I remember all too well my primary physical activity as a sixth grader: “cantering” around the schoolyard with my girlfriends as we all pretended to be various types of horses.
Not your typical kind of exercise, to be sure. But after reading about new research that found that girls are less physically active than boys, I’m thinking that nontraditional exercise might be just what girls need.
Two studies presented at the UK Society for Behavioural Medicine last week found that females are less active than their male peers – whether they’re young or old.
One study, focusing on primary schools in Liverpool, found that girls take part in 6 percent less vigorous playtime activity than boys. Another study found that women over 70 were less physically active than men of that age category.
One of the Liverpool study authors, Dr. Nicky Ridgers, noted that “girls and boys play differently. Girls tend to spend time in smaller groups and engage in verbal games, conversation, and socializing. Most boys play in larger groups, which lend themselves more to physically active games such as football.”
Sounds familiar. Boys are always playing with balls: shooting hoops, kicking soccer balls, swinging the bat. Girls, not as much. But why? Is it because they don’t want to be active? Or that they want to be active in a different way?
Some responded to the study by saying exactly that. One blogger wrote: “Even at my daughter’s all-girls’ school, the PE and recess are completely focused on competitive sport, leaving the girls who just aren’t into that to sit and read and talk while soccer balls fly by their heads.” This was in response to a blog on the studies posted on Strollerderby.com, which calls itself “the mother of all parenting blogs.” Others said they thought alternatives to typical competitive sports — things like yoga, running, judo – might be more appealing to girls.
Our BodiMojo group is big on encouraging teens to “march to the beat of their own drummer” when it comes to exercise. If, for some girls, competition isn’t comfortable, we hope they find something that makes them want to get up and get moving.
By the way, about my youthful cantering: I realize now that it was appealing because it combined exercise AND verbal activity. As we played, we were constantly talking to each other.
Or whinnying.
– Contributed by Karen Feldsher, BodiMojo Mom
Team Sports Can Increase Life Satisfaction | BodiMojo Blog // Nov 3, 2010 at 11:05 am
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