Physical Activity, Screen Time, and Sleep

Youth Active Transportation

Youth, Usual mode of transportation to school

• Among Ottawa students in Grades 7 to 12, one in five (18%) usually used active transportation (i.e. walked or biked) to get to school in 2017. This proportion is comparable to the Ontario-less-Ottawa average of 19% (Table 1). [4]

 Youth, Past week active transportation to school, work or other places

• 84% of Ottawa youth, aged 12 to 17, reported being active to get to school, work or other places at least once in the past week in 2017, similar to Ontario-less-Ottawa (79%) (Table 2a and Figure 1). [5]

• Of those Ottawa youth who report active transportation, 90% report that they spent at least 45 minutes per week in active transportation and half reported at least 240 minutes (4 hours) per week of active transportation (Table 2b). 

Adult Active Transportation

Adults, Past week active transportation to work, school or other places

• 57% of Ottawa adults (aged 18+ years) report active transportation in the past week in 2017, which is higher than in Ontario-less-Ottawa (48%) (Figure 1). [5]
  • Adults aged 18 to 44 years were more likely (70%) to report active transportation in the past week, compared to those aged 45 to 64 years (55%) and 65+ years (54%) (Figure 1).
• Three in ten (31%) of Ottawa adults (aged 18+ years) reported active transportation on five or more days in the past week (Figure 1). Compared to Ontario-less-Ottawa, more Ottawa residents used active transportation for 3 to 4 and 5 or more days (Table 3b).
• Among adults who reported active transportation in 2017, 90% spent at least 15 minutes per day in active transportation and half spent at least 40 minutes per day (Table 3c).

Figure 1. Percentage reporting active transportation by age and number of days in
the past week, Ottawa and Ontario-less-Ottawa, 2017

 Adults, Primary mode of transportation to work

• 10% of employed Ottawa residents aged 15 years and older reported that their primary mode of transportation to work was walking or cycling in 2016. This proportion has remained steady over the past 15 years (Table 4).

Moderate to Vigorous Physical Activity

Youth

The Canadian 24–Hour Movement Guidelines recommend children and youth accumulate 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity every day. [6]

In Ottawa:

• In 2017, 22% of Grade 7 to 12 students reported meeting the Canadian 24–Hour Movement Guidelines in the 7 days prior to the survey, which is similar to that for Ontario-less-Ottawa (23%). [4]
  • Boys (27%) were more likely than girls (16%) to meet the Guidelines. [4]
  • Students in Grades 7 to 8 (36%) were more likely to meet the Guidelines than students in Grades 9 to 10 (18%) and 11 to 12 (14%). [4]
  • Students with low self-perceived socio-economic status (SES) (14%) were less likely to meet the Guidelines than students with high self-perceived SES (25%). [4]

Adults

The Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines recommend adults aged 18 years and older accumulate at least 150 minutes of moderate-to vigorous-intensity physical activity each week. [7]

In Ottawa:

• Nearly two-thirds (63%) of residents aged 18 years and older were physically active at or above the recommended guidelines in 2017, similar to 2015-2016. [5,8]
• Adults 65 years of age and older (45%) were less likely to report meeting the physical activity guidelines than younger adults (18 to 44 years of age: 72%; 45 to 64 years of age: 61%). [5]

Figure 2. Percentage of adults (18+ years) reporting physical activity that meets the Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines, Ottawa and Ontario-less-Ottawa, 2015-16 to 2017

Outdoor Physical Activity

Participating in outdoor physical activity or play has a number of health benefits (e.g., self-reported mental wellbeing). [9-13] Furthermore, persons who spend more time outdoors tend to be more active and spend less time being sedentary. [14]

In Ottawa:

• In 2017, 30% of students in Grades 7 to 12 did not play actively outside on any of the five school days prior to the survey, which is higher than that for Ontario-less-Ottawa (25%). [4]

• More girls (38%) than boys (23%) did not play outside on any of the five school days prior to the survey. [4]

• Students in Grades 9 to 10 (34%) and 11 to 12 (37%) were more likely than students in Grades 7 to 8 (17%) to not play actively outside on any of the five previous school days. [4]

Students with low self-perceived socio-economic status (SES) (40%) were more likely than students with high self-perceived SES (26%) to not play actively outside in the five previous school days. [4]

In Ottawa:

• 59% of students (Grades 7 to 12) reported exceeding the recreational screen time guidelines in the 7 days prior to the survey in 2017. This is the same as Ontario-less-Ottawa (59%). [4]
• Students in Grades 7 to 8 (50%) were less likely than students in Grades 9 to 10 (62%) and 11 to 12 (63%) to exceed the recreational screen time guidelines. [4]

In Ottawa:

• Over half (56%) of youth reported that they were sleeping less than 8 hours on an average school night in 2017. Girls (62%), youth in older grades, and students from families with lower socioeconomic status (SES) were more likely to report getting less sleep on school nights (Figure 3).
• 14% of youth aged 12 to 17 years had difficulty getting to sleep most of the time or all of the time (Table 5).
• 63% of youth aged 12 to 17 years mostly or always find their sleep refreshing (Table 5).
• 67% of youth never or rarely have difficulty staying awake when they want to (Table 5).

Figure 3. Percent of students who reported sleeping less than 8 hours on an average school night by socio-demographics, Ottawa, 2017

Adult Sleep

• Just over half (55%) of Ottawa adults aged 18 years or older reported that they usually sleep for 7 or more hours a night in 2015 to 2016 (Table 6).
• 15% of adults aged 18 years or older had difficulty getting to sleep most of the time or all of the time (Table 6).
• 13% of adults aged 18 years or older rarely or never find their sleep refreshing (Table 6).

Healthy Eating, Active Living and Healthy Weights in Ottawa, 2012

The Healthy Eating, Active Living and Healthy Weights in Ottawa [PDF 9 MB]

References

1. Bude Bingham P. Minding our bodies literature review. Ontario; 2009.
2. Stanton R, Happel B, Reaburn P. The mental health benefits of regular physical activity, and its role in preventing future depressive illness. Nursing: Research and Reviews. 2014;4:45-52.
3. Warburton, D. C. A systematic review of the evidence for Canada's Physical Activity Guidelines for Adults. International Journal of Behavioural Nutrition and Physical Activity. 2010; 7(39). 
4. Ottawa Public Health. Public Health Monitoring of Risk Factors in Ontario – OSDUHS (2017), Centre for Addictions and Mental Health.
5. Ottawa Public Health. Canadian Community Health Survey 2017. Share File. Statistics Canada.
6. Tremblay, M.S., et al. 2016. Canadian 24-hour Movement Guidelines for Children and Youth: An Integration of Physical Activity, Sedentary Behaviour, and Sleep. Appl. Physiol. Nutr. Metab. 41(Suppl. 3).
7. Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology. Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines for adults ages 18 years or older. 2011. 

8. Ottawa Public Health. Canadian Community Health Survey 2015/16. Ontario Share File. Statistics Canada.

9. Gill T. The benefits of children’s engagement with nature: A systematic literature review. Child Youth Environ 2014;24(2):1034. doi: 10.7721/chilyoutenvi.24.2.0010
10. Tremblay MS, Gray C, Babcock S, Barnes J, Bradstreet CC, Carr D, et al. Position statement on active outdoor play. Int J Environ Res Public Health 2015; 12:6475–505. PMID: 26062040. doi: 10.3390/ijerph120606475.
11. Liu J, Sekine M, Zheng X, et al. Outdoor physical activity and its relation with selfreported health in Japanese children: results from the Toyama birth cohort study. Child: Care, Health & Development [serial online]. November 2015;41(6):920-927. Available from: Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection, Ipswich, MA. Accessed June 14, 2018.
12. Richard Larouche, Didier Garriguet, Mark S. Tremblay, Outdoor time, physical activity and sedentary time among young children: The 2012–2013 Canadian Health Measures Survey. Can J Public Health 2016;107(6):e500–e506 doi: 10.17269/CJPH.107.5700
13. Thompson Coon, J.; Boddy, K.; Stein, K.; Whear, R.; Barton, J.; Depledge, M. Does participating in physical activity in outdoor natural environments have a greater effect on physical and mental wellbeing than physical activity indoors? A systematic review. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2011, 45, 1761–1772.
14. Gray C, Gibbons R, Larouche R, Sandseter EBH, Bienenstock A, Brussoni M, et al. What is the relationship between outdoor time and physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and physical fitness in children? A systematic review. Int J Environ Res Public Health 2015;12:6455–74. PMID: 26062039. doi: 10. 3390/ijerph120606455.
15. Hirshkowitz M WK, Albert SM, et al. National Sleep Foundation's updated sleep duration recommendations: Final report. Sleep Health. 2015;1:233-43.