Visit the National Academies Press online and register for

Other health outcomes Very little research has been conducted on the 
direct health benefits of providing recess breaks to students. Panksepp 
(2008) suggests a connection between lack of play and increased symptoms 

---

Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Educating the Student Body: Taking Physical Activity and Physical Education to School
The Effectiveness of Physical Activity and Physical Education Policies and Programs
 
329
of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Recess breaks also 
provide students with the opportunity to develop social skills through peer 
interaction, as well as free time in which to role play (AAP, 2013). Thus, 
recess provides opportunities for social and emotional development of 
youth in addition to its potential to increase physical activity levels. 
Policies
Evidence discussed in detail in Chapter 6 and summarized here indi-
cates that implementing recess policies can have a positive impact on 
increasing both overall physical activity in youth and the amount of recess 
offered during the school day. As discussed in Chapter 2, strong physical 
activity–related state laws and local policies are associated with higher 
levels of implementation of physical activity opportunities at the school 
level. Existing evidence specific to state-level recess laws and local policies is 
mixed. Slater and colleagues
(2012) found that weak state laws were associ-
ated with schools offering at least 20 minutes of daily recess; no associa-
tion was found for strong state laws or strong or weak school district–level 
policies. However, the authors note that only three states have an existing 
strong state-level recess law and, as discussed above, school districts are not 
required to address recess in their wellness policies. 
Evenson and colleagues
(2009) examined the impact of a state law 
on school-based physical activity. They evaluated the impact of North 
Carolina’s Healthy Active Children Policy, which requires all children in 
kindergarten through 8th grade to receive at least 30 minutes of moder-
ate to vigorous physical activity each school day. The policy allows school 
districts flexibility in meeting this requirement through physical education, 
recess, or other approaches. The authors found that elementary schools 
(69 percent) were most likely to meet the 30-minute daily requirement by 
offering daily recess. 
In a study conducted among a nationally representative sample of 
Norwegian students, Haug and colleagues
(2010a) found that schools with 
a written policy addressing physical activity and those offering organized 
noncurricular physical activity during the school day were most likely to 
report student participation in daily recess, although it is unclear whether 
these written policies contained strong or weak language. In contrast, in a 
random sample of low-income rural Colorado elementary schools, Belansky 
and colleagues (2009) found that the number of minutes of recess provided 
to students decreased after implementation of the federally mandated local 
wellness policy. The authors attribute this decline in recess minutes to the 
weak language of the policy. Finally, Turner and colleagues
(2013) found an 
association between strong state and school district policies and the practice 
of withholding recess for behavior management or academic reasons. More 

---

Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Educating the Student Body: Taking Physical Activity and Physical Education to School
330