February is Heart Month, and with it comes troubling new statistics which show more Canadians in their 20s and 30s are living with heart disease.

In the past 15 years or so, high blood pressure for this group skyrocketed, while diabetes rates soared –  both statistics, of course, were accompanied by an increase in obesity.

Once upon a time, young adults and children were immune to these kinds of conditions because they were so active. And while high blood pressure and diabetes (and yes, even obesity, to a point) are genetic or hereditary, all three conditions are greatly reduced by regular, strenuous physical activity. And we’re not talking activities like playing video games or text-messaging, but that full-body kind of movement that, outside of organized activities such as hockey, soccer and the like, are rarely experienced by our youth anymore.

Outside of recess and once-a-year events,  kids just aren’t moving as much as they used to. It’s too unsafe to let kids roam the neighbourhood on their own, some parents feel; it’s too time-consuming for the family to go for a walk or play outside, other say; it’s too expensive to enroll kids in organized sports (but they can have iPods and and a Nintendo DS, of course).

But now, we are paying the price, literally and figuratively, of course. Our current crop of youngsters are the first to maybe have a lowered life expectancy than the prior generation due to inactivity and processed food – a scary proposition when one considers how many medical breakthroughs have extended lives in the past century or so. And with this lowered life expectancy comes that host of conditions that increase the burden on our already-stressed healthcare system.

The core conundrum in all of this is whose responsibility it is to foster a healthy outlook in our children that will last a lifetime. Is it our municipalities, by building recreation and athletic facilities – in spite of pressures to keep taxes down for the families they serve? Is it our education system, by demanding more physical education and nutrition classes – in spite of budget cutbacks to all but the most fundamental pursuits? Or is it parents, by creating time to have physical fun with their children – in spite of working longer hours to provide for all familial needs, whether it be food, shelter, or high-definition cable television?

Raising kids these days comes with a lot more baggage than it used to – cyberbullying, cellphones, and the designer sneakers that many of us may not have had to deal with. But the baggage of a sedentary lifestyle carries far more weight, if you’ll pardon the pun. And while the whole community plays a role in building a strong, healthy society, parents provide the first line of attack against any and all ills.                         

 –A.M.