Stand up, stand out. Feasibility of an active break targeting prolonged sitting in university students

Abstract

Objective

To assess the acceptability, appropriateness, and feasibility of an active break designed to disrupt prolonged sitting in university students. Participants: Students attending lectures in Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. Methods: Participants took part in an active break, which consisted of following a short exercise video lasting ∼4 min. They then completed a validated questionnaire consisting of 12 statements with two open-ended questions capturing likes/dislikes. Results: Overall 106 (response rate 96%) predominately female (83%, n = 87), health sciences students (91%, n = 96) participated. Percentage agreement ranged from 93.4% (n = 99) to 96.2% (n = 102) for acceptability, 84.9% (n = 90) to 93.4% (n = 99) for appropriateness, and 80.2% (n = 85) to 96.2% (n = 102) for feasibility. Space constraints and warm temperatures impacted negatively. Conclusion: An active break delivered during lectures is an acceptable and feasible intervention to disrupt sitting in students. Further investigation using a broader representation of the university population is needed prior to implementation.

Keywords:

• Active break
• exercise
• sedentary behavior
• sitting
• students

Acknowledgments

We thank all our colleagues in Trinity Sport who created the active break video and assisted in this research, in particular Deirdre Mullen-McGuinness, Michelle Tanner, David Lynch, Garreth Llyod, Olwen Kennedy and Joshua Meany. We also like to thank Martina Mullen, Health promotion Officer and all the students who participated in this research.

Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of Ireland and received approval from the School of Medicine Research Ethics Committee, Trinity College Dublin.

Funding

No funding was used to support this research and/or the preparation of the manuscript.