Too many children are sitting in front of a screen and not getting enough daily exercise, finds report

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – There’s not enough activity, too much screen time and a real lack of sleep, those are the results of the latest ParticipACTION report card for our kids and the marks are pretty bad.

Dr. Allana Leblanc with ParticipACTION points out Canadian children get a D- for overall activity as only nine per cent of kids get the recommended 60 minutes of heart-pumping, sweaty activity in a day.

“We expect that kids are active but unfortunately they’re not and that’s also reflected this year for the grade for sedentary behaviour… so, screen time especially actually went down to an F grade this year. It was a D- last year.” She adds only 24 per cent of kids are getting less than two hours of screen time a day.

And while our children get a B for sleep, the report card finds all that screen time is steadily decreasing time in the sack with nearly one-third of school-aged kids and more than a quarter of adolescents in Canada not getting enough shut eye. “Partially because they’re getting so much screen time and they’re not getting enough physical activity. They’re not sleeping at night as well,” adds Leblanc.

She says kids between the ages of five and 13 should be getting at least nine hours of sleep a night.

The report stresses too little sleep can cause hyperactivity, lower IQ scores and is linked to increased risks of obesity, diabetes and hypertension.