Students drop exercise when they hit campus

[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/dumbells.jpg” caption=”A new study from McMaster University has found that exercise levels decline steeply among youth as they move to university or college. The most significant decline was among young men. File photo.”]Regular exercise tends to steeply decline among youth as they move to university or
college, according to a study by researchers at McMaster University.

The team found a 24 per cent decrease in physical activity over the 12 years from
adolescence to early adulthood. The steepest declines were among young men entering
university or college.

The study followed 683 Canadian adolescents 12 to 15 years of age who were
interviewed twice a year until they were 24 to 27 years of age.

While the children were most active, the research suggests that this advantage quickly
disappears.

“This is a critical period, as the changes in physical activity during the transition from
late adolescence to early adulthood represents the most dramatic declines in physical
activity across a person's life,” said Matthew Kwan, the principal investigator for the
study and a postdoctoral fellow of the Department of Family Medicine of the Michael G.
DeGroote School of Medicine.

“In particular, the transition into post-secondary is a one-time period when individuals
become much less active.”

The researchers found the rate of decline in physical activity was greater for men than
for women, who showed only a modest 1.7 per cent decrease in their overall activity
levels. Women were found to be less active in high school.

“It may be that girls experience the greatest declines in physical activity earlier in their
adolescence,” said Kwan.

For comparative purposes, the researchers also examined other health-risk behaviours
such as smoking and binge drinking. While both increased through adolescence, the
researchers found the behaviours began to plateau or decrease in early adulthood,
suggesting that individuals engage less in these activities as they mature.

Conversely, Kwan added, physical activity decline does not appear to revert itself, but
continues on a downward trajectory into adulthood.

Risk estimates suggest 20 per cent of premature deaths could be prevented with regular
physical activity – yet recent data show 85 per cent of Canadian adults do not get the
recommended 150 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity a week.

Public health campaigns encourage Canadians to be more active but the McMaster
researchers say little work has been done to prevent the decline in physical activity and
they suggest this should be made a priority.

The research appears in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.