A new report released by Statistics Canada yesterday shows that the level of physical activity in the Canadian population is far lower than previously estimated (see report).
While Canada has used self-report to monitor the level of activity in the adult population and seen high levels of reported physical activity – in the new report barely one third of the population reached the target of 10,000 steps per day measured by pedometer. Many of us use a pedometer to monitor our daily level of activity – in this setting it was one of the measures to more directly assess the activity in the population.
Overall these data suggests that Canadians are not as active as national targets recommend for health benefits. Many benefits accrue from higher activity, including weight control, lower risk of heart disease, diabetes, and cancers of the breast and colon, to name a few.
With the New Year upon us, increasing our daily activity to achieve at least 10,000 steps per day gets us towards achieving some of these health benefits. It is never too late to begin being more active. As we have written previously, we have many tips to help you move towards these goals.
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