Our young people have never been so out of shape. This is the conclusion of two major studies released in recent months. Physical inactivity not only affects the adult population, but increasingly has long-term consequences for children and adolescents.
We cannot repeat it enough: prevention does not make headlines for long, but it remains the solution to ensuring a healthy and prosperous working population.
The cardiovascular fitness of children and adolescents has been plummeting since the 1980s. The implications of this important – but not surprising – finding from Dr Mario Leone are numerous and will be more and more visible.
For example, according to the study by Professor Jean-Philippe Chaput, a sedentary lifestyle already costs Quebec public health more than $2.2 billion annually.
Physical activity and the healthy lifestyle habits that are generally linked to it not only have the advantage of preventing cardiovascular and mental disorders, but also make it possible to strengthen community spirit while facilitating integration, reducing the crime and fostering a flourishing youth. It is therefore conceivable to hope that all levels of government, from local to federal, will take an interest in what is possible to put in place as strategies for discovering and adopting physical activity.
Currently, funding and attention is mainly concentrated at the top of the pyramid, namely on the sport of excellence. However, without the base of this pyramid, no elite can emerge. In other words, without the discovery of physical activity, first as a game, no one could make it a lasting habit or a passion that, perhaps, would lead to the top step of the podium.
This precarious and increasingly permanent situation must be reversed. Solutions exist and there are many. Experts are just waiting for the attention of decision-makers to put their knowledge to good use with children and their parents, but also with professionals and seniors. As a society, we must give ourselves the means to reverse the trend and rediscover the pleasure of moving and playing.
* Sports Montreal is a non-profit organization whose mission is to arouse a passion for physical activity, from an early age, by creating positive, educational and accessible sports experiences. Its objective is to enable as many people as possible to integrate sport into their way of life, particularly young people.