HAMILTON, Ont. - After young people leave home to hit the books at university or college, they don't appear to be hitting the gym -- or getting other forms of exercise -- as often.
Researchers at McMaster University in Hamilton followed 683 Canadian adolescents starting when they were between the ages of 12 and 15, until they were 24 to 27 years of age.
The young people were interviewed twice a year about their levels of physical activity, as well as health-risk behaviours such as smoking and binge drinking.
There was a 24 per cent decrease in physical activity over the 12 years from adolescence to early adulthood, with the steepest declines among young men entering university or college.
In a statement, principal investigator Matthew Kwan says it's a critical period, as the changes from the late teen years to early adulthood represent the most dramatic declines in physical activity across a person's life.
The study appears in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, and is based on the National Population Health Survey by Statistics Canada.
It also found that while smoking and binge drinking increased through the teen years, those behaviours began to plateau or decrease in early adulthood.
But Kwan says the decline in physical activity appears to continue on a downward trajectory further into adulthood.
