Cold hinders fitness in N.S.

Halifax university student Christina Turner walks to the grocery store instead of driving a car. More Nova Scotians should rethink their use of cars, said Dr. Robert Strang. (Photo by Kristy Hutter)

No simple solutions seen for rising obesity rates

Kristy Hutter

kristyhutter@gmail.com

As the cold weather begins to settle in, so does sluggishness.

Halifax Regional Municipality spokesperson Dustin O’Leary said the winter season is tough – people tend to be less active because they would rather stay indoors.

“Sledding, snowshoeing, skiing and, of course, there is always shoveling,” said O’Leary, the city’s promotions and research coordinator. “There is no shortage of things to do, it’s just a matter of getting motivated to do it.”

This lack of motivation reflects a Statistics Canada report released last week. It indicates that Canadians have become far too heavy for their height over the past 25 to 30 years, reflecting a trend occurring in both developed and developing countries around the world.

Now the Nova Scotia government is encouraging organizations province-wide to help fight this problem.

“Part of our message is that we need to go far beyond just telling people they need to be more active and that they need to eat better,” said Dr. Robert Strang, Nova Scotia’s chief public health officer.

“The solutions are far more complex than that and they range from how we develop our communities.”

The report also indicated that adults have higher body mass index numbers – a measure of an individual’s weight in relation to his or her height – than ever before and that children have become increasingly sedentary, thus heightening the ever-growing chances of developing childhood obesity.

Strang said the way to implement the solutions for this health dilemma is by working closely with the federal and municipal governments, communities, businesses in the private sector, and non-governmental organizations.

“We need to work with the whole range of partners we have, and implement evidence-based solutions,” said Strang.

Although  many   private  businesses offer extra-curricular programs, Halifax Regional Municipality provides additional opportunities for residents to be physically active, especially where communities may be lacking variety.

O’Leary said the department of recreational services acts as a “gap filler” – if a service is not offered privately within a community, it is the municipal government’s job to provide those services.

Nova Scotia Recreation and the Department of Health Promotion and Protection initiated a campaign for staying healthy in the wintry weather called Take the Roof off Winter – a website filled with tips on staying physically active during the cold months. It has been running for three years.

“The goal is to give people opportunities to be physically active and perhaps opportunities that wouldn’t be available if we weren’t there in their community,” O’Leary said.

Not only should Nova Scotia Recreation try to get people moving now, but it should make physical activity a goal for the long-term, he said.

“It’s an uphill battle, for sure. But you have to engage young people early so that you build the love for physical activity from the beginning.”

The Halifax Regional School Board is also doing its part to coach its students to live healthier lifestyles.

Schools within HRM are currently trying to follow the food and nutrition policy – a program established three years ago by which every student must have access to healthy food options at school – and most recently, Halifax high schools have made a physical education credit a requirement to graduate.

“Schools are supposed to have been implementing all the directives to get their kids healthy,” said Diana Dibblee, the school board’s health promotions facilitator. “For example, in the first six months (of the policy), schools took out all their fat fryers, got rid of all the pop.”

But Strang said unhealthy lifestyle is a problem that has accumulated over the past few decades and will be difficult to reverse.

“Regardless of weight, we should be working with all Canadians and Nova Scotians to ensure that they can be physically active in their daily lives and are able to eat a healthy diet on a daily basis.”

He said current societal norms are preventing this – for example, car culture. He said people feel the need to drive everywhere when municipalities should be promoting different ways of getting around the city.

“These are both very complex problems that have gotten to the point where they’re at over a number of decades,” he said. “So there are no easy, short fixes here.”

Statistics Canada figures unflattering to Canadians

• According to Statistics Canada, in 2004 23.1 per cent of Canadians aged 18 or older — an estimated 5.5 million adults — had a body mass index of 30 or more,
indicating that they were obese

• Another 8.6 million, or 36.1 per cent, were overweight

• The percentage of 25- to 34-year-olds who were obese has more than doubled, rising from 8.5 per cent in 1978/79 to 20.5 per cent.

• The average BMI of adults rose from 25.1 in 1978/79 to 27.

• In Nova Scotia, 63.2 per cent of people are overweight or obese, compared to 51.1 per cent for all of Canada

• 38.3 per cent of Nova Scotians are overweight, while 24.8 per cent are obese