ArticleScientific reports2025
How the time and type of physical education lessons affect attention capacity and cortisol levels in primary school children.
Article in Scientific reports, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Object-Control Skills and Cortisol Response During Physical Education Lessons in Primary School Children.The Journal of school health · 2026Article
- Lifestyle habits and health behaviors in first-year medical students: a longitudinal analysis across the academic year.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Limited research has investigated the influence of different types of physical education (PE) lessons on cortisol (C) concentration and attention capacity in a school setting, particularly regarding circadian effects. This study aimed to: (i) compare the effect of a curricular PE lesson and a cognitively demanding PE lesson on C levels and attention capacity; (ii) evaluate the impact of the time of PE lessons (early morning vs. before lunch vs. after lunch) on these variables; (iii) explore the relationship between variations in C levels and attention capacity, assessing whether such variations differ according to time and type of PE lesson. A total of 111 children (9-11 years of age) randomly completed a curricular PE lesson and a cognitively demanding PE lesson of the same intensity (HR > 139 bpm) and duration (60 min). Saliva samples and d2 Test of attention were collected immediately before and immediately after each lesson to assess changes in C levels and attention capacity (total number of items processed, percentage of errors, concentration performance).Changes in total number of items processed and in concentration performance differed significantly between curricular and cognitively demanding PE lessons (39.7 ± 45.7 vs. 13.4 ± 46.4 and 16.0 ± 19.1 vs. 5.30 ± 35.0 score, respectively; p ≤ 0.05) with a medium effect size (ƞ
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