Less than a quarter of women are completing the recommended 150 minutes of moderate exercise per week, according to a report from Vitality.
The Active Women, Healthy Lives: Understanding Barriers to Women’s Participation report also found 96% of women feel responsible for their own levels of physical activity.
Low levels of activity across all ages
The research identified that women across all age groups were falling below the recommended activity levels per week, with only 20% of women aged 20-39, 27% aged 40-59, and 23% aged 60-79 reaching the 150-minute goal.
More than four in 10 (41%) women exercise to maintain their weight – neglecting the wider health benefits, it found.
Women were found to neglect the significant broader benefits of exercising, with only 26% of women being motivated by the mental health benefits and 12% being motivated by increased muscle mass and strength.
Women also reported not knowing what exercise was beneficial for them at different times in their lives, with over half of women agreeing with this statement.
Serious barriers
While there was a desire among women to be more active, they face several serious barriers.
Time constraints and demanding work schedules were consistent barriers for women under the age of 50 (79%).
This was particularly true of women with childcare responsibilities (83%) and remained stubbornly high for women who report receiving workplace support and family support to be active (78% and 65% respectively).
While psychological factors impact women across all ages and life stages, data showed that mental health issues were most likely to prevent young women from engaging in exercise with nearly 70% of 20–29-year-olds reporting this.
Recommendations
To tackle these issues the report, which is supported by The Well HQ and the charity Women in Sport, recommends actions for government, employers, the health and sports industries, and individuals to take to tackle these issues.
It concludes that a collective approach with targeted interventions is required to ensure that women reap the wider health and wellbeing benefits of exercise and that interventions meet the needs of women at different ages and life stages.
The report includes a list of recommendations that can be adopted by the government, employers, and the wider health industry, with a specific one pointing out the opportunity that exists within the workplace to better support women to be more active, noting the substantial productivity benefits that could be available for businesses here if they do so.
Other recommendations include:
- Embedding health checks for women at key life stages
- Expanding funding for grassroots sports and physical activity and ensuring that existing funding provides inclusive sports facilities for women
- Reporting at a board level on the health and wellbeing of the employee base and ensuring understanding of where employees need or want more support,
- Creating opportunities for ‘exercise snacks’ throughout the workday
- Embedding women-specific training within existing personal training and sports qualifications as a requirement
- Considering how a certification for online content could ensure people have access to and can trust the quality of information they receive.
Neville Koopowitz, CEO of Vitality, said: “The study raises urgent questions about how, as a society, we are supporting women in maintaining healthy physical activity habits.
“This is a societal issue, as we know that physical activity and healthy habits are the bedrock of health and wellbeing and should be central to any preventative healthcare strategy.
“As the government and businesses alike grapple with the implications of our nation’s worsening health, it is crucial to ensure that we heed the lessons from this report and tackle the barriers that are preventing women being more active.
“I urge everyone to remember that this is a problem for us all – not for women to fix in isolation.”
Katie Tryon, director of health strategy at Vitality, said: “We all have an important role to play in supporting the health of women.
“This report shows that we can change health outcomes for women, and highlights the substantial opportunities that exist within the workplace in particular, to better support women to live more active lives.
“Improving the health of women offers shared value for everybody, not only helping women to live longer in good health in turn putting less strain on health systems, but healthier employees are also more productive in the workplace than inactive ones, meaning there is benefit for all.”
