music lessons with an intervention than during regular music lessons. During regular music lessons, children spent 39 % more time being physically inactive than during music lessons with a physical activity intervention programme. We recommend that future studies include a larger sample of children and that they wear the accelerometers for at least five consecutive days.