4 out of 5 teens in Canada are not getting enough physical activity

Four out of five teens are not meeting physical activity recommendations, according to new data from Statistics Canada. And experts say that without major changes, physical activity will continue to lag behind screens and social media when it comes to teens.

data released Friday Found that from 2022 to 2024, only 21 per cent of youth aged 12-17 across Canada were meeting physical activity recommendations, compared to 36 per cent in the 2018 to 2019 period.

This is the only age group that has seen a significant decline in physical activity since the previous data collection period.

This is a worrying trend given the significant impact physical activity has on children’s development, says Professor Travis Saunders of the University of Prince Edward Island, who studies the health effects of sedentary behavior.

“Children and youth who do more physical activity perform better in terms of physical health, mental health, bone health, academic achievement, basically any outcome you can think of,” he told CBC News. “Pick something that you think is important to young people and those who are doing more physical activity will perform better on that outcome.”

According to the Canadian 24-hour Movement Guidelines, a healthy day for children aged 5–17 years should include at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity and several hours of light physical activity. Vigorous and muscle-strengthening activities should also be included at least three days per week.

According to Statistics Canada, nine out of ten preschoolers are meeting their physical activity guidelines, while only half of children aged 5-11 are meeting their physical activity guidelines.

Saunders said the decline seen in the teen group may reflect the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. OfIDs who found their regular gym classes and sports suddenly canceled in 2020 may never have returned to a more active pattern.

girls are lagging behind

Teenage girls were last in physical activity. Only eight percent of girls aged 12-17 were found to meet recommendations in the latest data period, compared to 37 percent of girls aged 5-11.

“Whatever is affecting that age group has clearly impacted them more than their male counterparts,” Saunders said. She said more could be done to broaden children’s ideas about what physical activity can be.

Emphasizing activities like walking, biking and hiking rather than just playing sports will help children adopt habits that are easier to sustain over the long term, he said.

Real change will require a societal shift to view physical activity as a serious health issue, says Mark Tremblay, senior scientist in the Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research Group and professor at the University of Ottawa.

When the pandemic hit, “there was a huge increase in screen time,” he said. “I think we’re seeing that hangover, that that group of teenagers had that experience that hasn’t come back.”

Although successive pilot projects and government investments have attempted to address youth physical activity, investments have been low and inconsistent compared to other public health interventions, Tremblay said.

Greater regulation of the addictive aspects of social media as well as continued campaigns to create more spaces where children want to gather in person could help wean them away from screens.

“If we can make early and sustained investments to realign people’s indoor time and outdoor time, standing and sitting time, which have become out of balance and are associated with all kinds of adverse problems in our brain and our heart and elsewhere, that’s what we need to do,” he said.