When Betty Lee tells her boys to go outside and play, she knows they will likely be the only two kids out on her street. Unfortunately, this is true across the country. For the fifth year in a row, the Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth gave Canada a failing grade of D in 2009.
The report card shows that children still spend twice as much time in front of the TV screen as they do being active. Less than 10 per cent of children and youth are getting the recommended 90 minutes of moderate to vigorous daily physical activity.
“We are always kicking them outdoors in summer to be active. If given a choice, they would be inside playing video games,” says Lee, a mother from Edmonton. “Kids today have more access to technology, computers, 24-hour TV and computer games. Their activity levels are a lot lower than they used to be.”
[new]
Dr. Mark Tremblay, director of healthy living and obesity research at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario and chair of Active Healthy Kids Canada, says that more kids in Canada are becoming obese. He adds that we’ve been seeing this trend for at least the last generation.
“This is a new biological phenomenon. Having large numbers of kids who are obese is new to the species. I don’t think any of us understand what the consequences of that are,” says Dr. Tremblay.
“Almost everyone seems to understand that more activity is better, but we don’t seem able to get people to act on that. It’s not just being informed. It’s creating environments to help make the healthy choice the easy choice,” said Dr. Tremblay.
Betty Lee says that one thing that seems to work with her two older sons is signing them up for an activity with their friends.
“My older son especially does much better in swimming when he takes it through school. I see a positive effect when he is with someone he knows well who is his own age.”
Being physically active with the whole family also seems to encourage physical activity, says Lee.
“We go bike riding every other night in the summer as a family,” she said. “Sure, it is nice if they do the spontaneous play thing, but to ensure that they are getting physical activity regularly, we have to schedule it.”
Dr. Tremblay says modern devices, such as remote controls that reduce work, are a big factor in reducing the daily physical activity of kids.
These devices “exist in our schools, our transportation modes, our behaviours around the home and our yard work. We have leaf blowers, snow blowers and ride lawn mowers instead of manual labour.”
[new]
The main cause of obesity can be boiled down to too much energy intake for the amount of energy output. But Dr. Tremblay says the factors that feed into obesity are incredibly complicated.
“My guess is that it’s not going to be a good news story when we finally get it figured out,” says Dr. Tremblay. “We’re already seeing a substantial number of cases of children with Type 2 diabetes, which is one repercussion of not getting enough physical activity.”
He added that the psychosocial, emotional and mental elements of obesity can often have tragic consequences.
Dr. Tremblay said that many of these factors are worse in aboriginal children and youth. Less than half of aboriginal children are active for 30 minutes per day five days a week.
“Sometimes a reasonable amount of that difference disappears if you control for socioeconomic status,” said Dr. Tremblay. “Quite often those groups are in poor living conditions and have poor education and low incomes.”
However, he pointed to Amish and Mennonite kids who don’t have access to electronic devices.
“They are way more active even though they have no phys. ed. classes and sports teams. Many of them live in what we think of as poverty. But these groups are achieving much higher levels of fitness. They have almost a complete absence of obesity. They walk, they play, they hunt. It’s boring sitting in the living room.”
[endpage]
Learn More
Alberta Centre for Active Living: Children and Active Living
This Alberta Centre for Active Living Hot Topic article is about physical activity and kids. It provides information on how to get them to be more active.
Canada's Physical Activity Guides for Children and Youth
The increase in overweight and obesity, combined with low levels of physical activity, represents a serious threat to the health of Canada's children and youth. In response to this crisis, the Public Health Agency of Canada and the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology developed Canada’s Physical Activity Guides for Children and Youth.
Canada's Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth
You can also find the full report from Active Healthy Kids Canada at the Active Healthy Kids Canada website.
|
 |
|
.gif)
