Seven per cent of N.B. children getting recommended amount of physical activity
New Brunswick may have some work to do, but Wellness, Culture and Sport Minister Hedard Albert says he believes the province is increasing its commitment to physical activity.
Only seven per cent of New Brunswick's children are getting the recommended amount of physical activity each day, according to a national study released last week. That figure ranks the province last in Canada. But Albert said he believes the provincial government's wellness strategy, which is expected to introduce a number of initiatives by the end of 2013, will help turn the crisis around.
The plan includes four pillars: mental fitness; healthy eating; physical activity; and tobacco-free living.
The province will attempt to build partnerships between its departments, community groups and employers that will focus on using resources in the community and to develop policies that support healthy lifestyles. The strategy will also try to measure the province's performance by tracking national studies and surveys, and increasing homegrown research capabilities with partners at the University of New Brunswick and the Universite de Moncton.
Albert said he believes this is the start of a healthier future. "I'm confident that in the very near future the results of what we are trying to do, with our investments, with our programs, (will be seen)," he said. "And if you look around the province more and more and more small communities, villages, and towns are talking about wellness now, physical activity, and healthy eating. They have meetings, they organize everything around the province – that means it's working."
Several schools have introduced pilot projects that allow more time for physical education each day. Eighty schools are participating in a daily pedometer challenge – which sees students measure the number of steps they take during the run of a day. By 2012, Albert said, every school in the province will be participating in the step-count program. Physical activity programs and wellness centres have been launched in many communities in the province as part of an effort to make resources more accessible for residents.
Albert said children are a critical population to target, but teenagers, adults and seniors must also buy into the changes. "We want to reach not only the children and the youth, but also the parents and those who are working with those people because what we are saying, 'If parents are active, kids will be active,' " he said.
Gabriela Tymowski, an associate professor at UNB's faculty of kinesiology, said she's happy the government is promoting the importance of physical activity and better eating habits, but she'd like to see more concrete measures put in place. "You can only have so many policies. Ultimately, you've got to actually do it," she said. She said many of the provincial government's strategies are short on details and ways to measure their impact in the long term, such as a recent promise to promote wellness in governmental workplaces. "Unfortunately, some of those promises are really vague. What does that actually look like on a day-to-day basis, having a healthier workplace?" she said. "We need to see concrete steps being taken, for example, the elimination of high-sugar drinks from schools. Eliminating, not reducing. Or actually following through on ensuring that children participate in daily, quality physical education and physical activities."
Tymowski said New Brunswickers have to make a commitment to healthier living. "Obviously, what we're doing is not particularly effective. So we need to re-double our efforts and re-examine our priorities," she said.
Albert said it's critical that attitudes change now, before health-care costs become unmanageable. "We are the worst for smoking, we have a lot of obesity, a lot of diabetes and so on and so forth," he said.
Adam Bowie
5 May 2010
http://dailygleaner.canadaeast.com/cityregion/article/1039516
