	home

	products & services

	health information

	facilities finder

	about Bupa

	jobs at Bupa

	contact Bupa

Products and services

	Health insurance
	Financial protection
	Care homes
	Health assessments
	Childcare
	Travel insurance
	International cover
	Health cash plans
	Shop

Visitor interest areas

	Individuals
	Business
	Intermediaries
	Health professionals
	Bupa members

Facilities finder

Find local health and fitness facilities

World of Bupa

Bupa services around the world at bupa.com

| health information | health news

Women warned to get fit

23 November 2007

Sport is still seen by some women as unfeminine

Sue Tibballs, Women's Sport and Fitness Foundation (WSFF) chief executive

Key facts

The government predicts that in 20 years from now, seven out of 10 women will be overweight.
The World Health Organisation estimates that up to eight percent of all deaths could be avoided through higher exercise levels.
The Department of Health recommends 30 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity at least five times a week in order to improve health.
Not only can exercise improve your physical health, it can also improve your mental health and well-being.

Vovici Online Survey Software

Only a fifth of women in the UK are doing enough exercise to stay healthy, a report has found.

The UK is facing a crisis in women's sport and fitness, and the situation is going to get worse, according to the Women's Sport and Fitness Foundation (WSFF) which carried out the research. Urgent action is needed, warned the foundation. It's forecast that 1.25 million fewer women will be taking the recommended amount of exercise by 2017, if the current trend continues.

Despite the research showing that only 20 percent of women are exercising sufficiently, some 60 percent of women think they do enough exercise to be healthy, exposing a "serious gap between perception and reality" according to the report.

From the survey of 350,000 women, concerns about body image and negative experiences of sport at school were identified as key reasons preventing women participating in sport and exercise.

Sue Tibballs, WSFF chief executive said, "The way that women are portrayed in fashion and the media makes them feel greater pressure to be thin rather than fit".

"Sport is still seen by some women as unfeminine", she added. Forty percent of girls, some as young as seven, said they don't want to be seen as "sporty".

The research also showed that women exercise differently to men. Not only do women engage in less physical activity on average compared to men, the types of activity they prefer differs. Most women choose physical activities which don't involve joining a team and which are non-competitive. Twice as many men play competitive sports as women, and almost 60 percent of women prefer to exercise (walking or swimming for example) rather than play team sports, the research found.

The WSFF believe that recognising these differences in participation is essential to develop solutions to engage women in sport and activity. The WSFF, with government funding, will be working with the public, private and sport sectors, as well as the media, to develop a national strategy to raise women's participation in sport and exercise.