Canadian adults given an ‘F’ grade for sedentary behaviour, ParticipAction report on fitness finds
Global News
Examples of sedentary behaviour include sitting while watching television, playing video games, listening to music, doing paperwork or commuting.
It seems the majority of Canadian adults aren’t making the grade when it comes to physical fitness.
The second report card for adults from ParticipAction, a non-profit group that promotes healthy living and typically ranks children’s fitness levels, suggests many had poor activity levels during the COVID-19 pandemic.
It gives grown-ups an “F” for sedentary behaviour after finding 88 per cent of surveyed adults said they were relatively inactive more than eight waking hours per day. Examples of such behaviour include sitting while watching television, playing video games, listening to music, doing paperwork or commuting.
The report, released Tuesday, also gives adults a “C” when it comes to both total daily steps and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity.
The findings are largely based on Statistics Canada data collected through various surveys in 2020 and 2021.
Roughly 49 per cent of surveyed adults took at least 7,500 steps per day, which Statistics Canada describes as a “physically active lifestyle.” That’s down slightly from 52 per cent in the previous report card, which looked at pre-pandemic activity in 2018 and 2019 and was released in late 2019.
Meanwhile, 57 per cent reported at least 150 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per week _ the same as in the last study.
Researchers are urging Canadians to do more, noting many people said they were less active amid pandemic-related restrictions that closed gyms, offices and sports leagues, even though some people found opportunities to be more active.