The Active Healthy Kids Canada (AHKC) Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth has been effective in powering the movement to get kids moving by influencing priorities, policies, and practice in Canada.The AHKC Report Card process was replicated in 14 additional countries from 5 continents using 9 common indicators (Overall Physical Activity, Organized Sport Participation, Active Play, Active Transportation, Sedentary Behavior, Family and Peers, School, Community and Built Environment, and Government Strategies and Investments), a harmonized process and a standardized grading framework.The 15 Report Cards were presented at the Global Summit on the Physical Activity of Children in Toronto on May 20, 2014.The consolidated findings are summarized here in the form of a global matrix of grades.There is a large spread in grades across countries for most indicators.Countries that lead in certain indicators lag in others.Overall, the grades for indicators of physical activity (PA) around the world are low/poor.Many countries have insufficient information to assign a grade, particularly for the Active Play and Family and Peers indicators.Grades for Sedentary Behaviors are, in general, better in low income countries.The Community and Built Environment indicator received high grades in high income countries and notably lower grades in low income countries.There was a pattern of higher PA and lower sedentary behavior in countries reporting poorer infrastructure, and lower PA and higher sedentary behavior in countries reporting better infrastructure, which presents an interesting paradox.Many surveillance and research gaps and weaknesses were apparent.International cooperation and cross-fertilization is encouraged to tackle existing challenges, understand underlying mechanisms, derive innovative solutions, and overcome the expanding childhood inactivity crisis.
A diverse, cross-sectorial group of partners, stakeholders and researchers, collaborated to develop an evidence-informed Position Statement on active outdoor play for children aged 3–12 years. The Position Statement was created in response to practitioner, academic, legal, insurance and public debate, dialogue and disagreement on the relative benefits and harms of active (including risky) outdoor play. The Position Statement development process was informed by two systematic reviews, a critical appraisal of the current literature and existing position statements, engagement of research experts (N = 9) and cross-sectorial individuals/organizations (N = 17), and an extensive stakeholder consultation process (N = 1908). More than 95% of the stakeholders consulted strongly agreed or somewhat agreed with the Position Statement; 14/17 participating individuals/organizations endorsed it; and over 1000 additional individuals and organizations requested their name be listed as a supporter. The final Position Statement on Active Outdoor Play states: “Access to active play in nature and outdoors—with its risks— is essential for healthy child development. We recommend increasing children’s opportunities for self-directed play outdoors in all settings—at home, at school, in child care, the community and nature.” The full Position Statement provides context for the statement, evidence supporting it, and a series of recommendations to increase active outdoor play opportunities to promote healthy child development.
Key Points• The physical activity sector is facing a decline in funding due to its neoliberal orientation with a strong emphasis on generating biomedical evidence that places health as an individual responsibility.• The sector is also confronted with competing, more urgent challenges, such as climate change, economic inequality, and racial violence, all of which have been exacerbated by the ongoing pandemic.• We must redefine and position physical activity as a vital part of the solution for addressing the complex challenges that we currently face, moving beyond a narrow public health focus.
Longitudinal analyses were used to examine the rate of change of self-reported weight among adults over two-year intervals from 1996/1997 to 2004/2005, and to determine if the pace at which Canadians' weight is changing has slowed down or accelerated. Associations between weight change and sex, age group and body mass index (BMI) category arealsoexamined.The data are from the 1996/1997 through 2004/2005 National Population Health Survey.Average weight changes over two-year intervals were calculated by sex, age group and BMI category. Linear regression was used to determine if the rate of weight change was stable, increased or decreased over time.From 1996/1997 to 2004/2005, Canadian adults gained, on average, 0.5 to 1 kg per two-year period. Although people aged 18 to 64 continued to gain weight, the amount gained decreased significantly in the most recent interval, 2002/2003 to 2004/2005. This downturn is due, in part, to a significant decrease in the proportion of men gaining weight during that period. However, among people who gained weight, the amount gained in two years increased over the entire eight-year period.
The immigrant population in Canada is diverse and growing, yet little is known about their physical activity behaviour and how it changes as they adapt to a Canadian lifestyle. This study extends the surveillance of physical activity in Canada to include the influence of time since immigration within and between ethnic groups.
The current low level of physical activity among Canadians is a dominant public health concern. Accordingly, a clear understanding of physical activity patterns and trends is of paramount importance. Irregularities in monitoring, analysis, and reporting procedures create potential confusion among researchers, policy-makers, and the public alike. The purpose of this paper is to consolidate reported findings and provide a critical assessment of the physical activity surveillance procedures, analytical practices, and reporting protocols currently employed in Canada to provide insights for accurate and consistent interpretation of data, as well as recommendations for future surveillance efforts.
Background Physical fitness levels in Japanese children are lower than those in the 1980s. Twenty‐four hour movement guidelines were recently developed to improve both present and future health of children. This study examined whether meeting the 24 h movement guidelines was associated with physical fitness measures in primary school children. Methods Participants were 243 Japanese children (9.4 ± 1.7 years). Moderate‐to‐vigorous physical activity (MVPA) was evaluated using accelerometry. Sleep duration and screen time were reported. Physical fitness was assessed by grip strength, sit‐ups, sitting trunk flexion, and 20 m shuttle run test. Meeting the 24 h movement guidelines was defined as: 9–11 h / night of sleep, ≤2 h/day of screen time, and at least 60 min/day of MVPA. The associations between physical fitness and the recommendations were analyzed using analysis of covariance. Results Children meeting the MVPA recommendation alone performed better on the 20 m shuttle run and sit‐up test compared to those not meeting the recommendation (number of laps: 41 vs 36, P = 0.009 and number of repetitions: 16.3 vs 14.7, P = 0.021). Children meeting the combination of MVPA and sleep recommendation scored significantly higher on the sit‐up test compared to those not meeting the recommendations (number of repetitions: 16.5 vs 15.0, P = 0.038) but the effect was similar to that of the MVPA reference only. Meeting all three 24 h movement guidelines was not associated with measures of fitness in this sample. Meeting the MVPA recommendation was associated with greater aerobic fitness and muscle endurance. Conclusions In order to enhance children’s physical fitness, public health recommendations should primarily target MVPA.
