Adolescent Physical Activity

Vigorous exercise may produce greater health benefits than low- or moderate-intensity activity, particularly for cardiorespiratory fitness and vascular health. Supervised adolescent exercise programmes can improve cardiorespiratory fitness but are resource-intensive and difficult to scale outside controlled research settings. Current guidelines recommend an average of 60 minutes per day of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, with vigorous activity on at least 3 days per week. More than 80% of adolescents globally fail to reach recommended daily moderate-to-vigorous physical activity levels. Fewer than 25% of Canadian adolescents meet sufficient physical activity levels.