Canada Is Lazy!
April 27th, 2010

Canada is is becoming a nation of couch potatoes. Hey, don't look at us. We work our butts off everyday here at Synergy Marketing Consultants. We also have developed awesome working relationships with business owners all over Canada who spend a lot of time trudging away to make their companies the best in the world.

Ask Mark Tremblay, the chief scientific officer of the research and advocacy organization, Active Healthy Kids Canada, and he'll tell you that Canadians are spending far too much time on the couch and in front of the television. In a report released by Torstar News Service earlier today, it was revealed that more than half of Canadian preschoolers are “dangerously inactive”.

As well, Chum FM's Jeff Howatt adds that shockingly (or maybe not so shockingly), “Toronto is the couch potato capital of Canada”! Based on the findings of a 2010 report card by Active Healthy Kids Canada, Tremblay remarks that “there are measurable cognitive, social, emotional and physical consequences” to kids who are simply plunked in front of a TV set by negligent parents.

The Torstar News Service report reveals that this is happening to kids earlier in their lives than ever before. “In 1971,” it reads, “the average age kids started watching TV was four; now it's five months...The report card states children between ages one and five need at least two hours of exercise each day, whether it's exploring the playground, playing games or walking to the grocery store.”

Clearly, having these bad habits develop so early is positioning this country to grow into a nation of couch potatoes. Howatt reveals on ChumFM.com that a study called the Get Active Toronto Report concluded that “57 per cent of Torontonians aged 12 and older were inactive during their leisure time in 2007-08.”

Howatt notes that this figure is 7 points higher than the national average of 50 per cent. Toronto's number is also up 6 points from the last survey, which was conducted in five years ago. Tremblay fears that this sense of lazyness is starting far too early, taking away the basics needs of growing children.

Says Tremblay: “Active play may be fun, but it's not frivolous. Kids have a biological need to move.” With less than half of Canada's kids getting the type of daily movement that they require, parents are putting their children at risk of obesity among other health issues. The country, he continues, may soon face a “a major public health issue on par with a pandemic.”

Want to know how you can be more active? Howatt's article, which was posted to TheSpec.com reveals the Get Active Toronto Report's interpretation of an active person. That is, “someone who walks at least an hour, jogs a minimum of 20 minutes or expends the equivalent amount of energy every day. (Meanwhile) an “inactive” person expends less energy on all leisure time activities than is required to walk for half an hour a day.”