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N.S. school children becoming increasingly unfit
The CP Wire (Mon 14 May 2007) reports that only one of 306 high school girls who participated in a 2005 study into physical activity and diet in Nova Scotia got enough exercise in a week. A study released Monday suggested that girls in the province are less active as they age and tend to have poor diets. The percentage of Grade 11 girls getting 60 minutes or more of moderate to vigorous activity at least five days a week dropped from 6.9 per cent in 2001 to 0.3 per cent in 2005. Perhaps more surprising is that 96.1 per cent of girls in Grade 3 in 2005 did achieve that level of activity.
Coupled with the consistently poor diet of Nova Scotia children, the lack of activity could lead to dire health consequences earlier in life.
In 2005, well over 90 per cent of the children studied got inadequate amounts of fibre, two-thirds didn't get enough calcium, and almost half didn't get enough vitamin D in their diets. They're at risk of heart disease, stroke, osteoporosis and several cancers, including breast and prostate. Only 20 per cent of Grade 7 students walked to school in the 2005 study, a greater proportion than in grades 3 or 11. The time children spent in front of computer or TV screens jumped from 2001 to 2005.
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