Effects of breaking up sitting with light-intensity physical activity on cognition and mood in university students

University students often exhibit high levels of sedentary behavior that is negatively associated with cognition and mood. On the other hand, light-intensity physical activity (LIPA) may improve cognitive performance and mood. Therefore, this study investigated the acute effect of LIPA breaks during prolonged sitting on attention, executive functioning, and mood.

A randomized crossover design was used in this study. In total, 21 healthy adults (15 women, age = 24 ± 3 years, BMI = 23 ± 2 kg/m² ) completed three prolonged sitting conditions: (1) without a demanding cognitive task (SIT), (2) with a demanding cognitive task (COGN), and (3) with every 25 min sitting interrupted by a 5-minute walk (INTERRUPT). Attention, executive function (response inhibition, task shifting, and working memory updating), and mood were assessed before and after each condition.

Linear mixed models analyses showed that prolonged sitting frequently interrupted by LIPA (INTERRUPT) or with cognitively demanding activities (COGN) significantly improved task shifting compared to SIT. However, INTERRUPT did not significantly improve task shifting compared with COGN. No significant acute effects on attention, response inhibition, working memory updating, or mood were found.

Frequent LIPA breaks or cognitively demanding activities have a selective, acute positive impact on one aspect of cognitive performance compared to idle sitting. No evidence was found that LIPA breaks have an acute improvement in attention, executive function, and mood compared to sitting with cognitive loading. To further investigate the effect of PA on cognitive performance, it is necessary to consider cognitive loading and control for the cognitive activity during sitting in the experimental design.