A new poll suggests that Canadians are not spending as much time outdoors anymore. Coleman Canada released the study recently which says 64 per cent of adults are spending less than two hours a week outdoors and a staggering 29 per cent are spending less than 30 minutes a week outdoors.
This is hypocritical as 96 per cent of adults believe children are not getting outdoors as much.
Here are some other notable stats from the Angus Reid assisted study:
· When asked defining characteristics of Canada, 80 per cent noted our beautiful outdoors as our key identifier, followed by hockey (71 per cent), maple syrup (68 per cent) and friendly people (63 per cent)
· When asked to list their favourite childhood activities, the top three ranked activities were all outdoors:
– 55 per cent loved playing outdoors;
– 47 per cent liked riding their bike; and
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– 30 per cent enjoyed the playground and going to the park
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The survey also looked at local stats by the province and here’s what it found for Albertans:
· 33 per cent of Albertans spend 30 minutes or less per week outside doing recreational activity compared to the national average of 29 per cent;
· 17 per cent spend more than four hours per week outside doing recreational activity, compared to the national average of 16 per cent;
· 80 per cent of Albertans said that weather conditions are the greatest barrier to spending time outdoors and 41per cent said it is because their family and friends don’t want to;
· Top three outdoor activities for Albertans are picnicking, camping and cycling, while the least popular are sailing and cliff jumping
· 91 per cent of Albertans have visited a National Park, which is 20 percentage points higher than the national average of 73 per cent;
· 85 per cent of Albertans have seen a moose in the wild which is the highest percentage of all of Canada.
Getting outdoors nowadays seems to be a bit of a hassle, according to Canadians, which in this busy society is true. Weather obviously plays a factor in going outside. I’m sure those in B.C. can agree with this statement when it comes to rain. Manitobans have complained about insects and bugs being a factor into NOT heading outdoors. Considering Manitoba is stereotyped to have larger than life mosquitoes and flies, that’s also understandable. But what’s the excuse for everyone else?
Heck, even golfing is a great way to spend some time outdoors. Can we count going to a CFL game outdoors? For the sake of this discussion, yes. Get in some sunshine Canada, especially during the 150th birthday bash where National Parks for us are free.
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