Olympic Year Impact on Leisure | Office of Dr Chris Montoya Academic Professor

Olympic Year Impact on Leisure-Time Physical Activity Rates Within and Across Canadian Provinces and Territories: A Transdisciplinary and Complex Phenomenon

British Columbia and Environmental Occupational Health Research Network

2010 Olympic Research Project May 2009

Original Research

Key words: exercise, international, sporting events

Submission Date: August 26, 2009

Word Count:

Abstract – 200
Text – 2650

ABSTRACT

Background: As low physical activity levels continue to be a health issue globally, this study concerns naturalist ways to increase leisure-time activity in national populations using international sports venues. Methods: Surveys of leisure-time physical activity and Statistics Canada surveys from 1994 to 2007 were used. Results: Average leisure-time activity was significantly higher for Winter Olympic years than for Summer Olympic Years (X2(1) = 8.52, p < .01). Leisure-time physical activity rates for both the Winter and Summer Olympics rose significantly and steadily across Canada (r = .9878; t (7) = 23.66, p < .001. ). Western Canadian provinces demonstrated a significantly higher leisure-time activity level than Eastern provinces (f (2,9) = 5.66, p < .05). This pattern was also demonstrated in the northern territories (f (2,18) = 11.02, p < .01). Finally, most males in Canada were either active or moderately active compared with Canadian females where the majority were inactive (X2(2) =16.36, p<.01). Discussion: The results demonstrate significant long term temporal, sex, and geographic trends. This pattern of data indicated that Winter Olympic years in Canada are related to recurrent and significant increases in leisure-time physical activity. This Canadian trend is accentuated in moderately active males and active females.

INTRODUCTION

The promotion of a positive mental and physically active lifestyle will always be a critical health issue in Canada. Regular participation in physical activity has been demonstrated to prevent certain chronic conditions including heart disease, hypertension, stroke, type II diabetes, osteoporosis, certain cancers, depression, and reduced functional ability in older age (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11). In February 2003, the federal, provincial and territorial governments resolved to increase leisure-time physical activity levels by 10% by the year 2010. Looking at the first four years following this tasking, it is evident that the governments have failed in their stated purpose (12). In 2003, 47.5% of the Canadian female population were physically active during leisure-time, decreasing to 46.5% active in 2007. Concurrently, leisure-time activity among males during the same time period decreased from 53.3% to 51.5%. What is needed is a study to look for natural phenomena which consistently increase national physical activity levels. In addition, for the phenomena to be useful to achieving this goal, it must be assumed to be transdisciplinary, complex and volatile (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30).

Current studies promote the synergy of “healthy body healthy mind” which comes from the Latin “sit mens sana in corpore sano,” translated as “a sound mind in a sound body” (31). This philosophy flows naturally from the basic principles and tenants of the modern Olympic Games. These precepts were first set out in the late 1800s by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who was commissioned by the government of France to organize a universal sports association (32).

In 1894, Coubertin held an athletic congress at which he proposed an international level of competition modelled after the ancient Olympic Games. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) was formed in 1894 with Greece being selected to hold the first modern day Games in 1896. The philosophical foundations for the modern Olympic Games, according to de Coubertin, were “D’ abord, la culture physique,” or “First of all is physical culture” (33). The modern Olympic movement is therefore a physical vehicle for promoting understanding and friendship among people, and instilling humanitarian values in society as a whole. Olympians build much more than muscles through participating in sports. The belief is that exercise is a necessary component of developing the whole person including morals, health, and character.

Given that some researchers suggest that any increase in moderate intensity, physical activity can be used to control weight gain (13, 34), it would be of interest to correlate national activity levels in Canada with Olympic years and to possibly use the Olympic spirit to help reduce obesity and increase health in Canadians. The primary purpose of this study was to determine if the philosophy and prosocial Olympic attitudes and principles have a recurrent, reliable and global effect on leisure-time activity levels. The secondary purpose was to determine how we can harness and learn to sustain these activity levels. We hypothesized that baseline leisure-time activity levels in Canada would increase during Olympic years.

METHODS

In order to draw valid conclusions, representative data on physical activity during Olympic years amongst Canadians in different provinces and territories were needed. Our approach was to synthesize data from various sources. These sources provided both raw data from national and provincial surveys of physical activity obtained from government agencies (which were then re-analyzed), as well as summary data obtained from published studies and reports.

Physical Activity Data

The Canadian Federal Government uses standardized physical activity surveys that gather data for the purpose of analysis. Bruce and Katzmarzyk analyzed these patterns up to 1998 (15). We further analyzed these data correlating specifically the effects of the Olympic years on physical activity amongst Canadians. We expanded the data set to 2007, as well as dividing the data set by sex and gathering data from other individual sources. By using this expanded combination of available data sources, we produced a synthesis of the best and most recent information on leisure-time physical activity amongst Canadians across provinces and territories to determine the relationship to Olympic years. Survey participants’ answers were segregated by Statistics Canada into physically active, moderately active and physically inactive based on the following criteria: inactive was defined as the expending of less than (1.5 kcal x kg -1 x day -1); active was defined as the expending of more than (16.7 kcal x kg -1 x day -1); moderately active was defined as the energy expenditure falling in between these two delimiting values (15).

Further leisure-time activity data was projected on the Canadian provinces and territories from west to east as well as north to south following the health regions where the Statistics Canada data were originally collected (see health region maps below). We also projected the activity data across Olympic years making a distinction between the Summer and Winter Olympics as available when they were separated after 1992 (32).

Data Analysis

The data were grouped by province and territory as well as within the provinces themselves. Regionally across Canada, we divided the provinces into groups, namely the Maritimes (Eastern provinces), Western provinces (BC and Alberta) and Central provinces (all others, excluding the territories). Within individual provinces we used the health regions, as defined by the government surveys, and grouped them together from east to central to west as well as from north to central to south. Prince Edward Island was not analyzed north to south due to its long east to west geography. In provinces such as Ontario where there were over 30 health regions, three or four samples of only the furthest east or west or north or south regions were used to test for the within province effects.

Data on physical activity across provinces, within provinces, and for males and females were graphed to better demonstrate the interaction of variables studied. We also graphed Summer and Winter Olympics separately to examine their effects. Graphs and data from other studies were used to further analyze the pattern. Gathered data were consequently analyzed using an ANOVA with post hoc analysis, chi square tests, a Pearson Product Moment correlation and t test.

As leisure-time activity levels in Canada were accelerating, to test Chi Square significance levels between the Summer and Winter Olympic years the average Winter Olympic year leisure-time activity levels of 1994 and 1998 (which bracketed 1996) where compared to the 1996 Summer Olympic year leisure-time activity levels. In a similar fashion, the average Winter Olympic year leisure-time activity levels of 1998 and 2002 (which bracketed 2000) where compared to the 2000 Summer Olympic year leisure-time activity levels. Finally, the average Winter Olympic year leisure-time activity levels of 2002 and 2006 (which bracketed 2004) where compared to the 2004 Summer Olympic year leisure-time activity levels. As Statistics Canada stopped collecting data in 2003 in a bi-yearly fashion and started collecting single year data only in 2005, 2007, and 2008, estimates of leisure-time activity for 2004 were interpolated by averaging data from 2003 and 2005. Estimates of leisure-time activity for 2006 were similarly interpolated by averaging 2005 and 2007. Following this protocol, in each case, the average Winter Olympic year leisure-time activity levels were found to be higher than the corresponding Summer Olympic year leisure-time activity levels.

Activity levels – Statistics Canada

In Canada, the best and sometimes only good source of raw data is Statistics Canada. For our study, we used raw data from the Community Health Survey for the years 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2007 and Statistics Canada National Population Health Survey 1994- 1999 (35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52).

Activity levels – Canadian Fitness and Life Style Research Institute (CFLSRI)

We also used data from the Canadian Fitness and Life Style Research Institute (CFLSRI) that summarized the data from Statistics Canada, Community Health Survey for the years 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2005 (3, 4, 5, 53 16). In addition, the CFLSRI summarised data from Statistics Canada National Population Health Survey 1994-1999. Their Nunavut data was included with the Northwest Territories for the 1994- 1996 study years. We also we used summarised data from their Physical Activity Monitor 2000 and 2005.

Canada Health Region Maps

To group within province and within territory data i.e., west vs. east and north vs. south from Statistics Canada sources, we accessed the regional health survey centers on which Statistics Canada bases its numbers. We were able to compare the most northern health regions with the most southern health regions, and the most western health regions with the most eastern health regions within provinces and territories (54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65).

Global Activity Levels

At this time there are no standardized physical activity surveys that gather data for the purpose of making international comparisons. However, there are national travel surveys that have reported physical activity in the form of summary data in published papers (2, 15, 60).

RESULTS

Data demonstrated that Olympic years significantly impacted leisure-time activity levels in Canada. Average leisure-time activity for the Winter Olympics in the Western, Central and Eastern provinces was found to be significantly higher than for the Summer Olympics respectively, X2(1) = 8.52, p < .01. The effect size for the X2 was large, w=.76. There was also a positive correlation between Winter and Summer Olympic years in Western, Central and Eastern provinces from 1994 to 2004, where leisure-time activity levels rose steadily, r = + .9878; and significantly, t (7) = 23.66, p < .01 (see Figure 1). As noted in earlier studies, there remains a significant west to east effect with the Western provinces having a significantly higher leisure-time activity level than the Eastern provinces; f (2,9) = 5.66, p < .05 (see Figure 2). A Duncan’s post-hoc analysis of variance was performed (see Figure 3). In addition, to test the effect size an ANOVA comparing the Western Provinces to the Eastern Provinces was run (f (1, 40) = 50.8, p < .01). The ANOVA had a corresponding large effect size of 1.127. This statistically significant and strong pattern was also noted for the first time in the far Northern territories of the Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut, f (2,18) = 11.02, p < .01 (see Figure 4). A Duncan’s post-hoc analysis of variance was performed (see Figure 5). There was also a significant leisure-time activity difference analysing the provinces individually, f (9, 60) = 6.31, p < .01. A Duncan’s post-hoc analysis of variance was performed and illustrates how each of the provinces compares to the others (see Figure 6). Finally, there was a significant sex effect in that for the last decade the majority of Canadian males have been either active or moderately active compared to Canadian females, where the majority of females have been inactive X2(2) =16.36, p<.01.

DISCUSSION

The main finding in this study is that during Winter Olympic years there is a positive recurrent and significant increase in leisure-time physical activity levels across Canada. Determining the causes of these recurrent increases is warranted. One possible explanation for the observed findings is that Canada is a northern country and as such, Canadians are more heavily influenced by winter sports competitions. We would expect, then, that tropical countries such as Jamaica would have similar recurrent increases in leisure-time physical activity levels that would occur during the Summer Olympic Games.

Levels of leisure-time physical activity in Canada have steadily increased over the past 30 years, a trend consistent with those in other countries (15). However, since 2003, these positive national trends have begun to decrease, with the greatest decrease seen in the West. The reason for this downward trend needs to be examined and then addressed, especially given the fact that in 2003 the Federal, Provincial and Territorial Governments began a cooperative effort to increase activity levels by 10% by the 2010 Olympic Games. An analysis of Figure 1 would strongly indicate that something occurred in 2003 that stopped the upward trend, and in addition, stopped the positive impact of the Winter Olympic Games. It could be argued that the loss of the positive impact of the Winter Games was due to the change in the method of data analysis and this change needs to be addressed. The levelling off of the positive 30 year trend in leisure time physical activity, however, is not related to the method of data collection as later non-Olympic Years were not interpolated, and as such we would argue was due to secondary factors.

In addition to the 30 year positive trend, there was a continued and significant west to east effect with the Western provinces having higher leisure-time activity levels, than the Central provinces, and the Central provinces having higher levels than the Eastern provinces. This trend has been documented and described in the literature with survey data until 1998 (15, 67, 68). The current data extends these findings to 2007. Of some interest is the fact that Western provinces and Eastern provinces demonstrated this west to east effect within province as well as demonstrating that within province the southern populations were more active than the northern. Both of these within province effects were reversed in the Central provinces.

The Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut also demonstrated a significant west to east effect. Canadians in the Yukon were more physically active than those in the Northwest Territories, while those living in Nunavut were the least active. Further investigation into the causes of these far northern geographic trends is warranted.

Regarding gender influences on leisure-time activity levels for the past decade, Canadian males have consistently demonstrated significantly higher levels than females. We suggest that advertisements be targeted at the Canadian female population in an effort to increase their leisure-time activity levels. In addition, as has been reported in the past, Canada has witnessed an increase in obesity despite the fact that leisure-time activity levels have increased, and caloric intake has decreased. As overweight individuals understandably tend to under report calories consumed and over report activity, we feel it prudent to correlate reported consumption and activity in the future with actual observed behaviour. In addition, with the current drop in leisure-time activity levels, we predict further weigh increases in Canada in the next decade. The CFLSRI has already begun mapping workplace activity levels (16); we feel that exercise programs should be implemented at work, and other incentives be employed to increase the metabolic rates of employees, which in turn may lead to weight loss and better health (7, 68).

We further recommend that an international survey be conducted that asks what sports come to mind when the Olympics are mentioned and that these data be compared in hot versus cold climates. We should also look at leisure-time activity in Europe during the World Cup or European Cup, as these competitions occur every four years as do the Olympic Games. Doing so may provide further evidence of the influence of large international sports and athletic events. We predict a similar positive increase in leisure-time activity levels during these competitions.

Finally, to be useful to policy and decision makers, our health and activity data must be applied to the setting of longitudinal policy perspectives (70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80), for example, developmental trajectories, and life course perspectives that have cross domain impact. We need to look at socioeconomic influences and physical environments, perhaps comparing resource extractive regions to knowledge economy zones. We also need to be able to extract data on a person-specific basis (from perinatal to death) using administrative data sources (data collected for other purposes), accessing pools of data such as Population Data BC (81). In conclusion, health researchers should be able to predict the prosocial and pro-physical event spin-off from Olympic type promotions that can be expressed as a simple ratio or formula that describes end point patterns (82).

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FUNDING SOURCE

The British Columbia Environmental and Occupational Health Research Network (BCEOHRM)

Research Capacity Development Grant Competition, award period as follows:

August 1, 2009 – March 31, 2010