According to a report published today, 80 per cent of women are doing too little exercise to be healthy. The Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation found that among young women in particular, sport is seen as unfeminine and girls would rather be thin than fit. Negative experiences of sport at school and low body confidence mean that while the whole of the UK needs more exercise, women do worse than men. 16 to 24-year-old women are half as active as men for example, and exercise levels are even worse for low income and minority ethnic women.
And it’s not just a guilt trip. Not getting enough exercise has serious health implications from obesity and heart disease to depression and low self-esteem. You can read more in a report in today’s Guardian.
Is this true of the girls you work with? Do you see it as part of your role to encourage them to be more active? Have you found any strategies that work? Can youth workers be part of the solution or do you see exercise as outside your brief? I’d love to know what you think.
Young Girls and Exercise
As an aerobics instructor I am concerned about the fitness of young girls in my group. As Youth Workers we need to give the young people we work with a healthy view of body image, We don't want them to be so concerned that they stop eating, but at the same time we need them to take pride in their bodies, so that they live a healthy life.
One of the benefits of helping girls to be more energetic and exercsie more is that it really does increase their confidence. This in turn increases their self esteem. I have seen this happen in young girls and older women. So let's encourage them by being good role models in this area ourselves. Can we expect them to exercise more if we are not?
What do you think?