When it comes to teaching teens to be fit, a new study says the apple does not fall far from the tree.
Kids who engage in physical activities with their parents are more likely to exercise an average of an hour a day, according to the Jan. 15 study. Canadian health authorities recommend children get an average of seven hours of exercise each week.
“It’s not just pushing them to be more active,” said Jean-Philippe Chaput, lead author of the study published in Health Reports, a Statistics Canada journal. “We need to do the thing with them — so to go outside and play with them as a family.”
Being active does not only affect kids’ physical health. The majority of teens who were physically active with their families reported having good mental health and spending less time on screens.Â
“We know that there’s a clear link … between physical activity and mental health,” said Chaput, who is also a professor in the University of Ottawa’s Department of Pediatrics.
Fit parents, fit kids
Just 11 per cent of girls and boys engaged, on average, in an hour a day of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity with their families, according to the study. The study surveyed 8,200 adolescents aged 12 to 17.Â
About 30 per cent of teens engaged in physical activity with their families once a week. Another 25 per cent were active with their families just a few times a year, while 11 per cent were never active.Â
Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity includes activities such as biking, playing sports or mowing the lawn.
Studies have long shown a link between active parents and children. A 2021 Statistics Canada study, for example, found fit kids had fit parents.
“Whether you’re looking at body weight, or whether you’re looking at physical activity … there’s certainly a relationship between parents and kids that’s coming out quite strongly in the fitness measures,” said Rachel Colley, a study author and senior research analyst at Statistics Canada.
Of those teens who were active with their families, two-thirds said they had good mental health. About 70 per cent of the active cohort reported low anxiety symptoms and 85 reported low depressive symptoms.
This link between fitness and mental health is important because it can inform recommendations for teens struggling with poor mental health, says Chaput. This is especially important for teenage girls, who are more likely to struggle with mental illness.
A 2021 analysis by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found the number of teenage girls expressing enduring sadness or hopelessness nearly doubled between 2011 and 2021, rising from 36 per cent to 57 per cent. By comparison, the number of teenage boys experiencing these same feelings rose from 21 per cent to 29 per cent during the same period.
In the new study, fit teens also reported spending less time on screens. About three-quarters of those who exercised daily with their families spent less than two hours a day on their screens. The Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology recommends that youth spend a maximum of two hours a day on their screens.
By contrast, only half of kids who never exercise with their parents spend less than two hours on their phones each day.
The physically active teens’ better mental health may also be a function of them forming stronger family bonds.
“We know that just the volume of physical activity tends to be linked with better mental health … but also the quality of social and interaction,” said Chaput.
Find the fun
To help their kids form healthy habits, parents have to make the activity fun for their kids, says Chaput.
“Being active, it’s part of a lifestyle, so we need to find things that resonate with us,” he said.
Boys tend to prefer competitive sports, such as basketball or hockey, said Chaput. Girls tend to prefer physical activities that allow them to socialize, such as group fitness classes, team sports or creative options, such as cheerleading and gymnastics.
“We try to find activities where we bring treats and friends with her to make it more appealing,” said Chaput, on convincing his six-year-old daughter to go cross-country skiing with their family.
But there are factors that may restrict parents from doing physical activities with their kids.
Some sports or activities can be too expensive for some families, says Colley. Other families do not have the time or energy to put towards a family workout — especially those with irregular work hours.
“Money can be a big challenge for people to eat healthy food or engage in physical activity and sign their kids up for sports,” said Colley, of Statistics Canada. “It’s really a combination of factors that support healthy lifestyle behaviours. But it’s different for everybody. There’s no one size fits all solution.”
But Colley says even small steps can make a difference. The focus does not just have to be on strenuous physical workouts. Taking a short walk, for example, is an accessible way for any family to exercise together.
Chaput agrees. “There are some physical activities that don’t cost anything,” he said. “I think when we look at the benefits of being active, any movement counts.”
