SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Physiol.
Sec. Exercise Physiology
This article is part of the Research TopicMuscle-brain axis. An integrative response to enhance mental health through exercise and nutritionView all articles
Evaluating the Methods Used to Examine Sitting Breaks and Their Influence on Mental Load, Physical Strain, and Cognitive Performance - A Scoping Review
Provisionally accepted
- Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Berlin, Germany
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BACKGROUND: Long periods of sitting characterize modern working life and are associated with increased health risks. Integrating short activity breaks may counteract these effects. This scoping review examines the effects of brief bouts of physical activities on cognitive performance and neurophysiological parameters. METHODS: A comprehensive search in PubMed and EBSCOhost identified experimental and field studies with adult participants examining the effects of interrupting sitting periods with short physical activities on cognitive performance, neurophysiological parameters (EEG), and muscle activity (EMG). Studies focusing solely on standing or posture changes were excluded. Study quality and internal validity were assessed using the revised Cochrane tool for assessing the risk of bias in randomized trials. A narrative synthesis summarised the findings. RESULTS: Eighteen studies met the inclusion criteria, with a total of 694 participants aged between 20 and 50 years. Of these, only one study examined the influence on EEG and found that walking breaks increased attention-related brain activity, as indicated by a higher P3 amplitude. However, behavioural performance remained unchanged. Two studies examined muscular parameters using EMG, one of which observed a reduction in fatigue. Cognitive performance was assessed in 16 studies. Only two studies used standardized and realistic work tasks to keep participants engaged during the sitting periods. The results varied widely and only occasionally showed a positive influence of movement breaks on cognitive function. CONCLUSION: Reasons for the heterogeneity of the results on cognitive performance may lie in different study designs, types of intervention, and outcome measurements. Another factor is the tasks assigned during the sitting phases. Variations in mental load during the different tasks cannot be ruled out, which in turn may influence cognitive performance outcomes after the interventions. The limited number of studies, which often had small sample sizes, and the considerable methodological heterogeneity do not allow for definitive conclusions. Nevertheless, the review provides some evidence that interrupting prolonged sitting with short breaks of physical activity may help maintain cognitive performance and muscle health. These findings underscore the need for more rigorous, ecologically valid research to better understand the health effects of interrupting sedentary activities. PROSPERO registration: CRD42025638431
Keywords: Active breaks, Cognition, EEG, EMG, muscle activity, Prolonged sitting, Sedentary behaviour
Received: 27 Nov 2025; Accepted: 21 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Freyer, Jost, Jankowiak, Bressem and Hegewald. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Marion Freyer
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