PHYSICAL ACTIVITY

Physical activity is essential to help young people reach their full potential, both in terms of physical and mental health and at the social and cognitive levels¹. Conversely, a sedentary lifestyle is a risk factor for several chronic diseases and obesity².

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a negative impact on young people’s level of physical activity³.

In 2020, more than half of Quebec teenagers reported having reduced their level of physical activity⁴.

Thus, promoting active time at school is a fundamental approach to reaching all young people, without discrimination, and allowing them to acquire the skills they need to keep a healthy and active lifestyle.

Schools must provide as many opportunities as possible for students to do physical activities that they enjoy. There are countless ways to integrate physical activity in their school culture¹⁰ :

•  Integrate active time into the class’s or daycare’s daily routine;
•  Promote the importance of being active during recess;
•  Make sure schoolyards are designed with health in mind, with green spaces, opportunities to practise different types of activities and enough space to accommodate all students at the same time;
•  Ensure favourable and safe conditions are in place to encourage active travel between home and school;
•  Offer a variety of extracurricular activities based on the students’ interests and make them accessible to everyone.

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Physical education and health education help students develop their motor skills and discover new activities. They also foster a feeling of belonging, in addition to being a key moment of active time. In addition, they promote the maintenance of a physically active lifestyle  into adulthood¹¹.

It is therefore important to value the time devoted to physical and health education as a means to promote health and well-being of young people and as a key factor to their academic success. 

For this reason, guidelines on the time devoted to physical and health education should be modified to include mandatory minimum times of 60 minutes per week during preschool, 120 minutes per week for elementary school and 300 minutes per 9-day cycle for secondary school. Setting mandatory times would help reduce disparities between environments and harmonize practices.

Negative experiences associated with weight stigma in the context of physical activity during childhood and adolescence can have persistent effects into adulthood and lead to people avoiding and abandoning physical activity altogether.

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1. Comité scientifique de Kino-Québec (2011). L’activité physique, le sport et les jeunes – Savoir et agir. Québec : Secrétariat au loisir et au sport, ministère de l’Éducation, du Loisir et du Sport. Gouvernement du Québec. http://www.kinoquebec.qc.ca/publications/ActivitePhysique_LeSportEtLesJeunes_AvisCSKQ.pdf
2. Institut national de santé publique du Québec. (2022). Habitudes de vie et prévention des maladies chroniques. https://www.inspq.qc.ca/habitudes-de-vie-et-prevention-des-maladies-chroniques
3. Colley, R. C., & Watt, J. (2022). Les répercussions inégales de la pandémie de COVID-19 sur les habitudes d’activité physique des Canadiens (Rapports sur la santé N^o 33, n°5). Statistique Canada. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/82-003-x/2022005/article/00003-fra.htm
4. Léger. (Juin 2020). Sondage réalisé pour le compte de la Coalition québécoise sur la problématique du poids.
5. Sigfusdottir, I. D., Kristjansson, A. L. & Allegrante, J. P. (2007). Health Behaviour and Academic Achievement in Icelandic School Children, Health Education Research, 22 (1), 70-80
6. Hillman, C. H., Erickson, K. I. & Kramer, A. F. (2008). Be smart, exercise your heart: exercise effects on brain and cognition. Nature reviews Neuroscience, 9, 58-65
7. Trudeau, F. & Shephard, R. J. (2008). Physical education, school physical activity, school sports and academic performance. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 5 (10).
8. Rasberry, C.N. & al. (2011). The association between school-based physical activity, including physical education, and academic performance: a systematic review of the literature. Preventive Medicine, 52 (1), S10-S20
9. Harold W. Kohl, I. I. I., Cook, H. D., Environment, C. on P. A. and P. E. in the S., Board, F. and N., & Medicine, I. of. (2013). Physical Activity, Fitness, and Physical Education : Effects on Academic Performance. In Educating the Student Body : Taking Physical Activity and Physical Education to School. National Academies Press (US). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK201501/
10. Santé Montréal. (2022). GO! Le secondaire s’active ! Favoriser la pratique d’activités physiques des jeunes : Pistes d’action pour le milieu scolaire—Infographie. Gouvernement du Québec. https://santemontreal.qc.ca/professionnels/drsp/publications/publication-description/publication/go-le-secondaire-sactive-favoriser-la-pratique-dactivites-physiques-des-jeunes-pistes-daction/
11. Bailey, R. & al. (2009). The educational benefits claimed for physical education and school sport: an academic review. Reasearch papers in education, 24(1), 1-27