A ritual that requires almost nothing and produces measurable effects from the first weeks.
There is a very specific time in the day when students are particularly mentally unavailable, and it is the very first hour of the day. Teachers often talk about hesitation, an irregular, sometimes long, getting started time, complicating the start of learning.
Researchers observed different groups of children to understand what promoted more stable attention upon arrival in class. They then noted, week after week, a marked improvement in those to whom a short ritual had been offered before leaving for school. Without changing their sleeping pattern or modifying their eating habits, these students seemed to approach new tasks more easily and follow the explanations for longer.
The Active-Start study, published in 2020 in the‘International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, also emphasizes the speed of the effects observed. From the second week, several teachers noticed more constant engagement, less dispersion and a better ability to sequence planned activities. The children concerned were not distinguished by a higher educational level, but by a more available attitude. “Lifestyle habits acquired during childhood are much more likely to continue into adulthood”recalls the document, which encourages families to integrate this ritual as a daily reflex. Pediatricians also see it as a way to get mornings often frozen by the race against time back into motion.
Indeed, children move less and less as they get older. According to the data cited in the study, only a fraction of students achieve the daily recommendations usually made by pediatricians. The researchers emphasize, however, that their finding does not depend on a child’s general activity level. Very different students, including those without particular sporting habits, showed the same progress when they performed this short morning ritual. We are talking here about a mini engine warm-up carried out just before leaving for school. A few stretches, a few bounces, a brisk walk or a short yoga pose for children is enough.
The whole thing takes less than three minutes and according to the study, this brief awakening of the body greatly improves children’s concentration in class. A habit that deserves to be tested to start the year 2026 on a good basis, especially as it is easily integrated and only requires minimal regularity to show its effects. You can even make a little game of it with your child, practicing, too, at the same time as him.
