Active Mile Daily Track

Active Mile Daily Track encourages primary school children to run or jog for 15 minutes each day in a social setting around a dedicated running area. This is a simple yet effective way to improve physical and mental health wellbeing in an easily accessible, cost-effective and low-risk manner.

An information session was held with teachers in all recruited schools to inform them of the aim of this study. Teachers were then asked to voluntarily decide whether their class would take part in The Daily Mile (experimental group) or remain with their usual classroom-based activity (control group). Children from both groups were assessed at baseline and follow-up using accelerometers, 20 m shuttle run fitness test performance and body composition by skinfolds.

Daily Active Mile Tracking: A Key to Stress Reduction

Qualitative interviews were conducted with thirteen teachers in schools that implemented the Daily Mile. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed, then analysed using interpretative thematic analysis.

Teachers were generally positive about the Daily Mile and perceived it as beneficial to children’s health, wellbeing and fitness. However, there were some concerns including lack of availability of all-weather running surfaces and time constraints within an already full curriculum. Some teachers also highlighted that, because the Daily Mile does not count as PE, they struggle to fit it into their class schedules.

Results from the trial showed that introducing The Daily Mile significantly increased moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity, sedentary behaviour and 20 m shuttle run fitness test performance in comparison to control pupils at the intervention school. In addition, there were significant group x time effects for the standing long jump and 6-min run tests. These findings suggest that introducing The Daily Mile into the school day is an effective strategy for improving children’s sedentary behaviour and fitness, and could help to reduce global inactivity.