Pausas híbridas. Desempeño académico, fatiga mental y autorregulación emocional en estudiantes sedentarios universitarios y exdeportistas

Introduction: Former athletes who have recently entered university are undergoing a transitional stage that demands both resilience and academic readaptation. This process requires interventions based on relatively simple strategies that integrate interdisciplinary components — physical, cognitive, and emotional — focused on key variables such as those studied herein. Objective: To evaluate the effects of hybrid breaks on improving academic performance, mental fatigue, and emotional self-regulation in sedentary university students and former athletes. Methodology: A quasi-experimental study was conducted with two independent groups (n = 35 each). The experimental group underwent a five-month intervention programme consisting of hybrid breaks adapted to the needs of former athletes, whereas the control group continued with their traditional teaching-learning activities. Results: The experimental group showed a significant reduction in mental fatigue (MFI-20; p = .001; r = .39) and notable improvements in emotional self-regulation, with increased cognitive reappraisal (p = .002) and decreased expressive suppression (p = .015). Sustained attention also improved (d2 Test; p = .001; r = .40), along with a better perception of psychophysical recovery (TQR; p = .008). Although academic performance only showed a favourable trend (p = .068), inter-group comparisons revealed significant differences in cognitive and emotional variables in favour of the experimental group, highlighting the positive impact of hybrid breaks on mental and emotional efficiency among university former athletes. Conclusions: Hybrid breaks appear to be an effective strategy for stabilising and enhancing academic, cognitive, and emotional performance in sedentary former athletes during their university stage.