Children need at least seven minutes of vigorous exercise per day to stay fit, according to a new study by the University of Alberta.
The trick is not letting kids notice that they are exercising, said Richard Lewanczuk, a researcher with the faculty of medicine and dentistry.
“The challenge is to make fitness easy to do and not just the right thing to do,” Lewanczuk said.
“Not all kids like to exercise so we try to emphasize to achieve this in an activity, such as playing soccer or basketball or playing hockey ... activities that are enjoyable,” he said.
For the study, Lewanczuk and a team of researchers collaborated with Black Gold Regional Schools in Leduc and surrounding communities south of Edmonton.
For seven days, more than 600 children aged nine to 17 wore monitors to track their physical activity levels. Weight, waistline and blood pressure were also monitored.
The research found that 23 per cent of children spent time doing light physical activity, almost seven per cent with moderate physical activity and 0.6 per cent with vigorous physical activity.
After seven minutes of intense fitness a day, overweight children showed shrinking waistlines, while others improved in their fitness levels.
“Going out for a walk or other moderate activities is helpful but to achieve weight loss or prevent weight gain you need those seven minutes,” Lewanczuk said.
He added that exercise levels drop as children enter puberty and teenage girls participate in fewer activities than boys.
Lewanczuk said communities and schools can help promote active living by offering more facilities where children can play and run, as well as family programs at lower costs.
The study did not support the belief, held by some, that children who are obese can also be fit.
Evan Holstein, athletic director for St. Albert Catholic High School, agreed that children are hardly motivated to do high intensity sports. Instead, he said physical education teachers hide demanding workouts in games.
His school not only offers sport performance classes for those wanting to be active, but also intramural programs.
The children can play in the gym during lunch hour or participate in different games that are not specified as sport activities.
“You might need seven minutes of intense exercise but it’s probably more realistic to get kids to do half an hour of moderate workout,” he said.
“If you mask it in a game, kids are more willing to be a part of it rather than saying they should run sidelines back and forth.”
Holstein added that parents help promote physical activity by going on family walks or playing a game in the park.
Some think active living should not only be promoted through physical education but throughout the entire school system.
In 2008, Paul Veugelers, professor at the University of Alberta’s School of Public Health, started the APPLE schools project.
The project promoted active living and healthy eating in 10 schools across Alberta. Each school had a school health facilitator who worked with the staff, students and parents.
All the schools were located in disadvantaged neighbourhoods with children less active than the provincial average.
“After two years we saw that kids in our APPLE schools had improved their diets and that they were more active than the provincial average and obesity rates were coming down,” Veugelers said.
Despite the project’s success (now including 57 schools across the province), he added that promoting change is difficult.
Schools often cannot sustain paying for a health facilitator, and promoting a healthy diet and physical activity are not always on the top priority list.
He added that parents were difficult to change in their behaviours but more willing to improve in their living habits for the sake of their children.
“If you grow up in a society where the unhealthy choice is the easy choice, you need a strong motivation to get to your goal,” he said.
