The Benefits of School Recess: A Systematic Review *
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ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND
Recess provides many physical, mental, and social benefits for students; however, the most recent systematic review examining the benefits of recess was conducted over a decade ago. The purpose of this paper was to determine the current benefits of school recess by conducting an updated systematic review of the literature.
METHODS
Multiple databases were systematically examined to find articles fitting the following inclusionary criteria: (a) school recess, (b) all schooling before college, and (c) recess benefits of any kind. Research was limited to literature published between June 2009 and July 2020.
RESULTS
Nine studies were included in this review. The majority of studies examined elementary-aged students. Seven studies were conducted in the United States, and 2 studies were conducted internationally. Recess provided school-aged children academic and cognitive benefits, behavioral and emotional benefits, physical benefits, and social benefits.
IMPLICATIONS FOR SCHOOL HEALTH POLICY, PRACTICE, AND EQUITY
Providing recess for all school levels positively impacts the whole child; there was no literature implicating negative impacts of recess.
CONCLUSIONS
Schools can improve overall student health and belonging by redesigning and/or implementing daily recess.
According to the most recent national summary of physical activity trends in the United States, youth have demonstrated a decrease in activity in the previous decade.1 As of 2016 data, less than one quarter of youth (24%) participated in 60 minutes of physical activity every day. In addition, physical activity levels tended to decrease as children age; 42.5% of 6- to 11-year-olds engaged in 60 minutes of physical activity compared to 7.5% of 12- to 15-year-olds and 5.1% of 16- to 19-year-olds. Insufficiently active children miss out on the multitude of physical and mental health benefits of physical activity.2
The Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) model aims to align health and educational outcomes in order to enhance children's wellbeing.3 One of the main components of the model focuses on physical education and physical activity in schools. Recess is one school-based physical activity opportunity that falls within this component. Recess is “a period of time when students are encouraged to be physically active and engage with their peers in activities of their choice, at all grade levels, kindergarten through 12th grade.”4 A recent literature review indicated that recess is a prime school curricular period for integrating WSCC.5
However, the research surrounding the benefits of recess requires updating. The most recent and widely referenced review was published in 2010.6 The review found that recess academically improves cognitive functioning, attention, classroom behavior, and classroom production; socially improves communication and negotiation skills; emotionally improves perseverance, self-control, and stress management skills; and physically improves motor skills and general physical health. Another more recent systematic review examined physical activity interventions during recess.7 The review indicated that recess increases levels of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity which could lead to additional benefits for students.
Even with these reviews, schools have historically underprioritized the importance of recess. Goals for academic achievement, financial constraints, and lack of recent recess research are 3 examples of pressures that can hinder schools from putting time and focus into recess implementation. Less than two-thirds (64.8%) of elementary school districts require regularly scheduled recess, and only 7.5% of middle school districts require physical activity breaks outside of physical education.8 In order to change these poor trends, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Society of Health and Physical Educators (SHAPE) recently collaborated to promote daily school recess.4 The organizations jointly published reports which outline national guidelines for recess as well as provide strategies and considerations for implementing recess.
Unfortunately, shortly after this advancement which encouraged recess, the COVID-19 pandemic derailed education and forced changes to educational policies in order to protect student health. As the pandemic becomes more contained with vaccinations and awareness, policy makers will face many questions regarding the structure of the school day. Recess has the ability to transform into an intentional and valued curricular period. However, in order to help school districts and administrations, it is important to put forth updated evidence in order to make a strong argument for reestablishing and improving recess for all school levels. Thus, an updated review that focuses on the global benefits of recess literature is warranted. The purpose of this paper was to determine the physical, cognitive, emotional, and social benefits of recess in schools.
METHODS
This systematic review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) protocol.9 The search was conducted in July 2021. Ramstetter et al. conducted their review in May 20096; therefore, this review searched databases for studies published between June 2009 to July 2021. Although the search was limited to peer-reviewed articles written in English, it included research conducted in any country. Studies were identified using the following electronic databases: CINAHL, ERIC, PubMed Central, PsycINFO, and Web of Science. Additionally, reference lists of included studies were scanned for relevant studies that the search strategy might have missed. Sixteen phrases were searched in each of the databases. All phrases started with the stem “school recess” followed by the Boolean “AND.” The terms that followed included “absence,” “academic,” “behavior,” “before lunch,” “cognition,” “cognitive,” “discipline,” “emotional,” “fitness,” “grades,” “health,” “interpersonal,” “mental,” “mood,” “physical,” and “social.”
Studies pertaining to school recess benefits in preschool, elementary school, middle school, and high school were collected in order to create a comprehensive scope of recess outcomes. The types of benefits focused on, but were not limited to, physical health, mental and emotional health, social health, cognition and academic achievement, and behavior. Inclusionary requirements were (a) school recess, (b) all schooling before college, and (c) recess benefits of any kind. Studies were excluded if they were not written in English, were not peer-reviewed, and were if they were systematic reviews, literature reviews, or meta analyses. Additionally, research investigating the benefits of specific recess interventions (eg, recess before lunch, physical activity promotion, Playworks, etc.) were excluded from the review in order to focus on recess that could be found in the majority of schools within the United States.
RESULTS
The PRISMA diagram for the study selection process is depicted in Figure 1. A total of 4345 citations were identified from the electronic databases. All citations were saved into the citation manager Zotero (Corporation for Digital Scholarship, Vienna, Virginia). Individual article titles were screened in order to exclude duplicates. A total of 3681 duplicates were removed leaving 664 records for screening. From the initial screening, 603 records were excluded by title and additional 38 were excluded by abstract review. Reasons for exclusion included the article being unrelated to recess, focusing on specific recess interventions, or not being original research. The remaining 23 full-text articles were screened for inclusion. Fourteen articles were excluded for focusing on specific interventions, describing the lived experience of recess rather than outcomes, or not measuring recess benefits. A total of 9 studies met the inclusionary criteria.10-18
The individual study characteristics of the included research is summarized in Table 1. Overall, the majority of the studies were conducted in the United States.10-12, 14, 16-18 Two studies were conducted internationally (Spain and Finland).13, 15 The majority of studies included elementary-aged samples.11, 13-18 One study included preschool,10 2 studies included middle school,13, 15 and 1 study included high school.13 Although Dills et al.12 did not explicitly report sample characteristics, the dataset analyzed suggested that the researchers examined elementary students. No studies conducted in the United States examined the research benefits of middle or high school.
| Study | Country | Purpose | Sample | Measurement Tools | Measures | Key Findings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Becker et al. (2014) | USA | To investigate whether active play during recess was associated with self-regulation and academic achievement | 37 preschoolers |
ActiGraph GT1M Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders Letter-Word Identification (Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-Educational Battery-III Test of Achievement) Applied Problems (Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-Educational Battery-III Test of Achievement) |
Recess PA Self-regulation Letter recognition and developing word-coding Early mathematical operations |
Recess PA positively and significantly related to self-regulation Recess PA not significantly related to emergent literacy or math achievement Significant indirect effect between recess PA and both types of achievement |
| Brez and Sheets (2017) | USA | To understand the role of recess on classroom performance by studying the effects of recess on sustained attention and creativity | 99 third through fifth graders |
Letter-cancelation Procedure Alternate Use Task Trail Making Test (versions A and B) After-recess Questionnaire |
Sustained attention Creativity (fluency and nonredundant fluency) Executive functioning Location of play during recess, playmates, recess PA |
Marginally significant increase of sustained attention after recess Small but insignificant increase in fluency after recess Small but insignificant increase in nonredundant fluency after recess |
| Dills et al. (2011) | USA | To evaluate how recess and PE in elementary school influence children's learning | Not reported | Early Childhood Longitudinal Study—Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K) 1998-2004 |
Days/week of PE Class length of PE Days/week of recess Minutes of recess/day Academic outcomes |
No significant impact of weekly recess time on student learning Recess did not hinder student outcomes |
| Esteban-Cornejo et al. (2017) | Spain | To examine the associations of objectively measured physical activity in PE and recess with academic performance in youth | 1780 six through eighteen year olds |
ActiGraph GT1M, GT3X, GT3X+ School academic records |
MPA, VPA, MVPA in PE and recess Math achievement, language achievement, and GPA |
Recess MPA, VPA, MVPA was not significantly associated with any academic indicators Recess PA did not adversely impact academic achievement |
| Fernandes and Sturm (2011) | USA | To investigate the role of PE and recess in the body mass development for a national sample of children progressing from first to fifth grades | 8246 kindergartens followed through fifth grade |
Early Childhood Longitudinal Study—Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K) 1998-2004 |
BMI Days/week of PE Class length of PE Days/week of recess Minutes of recess/day |
An additional hour of recess per week is associated with a 0.30 unit decrease in BMI percentile 20 minutes of recess per day is significantly associated with 0.74 unit decrease in BMI |
| Haapala et al. (2014) | Finland | To investigate the cross-sectional associations of recess physical activity with peer relationships at school, related to school, and school climate |
579 fourth and fifth graders (primary) 884 seventh and eighth graders (lower secondary) |
Questionnaire |
Recess PA Overall PA Peer relationships at school Related to school School climate |
Primary: Recess PA positively and significantly associated to peer relationships at school, relatedness to school, and school climate Secondary: Recess PA positively and significantly associated with peer relationships at school |
| Kern et al. (2018) | USA | To examine the relationship between school-based PA opportunities and third-grade reading ability relative to SES | 784 elementary schools |
Administrative or PE teacher survey State Board of Education public database |
Weekly minutes of PA provided Minutes/week of recess Minutes/week of PE SES Third-grade reading achievement per individual school |
Significantly positive correlation between reading scores and PA opportunities PA opportunities moderated the strong positive association between SES and reading scores |
| Stapp and Karr (2018) | USA | To examine the effect of recess on fifth grade students' time on-task in an elementary classroom | 12 fifth graders |
On-task and off-task frequency chart STAR standardized test |
On- and off-task behaviors Reading and math achievement |
Mean on-task behavior after recess significantly more than mean on-task behavior before recess Each participant's on-task behavior increased after recess |
| Yesil Dagli (2012) | USA | To examine reading scores of students who experienced different numbers of recess days in a week, and different number of times and length of recess in a day | 3951 kindergarteners | Early Childhood Longitudinal Study—Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K) 1998-1999 |
Reading scores Days/week of recess Frequency of recess/day Minutes of recess/day Days/week of reading and language arts instruction Minutes/day of reading and language arts instruction |
Number of recess days in a week, frequency in a day, or length of recess in a day were not significantly associated with reading achievement as individual variables Length of recess and length of reading/language arts per day interact for varying improvements on reading achievement Recess did not decrease reading scores of students |
- BMI, body mass index; MPA, moderate physical activity; MVPA, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity; PA, physical activity; PE, physical education; SES, socioeconomic status; VPA, vigorous physical activity.
Synthesis of Results
The recess benefits reported within the included studies are academic and cognitive benefits, behavioral and emotional benefits, physical health benefits, and social benefits. Six studies measured academic achievement and found mixed results.10-13, 16, 18 Two studies reported measures of behavior or emotion and reported overall improvement.10, 17 One study revealed improvements to crude measures of weight category which can have subsequent benefits to physical health.14 Lastly, one study stated benefits to social health and social skills.15 Table 1 summarizes the key findings from each study.
Academic and cognitive benefits
Becker et al.10 investigated the relationship between academic achievement and recess physical activity in 37 preschoolers. The Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-Educational Battery-IIII Test of Achievement assessed language and mathematics skills, and the ActiGraph GT1M measured physical activity during recess. The researchers assessed outcomes for 4 weeks and found no significant connection between the 2 variables. Recess physical activity neither benefited nor hindered academics. However, the researchers found positive and significant effects to self-regulation which indirectly impacted academic achievement in math and emergent literacy. Likewise, Dills et al.12 found no positive or negative effects of recess on student learning in an unreported sample size of elementary students when analyzing the 1998-2004 Early Childhood Longitudinal Study—Kindergarten Cohort. However, the researchers did report that the largest effect of recess was on reading in the third through fifth grade. Lastly, Esteban-Cornejo et al.13 measured recess physical activity with ActiGraph GT1M, GT3X, and GT3X+ and measured academic outcomes in math and language through school provided records for 1780 6- to 18-year-olds. The researchers also found that recess physical activity did not impact academic indicators in either direction for elementary through high school participants.
Rather than examining the direct effect of recess on learning, Kern et al.16 considered the modifying effect that school-based physical activity opportunities have on third grade reading relative to socioeconomic status. The researchers administered surveys to 784 elementary schools in order to learn more about school-based physical activity. Recess and physical education were combined and could not be separated out for analysis. The School Board of Education database was accessed for academic achievement records and socioeconomic status of participants. Not only did the researchers find that school-based physical activity positively correlated with reading outcomes, but also they discovered that the relationship between reading outcomes and socioeconomic status, a historically positive correlation, is moderated by school-based physical activity. School-based physical activity, a combination of recess and physical education, lessened the reading achievement gap related to socioeconomic status.
Furthermore, Yesil Dagli18 suggested that the effect of recess on academic achievement depended on the interaction of the frequency and duration of recess and classroom learning times. After analyzing the combinations of various different recess and classroom learning schedules for 391 students from the 1998-1999 Early Childhood Longitudinal Study—Kindergarten Cohort, the researchers determined that there was no single optimal combination of frequency and duration of recess. They instead determined that recess must be viewed within the context of the whole school schedule in order to determine its relationships with learning outcomes. Nonetheless, the researchers did report that students with 1 day of recess per week tended to have higher reading scores than students with no recess. Also, with regards to recess length, students who had recess for less than or equal to 15 minutes per day tended to have the lowest mean of reading scores.
Alternatively, Brez and Sheets11 examined the effect of recess on the specific cognitive outcomes of sustained attention and creativity in 99 elementary school participants. Prior to and immediately following recess, the researchers measured fluency, nonredundant fluency, and executive functioning through letter-cancelation procedures, alternate use tasks, and trail making tests, respectively. Immediately following recess, participants completed a recess questionnaire which reported location of play, playmates, and recess physical activity. Although the 2 measures of creativity did not show significant changes after recess, the researchers found significantly higher amounts of sustained attention after recess.
Behavioral and emotional benefits
Stapp and Karr17 compared on- and off-task behaviors before and after recess in 12 fifth graders using a frequency chart. Additionally, the researchers used the STAR standardized test to determine reading and math achievement of participants. Results noted an increase in attentive trends after recess. Every participant in the sample showed a personal increase in on-task behaviors after recess, and there was a significant mean increase in on-task behavior after recess. Similarly, as stated earlier, Becker et al.10 found a positive and significant association between self-regulation and recess physical activity for their sample of 37 preschoolers. Participants who engaged in more physical activity at recess tended to show stronger self-regulating behaviors.
Physical benefits
Although countless collected studies examined the effects of overall physical activity on physical health, Fernandes and Sturm14 was the only study included in the review because it specifically spotlighted recess physical activity as the independent variable rather than a recess intervention. The researchers analyzed recess, physical education, and body mass index (BMI) data for 8246 students from the 1998-2004 Early Childhood Longitudinal Study—Kindergarten Cohort. They found that participants receiving 20 minutes per day of recess had a significant negative association with BMI leading to a 0.74-unit decrease. Furthermore, an additional hour of recess per week was associated with a 0.30-unit decrease in BMI percentiles. Recess and BMI were negatively related.
Social benefits
Haapala et al.15 utilized a questionnaire to investigate the relationships between recess physical activity, peer relationships at school, relatedness to school, and school climate across 19 upper-elementary and middle schools. Participants in fourth and fifth grade had a significant positive association between recess physical activity and all variables, whereas participants in seventh and eighth grade only had a significant positive relationship between recess physical activity and peer relationships at school. Recess presented opportunities for social wellbeing and feelings of school belonging.
DISCUSSION
This systematic review examined research published in the last decade in order to determine the benefits of school recess across all school levels. Only 2 studies investigated recess in the secondary setting, and both studies were conducted internationally13, 15; therefore, there was no research found within the review examining middle school or high school in the United States. More research within these populations is important for determining the benefits of and best practices for secondary recess in the United States.
The results indicated that recess benefits students' academic achievement and cognitive functioning, behavior and emotional state, physical health, and social health. In addition, no studies proclaimed any adverse outcomes of recess. Overall, school recess is an influential factor within the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child model. Recess can be an interaction point between the WSCC model's components of physical activity, social and emotional school climate, employee wellness, and nutritional environment. The results of this systematic review as well as the results of a couple excluded recess intervention studies are synthesized below within the WSCC in order to emphasize the positive impact recess has on the whole child.
Physical Activity at School
Recess is a valuable school-based physical activity opportunity. School policies supplying children with at least 20 minutes of daily recess provide enough time for children to engage in physical activity that reduces BMI.14 Furthermore, one systematic review examining the objectively measured recess physical activity across 24 international studies calculated the weighted mean for recess moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per day to be 12 minutes.19 Therefore, recess on average can make up 20% of the daily physical activity recommendation.20 However, less than 50% of elementary and 10% of middle and high school districts require recess.1 School policies requiring daily recess as an additional component of the school day give students the opportunity to increase physical activity which in turn improves weight control, reduces cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome, improves bone health, and increases muscle strength.2, 21, 22
Social and Emotional School Climate
Recess is also an opportunity for playing with peers and developing social skills. Recess positively correlates with peer relationships, relatedness to school, and school climate.15 Teachers have experientially noticed this trend and have noted that children learn to build social skills, learn conflict resolution, and develop problem-solving skills at recess.23 The social landscape of recess produces ample possibilities for students to develop and practice positive social interaction with peers and teachers. Many researchers have developed recess-based interventions that capitalize on the social and emotional learning aspect, especially for students with disabilities, such as Autism Spectrum Disorder, who might need extra help understanding social interactions.24, 25 In addition, recess improves students' moods and attitudes. Rather than the focused self-control required in the classroom, students are provided with more freedom and autonomy during recess. Teachers commented that students returned to the classroom more calm, more relaxed, and more positive.23 Social-emotional learning is vital for the whole child, and schools can use recess' natural climate as daily opportunities for teachable moments which develop social and self-awareness, responsible decision making, and relationship skills.
Employee Wellness
Recess not only benefits the students but also benefits the teachers. The break from learning implies a break from teaching. Moreover, recess is positively related to improved student self-regulation,10 marginally increases students' ability to sustain attention,11 and increases student on-task behavior.17 These behavioral benefits subsequently improve the overall classroom climate allowing teachers to spend time teaching and positively engaging with students. More uninterrupted instruction time and improved teacher-student relationships can lead to better academic achievement for students and increased enjoyment for teachers. Schools implementing daily recess benefit the whole school community because recess contributes to the wellbeing of multiple stakeholders.
Limitations
As with any systematic review, the selected search terms, inclusionary criteria, and databases limit the comprehensive collection of research. Although reference lists were explored for additional studies, there is a possibility that not all studies examining the benefits of recess were found and included within this review. Additionally, the decision to exclude intervention research could have limited the scope of benefits; however, by only including natural recess settings rather than interventions, this review presents the baseline benefits of the most financially feasible recess implementation.
Conclusions and Recommendations
School policies providing an opportunity for physical activity, social interaction, and autonomous play at recess do not negatively impact academic achievement; therefore, school districts can implement mandatory daily recess without fear of declining test scores or grades. Additionally, the effects on self-regulation, on-task behaviors, and sustained attention gained from recess can indirectly increase the likelihood of more productive classroom time. Lastly, the fact that school-based physical activity moderates the effect of socioeconomic status on reading outcomes indicates that the addition of recess and physical education could help equalize the achievement gap between socioeconomic statuses.
Moreover, recess provides opportunities for social-emotional learning. With the ample social interactions experienced at recess, students learn to develop and sustain stronger and more positive relationships with peers and teachers. These improvements are positively correlated with relatedness to school and school climate suggesting that recess improves the wellbeing of the entire school community. In order to benefit our students, recess needs to be reintroduced or implemented into schools, especially as the COVID-19 pandemic becomes more contained and students return to the classroom regularly.26, 27
Although there is much literature surrounding the benefits of recess, research addressing recess in the secondary setting is limited. Better understanding recess at the secondary level includes examining school policies, investigating school recess procedures, and researching recess benefits. This information is important to better understand if the relationships that are seen at the elementary level hold true with students that are older in the secondary setting.
IMPLICATIONS FOR SCHOOL HEALTH
- Consider recess as a curricular period deserving of intentional planning and oversight.
- Provide teachers and staff with professional development opportunities focused on recess in order to help standardize supervision and expectations as well as to ease anxieties or misunderstandings toward recess.
- Utilize the organic social-emotional student interactions that occur during recess as learning opportunities.
Human Subjects Approval Statement
Preparation of this paper did not involve primary research or data collection involving human subjects, and therefore, no institutional review board examination was sought.
Conflict of Interest
All authors of this article declare they have no conflicts of interest.
