Canadian Fitness on Decline – Study Finds

 

The Canadian Health Measures Survey (CHMS) released its first report study today detailing the changing of fitness levels of its population between 1981 and 2009. The results have found that obesity levels have dramatically increased and in some age groups it has tripled and even quadrupled and fitness levels have dramatically decreased.

It seems from the empirical data that women statistically have become more health conscious then men with smaller rises in being overweight between the two periods. However equal proportions between the sexes in obesity incidents were calculated.



Below are a few of the articles from the CMHS and papers detailing all the statistics from the survey. 

 

Canadian Health Measures Survey

Between 1981 and 2009, fitness levels of Canadian children and youth, as well as those of adults, declined significantly, according to the first findings from the Canadian Health Measures Survey (CHMS). This is the most comprehensive national survey ever conducted in Canada to determine fitness levels.

The CHMS captured key information relevant to the health of Canadians by means of direct physical measurements, such as body measurements, cardio-respiratory fitness, musculoskeletal fitness and blood pressure.

In Canada, for the past two decades, assessments of fitness levels of Canadians have relied almost exclusively on the body mass index (BMI) because it can easily be calculated from height and weight. The BMI has shown that Canadian adults have become heavier over the past 25 years... Read More

Fitness on decline, fatness growing

Canada's obesity levels have gone off the scales over the past quarter century while fitness levels plunged, according to a comprehensive national survey released today.
In the most thorough assessment of weight and fitness in the country since 1981, the Canadian Health Measures Survey showed the number of overweight and obese people has tripled and even quadrupled in some age groups.

The report, released by Statistics Canada this morning, showed that 61 per cent of Canadian adults were overweight or obese while only 32 per cent of people aged 15 to 69 were in good aerobic shape.

"No doubt it has to be a combination of diet and physical activity," said senior Statistics Canada analyst Margot Shields..... Read More

Canadian fitness levels have plummeted since 1981

Canadians were far less fit in 2009 than they were in 1981, according to a sweeping new Statistics Canada survey, which found that obesity rates have sky-rocketed in both teenagers and adults.

The Canadian Health Measures Survey, which Statistics Canada calls the most comprehensive fitness study every conducted in the country, compiled data by taking direct physical measurements of subjects, including body measurements, cardio-respiratory fitness, musculoskeletal fitness and blood pressure.

The survey found decreases in fitness levels to be most pronounced among adults between the ages of 20 and 39. According to the data, the percentage of adults in this age group with a waist circumference that put them at high risk for health problems more than quadrupled, from five per cent to 21 per cent among men and from six per cent to 31 per cent among women... Read More

Fitness in Canada has declined: study

Canadian children are “taller, heavier, fatter and weaker” than they were in the early 1980s — and that will have a profound impact on their adult health and on the financing of the health-care system, according to a sweeping study released Wednesday by Statistics Canada.

The Canadian Health Measures Survey, conducted between 2007 and 2009, concluded the deterioration in fitness of children six to 19 was “significant and meaningful” since the last time comparative measures were done in the early 1980s.

By age 12, children are now taller and heavier than in 1981, but their overall body composition is less healthy, and their strength and flexibility has declined, the study shows.
While not surprised that kids have grown less healthy than those of a generation ago, “I was surprised at the magnitude, the consistency, the pervasiveness, across sexes, ages, and the actual magnitude of the changes,” said Dr. Mark Tremblay of the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, one of the study’s co-authors.

“The science on the relationship between fitness and health is very, very strong…. Read More




As can be seen from the above reports due to the changing lifestyles from between 1981 and 2010 there is an increase in weight and a decrease in physical activity. I am of the belief that Canadians are not alone with most western countries who would perform the same study finding similar results. What the governements of those countries do now will be critical to the health of their population. Encouraging exercise and fitness in schooling and providing tax concessions on fitness related items is a start. However if we do nothing then we all are going to pay for it in the long run.