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Effects of Pre-Class Acute Exercise on Executive Function in University Students
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Effects of Pre-Class Acute Exercise on Executive Function in University Students

Weijia Zhu, Linjing Zhou, Zijun Liu, Kaiqi Guan, Yifei Dong, Meijun Hou, Xun Luo, Ziquan Cai, Jinming Li, Zhihao Zhang, …
International journal of mental health promotion, Vol.27(10), pp.1439-1455
31/10/2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.32604/ijmhp.2025.069633
Appears in  Recent Faculty of Education Publications
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Abstract

Physical activity executive function college students class-based sedentary behaviors
Background: There is growing evidence that an acute bout of exercise positively influences executive function (EF). However, the existing evidence primarily originates from laboratory-based studies, and only a limited number of studies have extended this work to real-world classroom settings. Accordingly, in the present study, we aimed to employ a real classroom setting to determine whether acute exercise-induced effects on EF emerged. Methods: All 49 students who enrolled in a real-world course agreed to participate in the experimental protocol and the final sample was composed of 43 individuals (13 male and 30 female participants). Participants were asked to perform an acute bout of exercise (i.e, 10 min at moderate intensity) before a real classroom, and on a separate day, complete a non-exercise control condition. EF was assessed via Naming, Inhibition, and Switching variants of the Stroop task. We used a paired-samples t-test to compare participants' cognitive load between two conditions and a repeated-measures ANOVA to investigate changes in RPE. What's more, a repeated measures ANOVA was used to examine potential pre-to post-class changes in EF-related parameters (e.g., inverse efficiency scores, reaction times, and error rates). Results: A pre-to post-class benefit in performance efficiency across all Stroop task variants was shown. In both exercise and control conditions, there was a significant main effect of time, with lower inverse efficiency scores (IES) (p = 0.003) and shorter reaction times (RT) (p < 0.001) observed from pre-to post-class. Moreover, performance gains varied by Stroop task-type, with the Switching task showing the longest RTs and largest IES, reflecting its greater cognitive demands. Importantly, a marginally significant three-way interaction among task-type, intervention, and time (p = 0.052) indicated that the exercise intervention enhanced post-class performance on the Switching task. Post-hoc analyses revealed significantly lower IES and faster RTs at post-class for both the Naming and Switching tasks, particularly in the exercise group (e.g., Switching IES: p < 0.001; Switching RT: p < 0.001). Conclusions: These findings suggest that pre-class acute exercise enhances EF and provides a benefit to cognitive flexibility. Accordingly, our results extend previous knowledge by indicating that the cognitive benefits of acute exercise observed primarily in laboratory settings can be translated to real-world educational contexts.

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