New Canadian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines for Children and Youth Released

The world's first 24-Hour Movement Guidelines for Children and Youth (5-17 years) was released in the 2016 ParticipACTION Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth, the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology (CSEP) announced. The Canadian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines for Children and Youth: An Integration of Physical Activity, Sedentary Behaviour and Sleep are the first evidence-based guidelines to address the whole day. The academic papers that explain the novel approach to the new guidelines are available in a special supplementary issue of CSEP's official journal, em>Applied Physiology, Nutrition and Metabolism (APNM) published by Canadian Science Publishing.

Research strongly shows the need for a new movement paradigm that emphasizes the integration of all movement behaviours occurring over a whole day, shifting the focus from the individual components to emphasize the whole (all physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep).

"Given the current inactivity and obesity epidemics, a new approach that can have a greater impact over current approaches is desperately needed," says CSEP board chair, Dr. Philip Chilibeck. "It is time that we adopt a broader, more integrated, and inclusive strategy to better address current public health crises. CSEP is providing parents, caregivers, teachers and health professionals with new guidance for the whole 24-hour period to help Canadian children and youth to grow up healthy."

The new Canadian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines for Children and Youth encourage children and youth to "Sweat, Step, Sleep and Sit" - a healthy 24 hours includes: 60 minutes per day of moderate to vigorous physical activity; several hours of a variety of structured and unstructured light physical activities; uninterrupted 9 to 11 hours of sleep for those aged 5-13 years and 8 to 10 hours per night for those aged 14-17 years; and no more than 2 hours per day of recreational screen time.

The Canadian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines were developed by the Healthy Active Living and Obesity Group (HALO) of the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) Research Institute, the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology (CSEP), ParticipACTION, The Conference Board of Canada, the Public Health Agency of Canada and a group of leading researchers from around the world, with the input of over 700 national and international stakeholders.

"Ninety-four percent of stakeholders agree with the new 24-hour approach to guidelines," noted Dr. Mark Tremblay, Guidelines Development committee chair, "this research is important because it challenges the current fragmented conceptualization of the various movement behaviours as separate units, whereas research shows that the whole day matters."

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Source-Eurekalert