The experts over at Health Canada are going to lower their exercise recommendations for children and Canadians of all ages. Under the new guidelines, children will be asked to aim for 60 minutes of physical activity per day, instead of 90. For adults, the recommendations will be cut back from an hour daily to 150 minutes weekly (30 minutes per day).
This is the proposed solution for a growing number of overweight and obese children and teens, of which only 12 percent currently get enought exercise and a whooping 59 percent eat less than five servings of fruits and vegetables per day. It's thought that lowered expectations will encourage the masses of young, unfit Canadians to get moving because the goals are now more attainable.
This skewed logic has many Toronto parents, health professionals, and children's advocates like Silken Laumann, scratching there heads. I mean, if you want your child to brush their teeth every night, do you to tell them it's okay to brush only every other night? Perhaps the "less is more" approach works for use of a firm tone in child discipline, but there is no evidence that less exercise is actually better for children. On the contrary, physical activity promotes well-being, physical and mental health, social skills and quality of life, reasons why Toronto has it's own Charter for Physical Activity.
One hour a day roughly adds up to how much recess time the average Toronto grade-schooler gets. Or, it could be the length of their once-a-week gym class. The lucky kids also have swimming, soccer, skating, gymnastics, karate or other sports to keep them active. Given these common activities, the lowered daily requirement will likely allow Health Canada to report better statistics on the activity level of Canadian youngsters. Sort of like how easier standardized testing makes our education system seem acceptable - but that's another can of worms.
If you want to file these new guidelines in with the new vitamin D recommendations under "ignore", here are a few quick tips on how to keep your child's heart pumping and blood vessels unclogged during the winter:
- Buy a mini snow shovel and get them to help with the driveway
- Go tobogganing or try an ice skating trail
- Have an epic snow fight, fort and all!
Comments