Canadians’ physical activity dwindles despite resumption of harder workouts

A new study by UBC School of Kinesiology post-doctoral research fellow and lead author, Dr. Katie Di Sebastiano and faculty member Dr. Guy Faulkner, along with Tala Chulak-Bozzer and Leigh Vanderloo of ParticipACTION Canada examined device-measured physical activity levels before and after the implementation of physical distancing measures in Canada.

Following the declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic, their research has found that the amount of physical activity Canadians engage in, have declined. Though moderate-to-vigorous physical activity rebounded up over the first 6 weeks of the pandemic, however, light and more incidental physical activity did not.

In the first study to objectively track physical activity in Canada during the pandemic, researchers from UBC’s School of Kinesiology analyzed data from an app connected to the smartphones and wearable devices of more than 2,300 Canadians. They found that all levels of physical activity declined between 9 – 12.6% shortly after physical distancing was introduced, and the trend was reversed for only for moderate-to-vigorous physical activity.

Read the full study here.