Three in five Canadian adults are not active enough to benefit their cardiovascular health according to the 1995 Physical Activity Monitor. The survey, conducted by the Canadian Fitness and Lifestyle Research Institute, shows that Canadians are more active now than they were in 1981 and 1988, but much progress remains to be done.

Back in 1981, eight in ten Canadian adults were not active enough to benefit their heart. This improved to seven in ten in 1988 and then improved again to six in ten (three in five) in 1995.

Cora Lynn Craig, the Institute's President, points out that "most of these Canadians are not totally inactive, just not active enough to reap health benefits for their heart." In fact, she says, "only one in ten Canadians can be considered truly sedentary. One quarter are somewhat active, another quarter are moderately active and the rest are highly active."

Researchers no longer think of physical activity as an all-or-nothing phenomenon. They used to advocate fitness for optimal heart health, achieved by performing aerobic activity every other day for a minimum of 20 minutes at a moderate intensity or greater. This high standard remains the best course of action for reaping maximum heart benefits, but new studies show that lower levels of physical activity are accompanied by health benefits as well.

The most noted of these studies was published in 1989 by Stephen Blair, a researcher at the Dallas Institute for Aerobics Research, and other American colleagues. They showed that the largest public health gains would be made by encouraging the least fit to become moderately fit. The researchers then estimated that moderate fitness could be achieved by people in this group if they accumulated 30 minutes of moderate activity every day. This is equivalent to the moderately active category mentioned above.

Therefore, the best advice for Canadians is to make sure they become at least moderately active by doing 30 minutes of physical activity every day. This can be broken down into three 10-minute walks a day if time is a problem. Of course, Canadians who are even more active should stay active, since they stand to reap the wider variety of benefits physical activity can bring, one being optimal heart health.