Canada's Physical Activity Guide for Youth   What is it?   Activity Guidelines   Benefits of Being Active   Physical Activity Statistics

Order the Guide

Canada's Physical Activity Guides for Children and Youth

Canada's Food Guide

How much physical activity do the Guides recommend children and youth need for good health?

The Guides recommend that inactive children and youth increase the amount of time they currently spend being physically active by at least 30 minutes more per day and decrease the time they spend on TV, playing computer games and surfing the Internet -- by at least 30 minutes less per day.

The increase in physical activity should include a combination of moderate activity (such as brisk walking, skating and bike riding) with vigorous activity (such as running and playing soccer).

The guidelines recommend that inactive children and youth accumulate this increase in daily physical activity in periods of at least 5 to 10 minutes each.

Over several months, children and youth should try to accumulate at least 90 minutes more physical activity per day and decrease by at least 90 minutes per day the amount of time spent on non-active activities such as watching videos and sitting at a computer.