According to the largest global study on the exercise gender gap, there is a direct link between a woman’s level of activity and her state of mind.
according to the Move Her Mind study, which was commissioned by ASICS and surveyed nearly 25,000 people and conducted 26 focus groups around the world.
Researchers also found that exercise helped women deal with negative emotions more effectively, with them reporting feeling 67% more stressed and 80%
“Regardless of their level of activity, women are facing barriers to being as active as they would like to be,” study lead Dr. Dee Dlugonski said in the report.
The most common obstacles were too many other commitments at 76% and not enough time at 74%.
And kids play a big role, too: More than 60% of women admitted that motherhood was the primary reason they stopped exercising regularly,
“Caregiving roles, such as caring for children, elders or conducting other household responsibilities, were particularly salient barriers reported by women in the quantitative and qualitative data.”