The COVID-19 pandemic caused widespread disruptions in the lives of Albertans and other Canadians of all ages, with everything from business to health care and education negatively impacted in countless ways.
The newly released Physical Activity for Children and Youth 2022 report card from the national non-profit, charitable ParticipACTION organization highlights in stark terms the detrimental impact the pandemic has had on the nation’s young people.
And the results point to a need for stakeholders including government, educators and parents to take immediate action to help reverse several troubling trends.
Researchers found that only 28 per cent of kids in Canada are now meeting national physical activity guidelines, a decline of more than 10 per cent from pre-pandemic levels.
As well, only one in four children and youth achieved more than 840 minutes per week of total time engaged in indoor and outdoor unstructured play over the past year.
Regarding sedentary behaviours, researchers found an even more troubling trend, with only 16.5 per cent of children now meeting the screen time guideline of two hours or less per day.
Overall the report card gave a grade of “D” for overall physical activity for Canadian children and youth.
“There is no doubt that many opportunities for physical activity were lost due to necessary public health measures,” says Dr. Mark Tremblay, chief scientific officer, ParticipACTION Report Card, and senior scientist with the Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research Group, CHEO Research Institute.
“Restricted access to schools and opportunities for sports and recreation contributed to a national decrease in children’s and youth’s physical activity and an increase in sedentary behaviours.”
Elio Antunes, president and chief executive officer of ParticipACTION, added, “Improving activity for all children and youth is key to protecting the health and well-being of all throughout the pandemic and in the future.”
With COVID-19 restrictions now largely removed in Alberta, parents, educators and other stakeholders should be encouraged to promote and support increased physical activity opportunities for children and youth.
Dan Singleton is an editor with the Albertan.
