Active Healthy Kids Canada’s 2009 Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth showed that children’s physical activity levels received an F grade for the third year in a row.

The Report Card shows that even when time is taken away from other subjects, physical education does not negatively affect academic achievement—in fact, it enhances it. Increased physical activity/physical education improves memory, concentration, and attention span; it increases self-esteem, self-confidence, self-image, and feelings of school connectedness; and it reduces misbehavior at school.

Despite the academic and health benefits of physical activity, the 2009 Report Card indicates that only 13% (up from 9% in 2008) of Canadian children and youth are meeting the minimum recommendation of 90 minutes of physical activity a day.