The Daily Mile: 15 Minutes Running Improves the Physical Fitness of Italian Primary School Children
by
Paolo Riccardo Brustio 1,*
, Anna Mulasso 1, Danilo Marasso 2, Camilla Ruffa 2, Andrea Ballatore 2, Paolo Moisè 2, 
Corrado Lupo 1, Alberto Rainoldi 1 and Gennaro Boccia 1
Paolo Riccardo Brustio 1,*, Anna Mulasso 1, Danilo Marasso 2, Camilla Ruffa 2, Andrea Ballatore 2, Paolo Moisè 2, Corrado Lupo 1, Alberto Rainoldi 1 and Gennaro Boccia 1
1
NeuroMuscular Function Research Group, School of Exercise and Sport Sciences, Department of Medical Sciences, University of Torino, 10143 Turin, Italy
2
School of Exercise and Sport Sciences, SUISM, University of Torino, 10129 Turin, Italy
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16(20), 3921; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16203921
Received: 5 September 2019 / Revised: 4 October 2019 / Accepted: 12 October 2019 / Published: 15 October 2019
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Physical Activity and Healthy Lifestyle)
The Daily Mile™ is an innovative school-based intervention that requires children to run or jog outside for 15 min at a self-selected pace during class time. Today, only one study has investigated the efficacy of The Daily Mile on physical fitness, which was conducted with Scottish children. Thus, we aimed to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of The Daily Mile in Italian primary schools. A total of 486 children participated in The Daily Mile for 3 months (experimental group), whereas 309 children continued their daily school routine (control group). The 6-min run test, standing long jump, body mass index, and waist-to-height ratio were assessed. Their teachers completed surveys for assessing the intervention acceptability. After correction for age and gender, significant group × time interactions were observed in the 6-min run test and standing long jump results. In the post-test period, the experimental group showed improvement in the 6-min run test and standing long jump results. Overall, the teachers were satisfied with the program and found it suitable for their school context and easy to implement. The Daily Mile was successfully implemented and smoothly accepted in the day routine of Italian primary schools.
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Keywords:
active break; school-based intervention; health promotion; healthy lifestyle; physical activity
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MDPI and ACS Style
Brustio, P.R.; Mulasso, A.; Marasso, D.; Ruffa, C.; Ballatore, A.; Moisè, P.; Lupo, C.; Rainoldi, A.; Boccia, G. The Daily Mile: 15 Minutes Running Improves the Physical Fitness of Italian Primary School Children. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16, 3921.
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