Fight obesity! Opening community fitness classes will make women more interested in sports?

Being overweight or obese is not uncommon in today's society. In order to promote exercise habits among citizens, governments may subsidize communities to set up sports and fitness courses or classrooms for public use. "Preventive Medicine" recently published a new publication from the University of Missouri, pointing out that the community exercise program funded by the Brazilian government has indeed helped local women improve their exercise habits; the researchers also believe that the program can be expanded and applied to other communities around the world.

Based on past research, lack of exercise is known to be associated with the development of health problems such as high blood pressure and diabetes. The community movement program tracked by the institute has been implemented since 2002 and has expanded to 184 cities in Brazil. After analyzing the survey data, the authors found that the proportion of women who met the recommended leisure-time physical activity (at least 150 minutes of moderate physical activity per week or 75 minutes of vigorous physical activity per week) was significantly higher in cities with community physical activity programs compared with other cities.

The study was published online in Preventive Medicine.

This article is from ELSEVIER Global Pharmaceutical News