Research to build the case:

Fit facts for youth

• Research conducted in 2003 showed that 68% of Saskatchewan youth were not active enough to achieve optimal health benefits according to federal health guidelines. In 2005 that number rose to 73%.
• 27% and 9% of young females in Canada are overweight and obese respectively. ¹
• The prevalence of overweight and obesity in Canadian young people appears to be on the rise.^{1, 2}
• Furthermore, overweight and obesity in childhood is linked to morbidity and mortality in adulthood.³
• There is evidence that there has been a decline in the aerobic fitness of young people in the last decade or so. ^{5, 6, 7}
• "In 2005, Dr. Steven Blair, President and CEO of the Cooper Institute, reported that physical inactivity is the biggest public health problem of the 21st Century." (Humbert, 2005, p. 5)

Activity

• The most popular physical activities among Canadian young people are walking for exercise, bicycling, swimming, jogging/running, and basketball.⁸
• Over half of 5- to 17-year-olds in Canada are not active enough for optimal growth and development.⁹
• The majority of adolescents in Canada are not meeting the current recommendations for physical activity.¹⁰
• Approximately half of teens are not vigorously active on a regular basis.¹⁰
• Physical activity decreases with increasing age or school grade.¹⁰
• On average, young people in Canada spend between 13 and 14 hours per week watching television.¹¹
• There is evidence to suggest that obesity is related to physical inactivity.¹³
• "Research in Youth exercise adherence and motivation provides several findings which could be useful in physical education settings. It is important to address the psychological factors which motivate students to be active. Gould and Horn suggest six reasons for exercise (physical activity) participation in order of importance: having fun, to improve skills and learn new skills, to be with friends and make new friends, for thrills and excitement, to succeed or win and to be physically fit. Having fun has consistently been the top reason for youth sport/exercise participation." (Douthitt & Harvey, 1995, p. 32)
• "A major study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association confirmed what any American with eyes even half-open could already have reported –that not only our adults, but also our children (and teens), are fat and getting fatter all the time. As the Department of Health and Human Services put it in a summary of this latest study’s evidence, among children and teens ages 6-19, 15 percent (almost 9 million) are overweight according to the 1999-2000 data, or triple what the proportion was in 1980." (Eberdtadt, 2003, p. 2)

Sources:
Humbert, L. (2005). CAHPERD Scholar Address: Carpe Diem: A challenge for us all. Canadian Alliance of Health Physical Education Recreation and Dance. (Autumn).

Douthitt, V. & Harvey, M. (1995). Exercise Counseling- How Physical Educators Can Help. Journal of Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, 66 (5), 31-35.