Research shows that "among children and adolescents age two to seventeen, 26% are overweight and another 8% are obese." The New England Journal of Medicine reported that "our children's lifespan could be 2-5 years less than our own." Furthermore, the economic burden of physical inactivity is estimated at $5.3 billion and the burden to the healthcare system is estimated at $2.1 billion. Canada is facing an inactivity and obesity crisis whose impact on the cost of future chronic disease management is almost unimaginable.

A potential solution is regular physical activity, which is associated with as much as a 30% reduction in all causes of mortality rates. With its partners, ParticipACTION wants to be part of the solution.

• Only 12% of Canadian children and youth are meeting Canada’s physical activity guidelines of 90 minutes per day. 
  (Active Healthy Kids Canada. (2010) Healthy habits start earlier than you think: The Active healthy Kids Canada report cardon physical activity for children and youth 2010, Toronto, ON.)
• Today's Canadian children and youth are heavier, fatter, rounder and weaker than they were a generation ago.
   (Tremblay, M. S., Shields, M. Laviolette, M., Craig, C. L., Janssen, I., & Gorber, S. C. (2010). Fitness of Canadian children and youth: Results from the 2007-2009 Canadian Health Measures Survey. Statistics Canada, Health Reports 21(1), Catalogue no. 82-003-XPE)
• Childhood obesity in Canada has tripled over the past three decades.  
  (Source: Shilds, M. (2005). Measured Obesity: Overweight Canadian children and adolescents. Statistics Canada, Analytic Studies and Reports. ISSN: 1716-6713)
• According to the Canadian Health Measures Survey, 17% of Canadian children and youth are overweight and an additional 9% are obese.
  (Tremblay, M. S., Sheilds, M. Laviolette, m>, Craig, C. L., Janssen, I., & Grober, S. C. (2010) Fitness of Canadian children and youth: Results from the 2007 - 2009 Canadian Health Measures Survey. Statistics Canada, Health Reports 21(1), Catalogue no. 82-003-XPE)
• The New England Journal of Medicine reports that, for the first time in history, our children's lifespan could be 2-5 years less than our own.
  (Tremblay, M. S., Sheilds, M. Laviolette, m>, Craig, C. L., Janssen, I., & Grober, S. C. (2010) Fitness of Canadian children and youth: Results from the 2007 - 2009 Canadian Health Measures Survey. Statistics Canada, Health Reports 21(1), Catalogue no. 82-003-XPE)
• Canadian kids are spending six hours a day in front of television, video game and computer screens - over the course of a week, that is as much time as their parents spend at work.
  (Active Healthy Kids Canada. (2010) Healthy habits start earlier than you think: The Active Healthy Kids Canada report card on physical activity for children and youth 2010, Toronto, ON.)
• Sport participation rates in Canadian youth aged 15-18 declined from 77% in 1992 to 59% in 2005.
  (Ifedi, F. (2008). Sport participation in Canada, 2005. Culture, Tourism and the Centre for Education Statistics. Vol. Catalogue no. 81-595-MIE - No. 060: Statistics Canada)

• Canadian adult participation in sport declined from 45% in 1992 to 28% in 2005.
  (Ifedi, F. (2008). Sport participation in Canada, 2005. Culture, Tourism and the Centre for Education Statistics. Vol. Catalogue no. 81-595-MIE - No. 060: Statistics Canada)
  
• More than half of Canadians are considered inactive.
  (CFLRI. (2008). Results of the 2008 Physical Activity and Sport Monitor. retrieved from http://www.cflri.ca/eng/levels/adult_levels.php)
  
• Physical activity appears to reduce the risk of over 25 chronic conditions, including coronary heart disease, stroke, hypertension, breast cancer, colon cancer, type 2 diabetes and osteoporosis.
  (Warburton, D. E. R., Katzmarzyk, P. T., Rhodes, R. E., & Shephard, R. J. (2007). Evidence-informed physical activity guidelines for Canadian adults. Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism 32(S2E) S16-S68)
  
• In those aged 40 to 69 years, the percentage of those whose waist circumference places them at high risk for health problems has more than doubled since 1981; in those aged 20 - 39 years, percentages have more than quadrupled.
  (Shields, M. Tremblay, M. S. Laviolette, M. Craig, C. L. Janssen, I., & Gorber, S. C. (2010). Fitness of Canadian adults: Results from the 2007-2009 Canadian Health Measures Survey. Statistics Canada, Health Reports 21(1), Catalogue no. 82-003-XPE)
  
• Since 1981, the percentage of Canadians aged 40 to 69 whose body composition was "fair" or "needing improvement" (as measured by BMI, waist circumference and skinfold measurements) more than doubled. Among males 20 to 39 years, the increase was fourfold, and among younger females, sevenfold 
  (Shields, M. Tremblay, M. S. Laviolette, M. Craig, C. L. Janssen, I., & Gorber, S. C. (2010). Fitness of Canadian adults: Results from teh 2007-2009 Canadian Health Measures Survey. Statistics Canada, Health Reports 21(1), Catalogue no. 82-003-XPE)
  
• Fit individuals who are obese have a lower risk of all-cause mortality than do unfit normal-weight or lean individuals.  Fit adults outlived the unfit regardless of their obesity levels or weight.
  (Sui, X. LaMonte, M. J., Laditka, J. N. Hardin, J. W.,Chase, N., Hooker, S. P., & Blair, S. N. (2007). Cardiorespiratory fitness and adiposity as mortality predictors in older adults. Journal of the American Medical Association, 298(21) 2507-2516)

 

• The direct and indirect costs associated with physical inactivity were estimated at $5.3 billion in 2001.  
  (Katzmarzyk, P. T., & Janssen. (2004). The economic costs associated with physical inactivity and obesity in Canada: An update. Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism 29(1) 90-115)
• According to the Conference Board of Canada in 2010, we could save $76 billion over the next ten years by tackling the five main risk factors for heart disease: smoking, physical inactivity, obesity, high blood pressure and lack of fruit and vegetable consumption.  
  (Theriault, L., Stonebridge, C. & Browarski, S. (2010). The Canadian Heart Health Strategy: Risk factors and future cost implications. The Conference Board of Canada)

 

• Results from the Canadian Health Measures Survey forecast accelerated disease development, increased health care costs and loss of productivity due to declining fitness levels in Canada.  
  (Tremblay, M. S., Shields, M. Laviolette, M., Craig, C. L., Janssen, I., & Gorber, S. C. (2010). Fitness of Canadian children and youth: Results from the 2007-2009 Canadian Health Measures Survey. Statistics Canada, Health Reports 21(1), Catalogue no. 82-003-XPE)

• Physical inactivity is one of the five leading global risk factors for mortality and is estimated to cause 2 million deaths per year.
• The combined burden (on health, economy, etc.) of diet-related risks and physical inactivity in low- to middle-income countries is similar to that caused by HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis.
• A billion people worldwide are overweight and 300 million are obese.
• Worldwide, overweight and obesity cause more deaths than underweight.
• Physical inactivity is estimated to cause 21-25% of breast cancers and colon cancers, 27% of diabetes and 30% of ischemic heart disease.  
  (Source: World Health Organization. (2009). Global health risks: Mortality and burden of disease attributable to selected major risks. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/healthinfo/global_burden_disease/GlobalHealthRisks_report_full.pdf)