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Summary
Majority (73 percent) of Canadian preschoolers are getting the required amount of physical activity to stay healthy. However, new statistics show that as soon as children hit the age of five, the amount of children getting enough physical activity drops to only one-third. A test was conducted on 865 children ages three to five, using accelerometers. This test was to figure out how much daily physical activity the children were actually getting. A summary of the report noted that physical activity in young children is linked to multiple health benefits. However, participating in sedentary behaviour is linked to certain health risks. Although obesity rates have gone up in Canada since 1978, they have decreased from the study done in 2004. The Canadian childhood obesity rate decreased to 2 percent from 2004 to 2013. Studies also show that only 22 percent of children aged three to four years old were hitting the recommended one hour or less of screen time a day. Even better, for the five year olds, 76 percent or children were staying within the limit of no more than two hours a day. Overall screen time was over the recommendations for each age group, but more prominently for the three and four year olds. Statistics Canada found that children ages three and four were more likely to not meet the physical activity requirement when living in a low income household. The same can be said for three and four year olds living in households with lower levels of education to be getting more lenient screen times. It is also a factor if you are an only child, the amount of physical activity and screen time the child would get were less likely to follow guidelines. I think this article was very informative. I liked the use of all the statistics however I think that it could have used more references. There weren't names used of the people who conducted the experiment on the children. Also, I wish they had included more information about the test on the 865 children. What the outcomes turned out to be and such.