Get kids off the couch after school: report
A new report says that Canadian children and youth are not getting enough exercise especially after school.
The 2011 Report Card of Active Healthy Kids Canada documents that from approximately 3 to 6 p.m. children and teens get an average of 14 minutes of moderate-to vigorous-physical activity (MVPA).
This compares with an average of six hours of screen time for Canadian teens outside of school. Screen time includes TV, computer and video games. The report recommends the after school hours as a time of opportunity to get kids moving and suggests more supervised activities for children and teens immediately after the bell rings.
The reason for the concern, the report notes, is that in recent years, obesity and physical inactivity have been a major focus of child health concerns in Canada. Evidence suggests that the percentage of obese children and youth is on the rise, leading to a physical inactivity crisis in Canada.
Art Quinney of Active Healthy Kids Canada says the federal government now spends about half what it did per person on promoting active living than it did in 1986. Quinney, also an exercise physiologist at the University of Alberta, says that doesn't make sense.
"The current generation of children will have a shorter life span than their parents. And it's simply due to the chronic conditions, that they will face as they move into their middle and later years are starting now as children. It is something that is happening right here, in our communities, now"
Physical activity can lead to significant improvements to cholesterol and blood lipid levels, hypertension also improves with exercise and there are improvements in symptoms of depression with aerobic exercise. Resistance training, weight-bearing activities and jumping improved bone density in children and teens.
The authors of the study are recommending the following:
The annual report card was funded by Active Healthy Kids Canada, in partnership with ParticipACTION and the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) Research Institute - Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research Group (HALO), in partnership with Wonder Bread, The Lawson Foundation, Kellogg's, the Heart and Stroke Foundation and Carp Ridge Learning Centre.
