The MOVI-HIIT Pilot Trial: The Impact of Activity Breaks on Cognitive Function, Adiposity and Fitness in Preschoolers

The Impact of a Classroom-based Physical Activity Breaks on Cognitive Function, Adiposity and Fitness in Preschool Children. A Pilot Trial Study (MOVI- HIIT)

Pilot study to test the acceptability and feasibility of an intervention aimed to test the effectiveness, in preschool children, of an integrated physical activity intervention in the classroom based on intervallic training (MOVI-HIIT) on improving executive function, body composition and cardiorespiratory fitness.

The evolution of the MOVI studies, conducted by the research group, has led to create the last project (MOVI-HIIT; ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04863040).

This pilot study will include children aged 4-6 years from 2 public schools of the province of Ciudad Real, Spain, with 2 arms (intervention and control) and the intervention will last 8 weeks.

The intervention proposed in the study is implemented through an online platform developed to achieved the intensities required for the age-range of participants, but this platform has never been tested accurately in the classroom.

Thus, it seems necessary to pilot the intervention to evaluate the acceptability and feasibility of the intervention, in order to improve facts, if necessary, to achieved proposed objectives.

Inclusion Criteria:

• The participating schoolchildren must belong to the 2nd and 3rd year of preschool education, not have any malformation that prevents them from learning the Spanish language (or Spanish sign language), not have any type of physical or mental disorder that parents and/or teachers have identified that prevents the performance of physical activities, not suffer from any chronic disease such as heart disease, diabetes or asthma that, according to the criteria of their pediatrician - after analysis of the program of activities - prevents their participation in the measurements and/or the intervention.
• As this is an intervention in the classroom, the school faculty will include the active breaks proposed in the center's programming, for which reason the intervention will be received by all the children in the intervention group school. However, the investigators will consider school participants to be those who have the consent of the parent or guardian for participation in the study. In addition, schoolchildren must verbally express their willingness to participate in the baseline and final physical examinations.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Children with severe Spanish language learning difficulties.
• Children with serious physical or mental disorders identified by parents or teachers that would impede participation in the programme's activities.
• Children diagnoses of chronic disorders, such as heart disease, diabetes or asthma, which in the opinion of their paediatricians would prevent their participation in the programme's activities (MOVI-HIIT)