Exercise - Women in Kansas

Kansas

Regular exercise is essential to a healthy life. People who engage in regular physical activity benefit from healthier outcomes and improved self-esteem than people who do not. Women who do not exercise regularly often cite lack of time as a reason for inactivity, especially those who have children, jobs and domestic chores after work hours. Feeling unsafe in one’s neighborhood is also identified as a barrier to physical activity among women.

Regular physical activity (at least 150 minutes a week) is associated with reduced risk of:

• Cardiovascular diseases, such as heart disease and stroke.
• Hypertension and Type 2 diabetes.
• Osteoporosis and pain associated with arthritis.
• Certain cancers, including bladder, breast and colon cancer.
• Depression, sleep problems and anxiety. 
• Adverse pregnancy outcomes, such as gestational diabetes, postpartum depression and longer labor times than those who did not exercise regularly. Postpartum physical activity can decrease symptoms of postpartum depression. Moderate-intensity physical activity is safe for healthy pregnant women.
• Influenza and pneumonia mortality.

According to America’s Health Rankings data, the prevalence of exercise is higher among:

• Women ages 18-24 than women ages 25 and older; the prevalence is lower with each increase in age group.
• Multiracial and white women compared with Hispanic women.
• Women with a college degree, who have a prevalence more than twice that of women with less than a high school education.
• Women with an annual household income of $75,000 or more than those with an income less than $25,000.
• Women living in metropolitan areas compared with women in non-metropolitan areas.

Physical activity guidelines specify adults should move more and sit less throughout the day and that some physical activity is better than none. Key guidelines for adults include:

• At least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity (or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity) aerobic physical activity weekly, such as running, riding a bike, dancing or swimming.
• Muscle-strengthening activities involving all major muscle groups two or more days a week.

Use of publicly accessible outside space, such as bike lanes, sidewalks, hiking trails and parks, is also associated with an increase in exercise levels among employed women. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention makes several recommendations for community efforts to increase physical activity, including built environment approaches to make it easier for people to walk, run, bike, skate or use wheelchairs to get to where they want to go. A behavioral lifestyle intervention implemented through a smartphone app has been effective in increasing physical activity among pregnant women with overweight and obesity. Another study suggests that wearable fitness trackers may be beneficial in motivating and maintaining physical activity.

Healthy People 2030 has several physical activity objectives, including:

• Reducing the proportion of adults who do no physical activity in their free time.
• Increasing the proportion of adults who do enough aerobic and muscle-strengthening activity.

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Lindgren, Teri, Julie Hooper, and Yoshimi Fukuoka. 2019. “Perceptions and Experiences of Women Participating in a Digital Technology–Based Physical Activity Intervention (the mPED Trial): Qualitative Study.” JMIR Public Health Surveill 5 (4): e13570. https://doi.org/10.2196/13570.

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Rees-Punia, Erika, Elizabeth D. Hathaway, and Jennifer L. Gay. 2018. “Crime, Perceived Safety, and Physical Activity: A Meta-Analysis.” Preventive Medicine 111 (June): 307–13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2017.11.017.

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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 2018. “Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, 2nd Edition.” Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. https://health.gov/sites/default/files/2019-09/Physical_Activity_Guidelines_2nd_edition.pdf.

Webber, Bryant J, Heather C Yun, and Geoffrey P Whitfield. 2023. “Leisure-Time Physical Activity and Mortality from Influenza and Pneumonia: A Cohort Study of 577 909 US Adults.” British Journal of Sports Medicine, May, bjsports-2022-106644. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2022-106644.

Zamani Sani, Seyed Hojjat, Zahra Fathirezaie, Serge Brand, Uwe Pühse, Edith Holsboer-Trachsler, Markus Gerber, and Siavash Talepasand. 2016. “Physical Activity and Self-Esteem: Testing Direct and Indirect Relationships Associated with Psychological and Physical Mechanisms.” Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment 12 (October): 2617–25. https://doi.org/10.2147/NDT.S116811.