ABSTRACT
Canada’s first set of physical activity guidelines for children and youth were introduced in 2002 [1,2]. The basic recommendation within these guidelines was that children and youth, independent of their current physical activity level, should increase the time they spend on moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity by 30 minutes per day, and over a 5 month period progress to adding an additional 90 minutes of daily physical activity. Recently, a narrative literature review was conduced to provide an update on the evidence related to the biological and psycho-social health benefits of physical activity in school-aged children and youth which has accumulated since the publication of Canada’s guidelines [3]. This narrative review explored whether Canada’s physical activity guidelines for children and youth are appropriate, and made recommendations as to how the guidelines could be modified to reflect current knowledge.
