The Effect of Brain Breaks on Health-Related Fitness Among Indigenous Primary School Children

The study aimed was to examine the effect of brain breaks on health-related fitness among indigenous primary school children in Sarawak, Malaysia. The participants were 70 indigenous primary school children (33 male and 37 female) aged 10–12 years old (2.03 ± .78) from two rural schools in Sarawak, Malaysia. The Malaysian National Physical Fitness Standard (SEGAK) test battery was conducted to evaluate the students’ body mass index, muscle strength, muscular endurance, and flexibility. Descriptive statistics and paired-samples t-test were used to analyse the data. The paired-samples t-test based on gender revealed statistically significant difference from pre-test to post-test for both gender in the 3-min step test, push-ups test, curl-ups test, and sit and reach test with p < 0.05 for the intervention group. Whereas, for the control group, results revealed significant difference in push-ups test and curl-ups test for female with p < 0.05. Besides, the paired-samples t-test based on age groups showed statistically significant difference from pre-test to post-test for the three age groups in the 3-min step test, push-ups test, curl-ups test, and sit and reach test with p < 0.05 for the intervention group. Whereas, for the control group, results revealed significant difference in 3-min step test for 12 years old group, p < 0.001, and curl-ups test for 11 years old groups with p = 0.001. The study recommends school-based physical activity programmes to increase the physical activity levels of the children in order to improve their fitness and health.