Attention Capacity and Before-school Physical Activity Intervention Program

Despite public health concerns and the extensively documented health benefits of physical activity, a large proportion of Chilean children do not meet the physical activity recommendations (Aguilar-Farias et al., 2018). Since most children spend a majority of their waking hours at school, this environment is appropriate for the implementation of preventive interventions, particularly those that include activities promoting physical activity (Naylor & McKay, 2009). With the absence of opportunities for physical activity during the school day, before-school programs have become a popular option to help children increasing their physical activity levels (Stylianou, van der Mars, et al., 2016). Although several recent studies support a positive effect of before school-based physical activity on health (Westcott, Puhala, Colligan, Loud, & Cobbett, 2015), less literature has evaluate the cognitive outcomes (Stylianou, Kulinna, et al., 2016) such as attention capacity.

Inclusion criteria

• All students in fourth grade (aged 8-10 years)
• Children's parents/caregivers will give their written consent to the children's participation.
• Collaboration in the family to respond to questionnaires

Exclusion criteria

• Children with some physical pathology or medical contraindication to perform physical exercise
• Diagnosed with learning disabilities or mental disorders