Drop It Like a Squat: Exercise Breaks Can Enhance Attention

Students report positive effects of exercise breaks during university lectures.

Reviewed by Michelle Quirk

Key points

• Humans have difficulty sustaining attention for long periods of time.
• Studies indicate bouts of aerobic exercise can have an immediate positive impact on attention and memory.
• Students reported that the exercise breaks positively impacted attention, ability to refocus, and enjoyment.

Humans are easily bored or distracted.

The longer we are supposed to be “on task” or paying attention, the more likely we are to start daydreaming. No matter how dynamic your speaking skills are, whether teaching in a classroom or leading a meeting at work, at some point you’ve likely looked around the room to find at least one person with their eyes glazed over staring out into space, sleeping (the indignity!), or surfing their phone or tablet.

How can you keep your audience engaged throughout a long day at school, a lecture, or a work meeting?

Two words: Exercise breaks. Studies have shown that brief aerobic exercise breaks improve children's classroom behavior and increase enjoyment, and data also suggest positive impacts on cognitive and academic performance (Daly-Smith et al., 2018; Kubesch et al., 2009; Vazou & Smiley-Oyen, 2014). Well-controlled laboratory studies in adults have demonstrated the positive effects of acute exercise on attention and memory (Chang et al., 2012; Loprinzi et al., 2018). But can exercise breaks help adults maintain attention in a “real-world” environment? Could exercise breaks be enjoyable for adults?

To answer this question, I performed a study implementing exercise breaks in multiple undergraduate and graduate psychology courses at Ohio State University (Hayes, 2024). The approach was motivated by a well-designed laboratory study by Fenesi et al. (2018) that demonstrated the positive effects of exercise breaks on attention and exam performance for videotaped lectures (compared to lecture as usual or a video game-playing break).

How did we exercise during lectures?

• Students were assigned to groups.
• Each group designed a 5-minute exercise routine.
• Students picked music to play during the exercise break.
• For every class, a student group led the entire class in an exercise break during the lecture.

Were people miserable having to exercise during class?

No! The results were quite positive. Students self-reported that the exercise breaks improved their ability to pay attention and allowed them to refocus during the lecture. They also rated the exercise breaks as enjoyable and that they improved peer engagement (Hayes, 2024).

Although this was a feasibility study, it demonstrated that students tolerated exercise breaks and found them enjoyable and beneficial. Indeed, they expressed a strong preference that other classes implement exercise breaks during lectures.

How can exercise breaks help me?

If you’re an instructor or leader who regularly holds meetings for longer than 30 minutes and notices waning attention among your attendees, then it might be worth considering implementation of brief exercise breaks. Of course, you’ll need a planned and practical approach that plans for the inclusivity of a range of mobility abilities. My study provides guidance and practical tips for implementing exercise breaks, as well as example exercise routines for breaks.

If you find yourself in a meeting, classroom, or at work and you’re having trouble focusing or attending to the task at hand, that’s likely a good cue that it’s time for a break. Of course, you could always just start doing jumping jacks, lunges, and burpees in the middle of your work meeting or classroom. However, it’s more likely you will prefer to implement a more subtle approach.

Here are some suggestions for implementing exercise breaks during your day. For instance, during meetings or classes, sit in a location (back of room, end of row) where you can take a break from sedentary behavior by standing and doing some low-impact movement such as taking a few steps around the room, calf raises, or cross-body arm stretches. These are lower-intensity exercise bouts compared to some of the research mentioned above, but there is evidence that even light physical activity can positively impact attention and memory. The bottom line is that a combination of sedentary behavior (sitting) with extended time on task such as listening to a lecture or in a meeting leads to reductions in attention and increases in mind wandering. Exercise breaks are one way to hit the reset button and refocus attention.