Cycling to run errands promotes physical activity, but a new report suggests only 12 per cent of Canadian young people get the 90 minutes recommended for daily activity. (John Lovretta/The Hawk Eye/Associated Press)
Most Canadian young people are still failing to make the grade when it comes to meeting recommended physical activity guidelines, and fewer than half of children under five are integrating physical activity into their daily routines, says a report released Tuesday.
In its sixth annual report card, Active Healthy Kids Canada assigned an "F" for physical activity levels for the fourth consecutive year.
The report card suggests only 12 per cent of Canadian children and youth are getting the 90 minutes recommended for daily physical activity. Meanwhile, young people are continuing to devote considerable time to video games, computers and TV, accumulating six hours of screen time on weekdays and more than seven hours on weekend days, the report says.
The report also expressed concern that children aren't spending enough time being active in their early years. This is based in part on the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth, which suggests 36 per cent of two- to three-year-olds and 44 per cent of four- to five-year-olds regularly engage in unorganized sport and physical activity each week.
While there is variation in international guidelines, the report said the consensus is that kids one to five years old should participate in at least two hours of daily physical activity. Despite recommendations that children under two should have zero screen time, more than 90 per cent begin watching television before that age, the report said.
Increasingly sedentary behaviours are replacing what would have been active playtime for young children in the past, leading and contributing to the increase in kids being overweight and obese which is associated with other psychosocial and health problems, said Mark Tremblay, chief scientific officer of Active Healthy Kids Canada.
Younger children especially a concern
"This is very disturbing because it sets kids on a trajectory that the evidence shows it's not one that we would desire," he said from Ottawa. "So young children that are overweight or obese or sedentary or inactive tend to follow those behaviour patterns later on in childhood and into adulthood, certainly much more so than kids that don't demonstrate those behaviour patterns early on."
National data indicate that 15.2 per cent of two- to five-year-olds are overweight, and 6.3 per cent are obese.
Tremblay said he believes the reason there is still such a high percentage of children failing to meet recommended activity levels is because not enough is being done in society to effect change. Substantial social shifts causing individuals to move less and sit more are also a factor, he said.
"There's just enormous social movements towards auto dependency and electronic dependency and … so on that just overwhelms the effort that we're giving to try and preserve healthy active living behaviours and preserve what many people are being convinced are inconveniences."
Beyond the physical benefits, there's evidence showing that social, emotional and mental health is preserved through play and healthy living activity, Tremblay said.
"Virtually all of the indicators are improved with outdoor time and more active playtime, and they're virtually all diminished with excessive screen time."
'We have a crisis in our country'
In addition to limiting screen time, parents need to take a leadership role in promoting activity, said Kelly Murumets, president and CEO of ParticipAction, citing examples like walking kids to school, cycling to the store or parking in the furthest possible spot in the parking lot.
"In families where there are regular healthy habits, those kids end up being more likely to have those healthy habits throughout childhood and adulthood," said Murumets, who said ParticipAction's fall campaign will be focused on children and youth.
Murumets said it will take a joint effort by the public, private and non-profit sectors to combat the problem of childhood inactivity.
"Unless all three sectors first of all acknowledge that we have a crisis in our country and acknowledge that this requires immediate action urgently now and then that we can take that action together… I think that the crisis will perpetuate. This report card this year needs to be an alarm bell for all of us right across the country to say we have a crisis and we need to get active."
Active Healthy Kids Canada calls the report card the most comprehensive annual assessment of all available information related to physical activity of children and youth in the country. The report card draws on hundreds of data sets and studies that were reviewed to assign the grades.
© The Canadian Press, 2010
As adults we have a responsibility to lead by example!
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