Media Clipping — June 13, 2002, The Daily News

Study: inactive cost N.S. $354m per year

By Beverley Ware

Couch potatoes cost Nova Scotia $354 million a year in health-care treatment and lost productivity, according to a study released yesterday by GPI Atlantic.

"We're inactive, and it's hurting our health and our economy," Scott Logan, CEO of Sport Nova Scotia, said yesterday.

Logan said the province must launch a marketing campaign similar to the anti-smoking lobby to tell people the dangers of just sitting around.

And he recommends activities such as bingos and lotteries be used to raise the money to pay for the campaign, and improve sport and recreation opportunities in the province.

"We could be avoiding a third of the current rate of heart disease if all Nova Scotians were fully active," said GPI Atlantic’s Ron Colman, who prepared the study for Sport Nova Scotia and Recreation Nova Scotia.

The province could cut strokes, hypertension, colon cancer and Type 2 diabetes by 20 per cent, reduce breast cancer by 11 per cent and osteoperosis by a quarter, he said.

Physical inactivity costs the health-care system $107 million a year, Colman said.

Then there are the indirect economic costs, including lost productivity and 711 early deaths every year, which he said cost Nova Scotia’s economy a further $100 million a year.

A 10 per cent improvement in exercise would be dramatic, saving the health-care system $7.5 million and 50 lives a year, he said.

"It’s an easy fix," Logan said.

Dawn Stegen, executive director of Recreation Nova Scotia, said there are barriers that prevent children from getting active, including lack of public access to some new P3 schools and the cost of some programs.

A bill was introduced by the NDP in the House of Commons yesterday to make sports fees tax deductible.

Logan said all government departments must improve opportunities for Nova Scotians to get exercise. He said volunteers need more support, and programs need qualified leaders to attract more kids and keep them involved longer.

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