The question I posed in the title has been the driving force of my professional life since 1994. But before I talk about this question I want to define “women’s essentialsteps”. Generally, essentialsteps are the things women do to take care of themselves. I use this term more specifically to refer to physical activity because physical activity constitutes the essentialsteps for women’s continued health and well-being.
Why? There is a huge body of research showing many many many amazing physical health, mental health, and quality of life benefits from physical activity. Regular physical activity reduces the risk of getting breast and colon cancer, heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, among many other things. It helps reduce the re-occurrence of breast cancer. It staves off developing Alzheimer’s disease. It improves cognition, memory, and intelligence. It enhances well-being and mood, even as well as anti-depressants. Physical activity acts as a “wonder drug” on our mind and body. So why don’t we all get regular doses of physical activity then????
This is THE question of the day! Everyone wants to know the answer to this question. I have spent the past 14 years thinking about and researching why women don’t sustain physically active lives. I’m not going to present my resume here, but I’ve spent over 11 years studying this through a few graduate degrees and research at the University of Michigan and working directly with women over years in the community. One of the reasons women don’t sustain physically active lives because they ARE NOT MOTIVATED TO do it. That takes us to the next question. Why aren’t women motivated? I actually believe that I’ve figured this out. This answer represents part one of two posts regarding “why women don’t take their EssentialSteps?”
Women may be motivated to START exercising but they don’t STAY motivated to do it. My interest is in THE SUSTAINABILITY of physical activity. Many of us get motivated to start exercising when we are making New Year’s Resolutions, when “bathing suit” weather is approaching, and/or for an upcoming trip, Bat Mizvah or Wedding. Does this sound familiar? So, we typically start exercising for reasons related to changing our body shape or weight. I’ve discovered over the years and published about the problems associated with women taking this approach to exercising.
- We often have unrealistic goals for what exercise will actually do to our bodies and can’t achieve them. (Believe me, we’ve been sold a lot of hooey from companies marketing their fitness products and services.)
- We are exercising FOR AN EVENT. When that event is over, we have no reason to continue.
- We select physical activities aiming to “burn calories and lose weight” or “tone up”; most of which we don’t enjoy. In addition we may exercise so intensely to achieve our body-change goals that we just can’t sustain it for very long OR we injure ourselves. In addition, for some of us, exercising actually reminds us that we don’t feel comfortable with our bodies. Whichever reason it is, we don’t continue for very long.
- So, the approach that we take to exercising is one we’ve learned to take in our culture, and I call it the “Vicious Exercise Cycle”. We just keep doing it the same way, time and time again. Hence “vicious”. But my friend and colleague Harriet recently mentioned that there are two meanings to the “Vicious Exercise Cycle”. We are stuck in the same cycle over and over again. But the cycle is ALSO vicious; it is cruel and brutal because it keeps us at war with our bodies and consistently leads us to feel like failures. Given this, WHY WOULD WE STAY MOTIVATED TO EXERCISE OVER TIME?????
I’d love to hear your reactions to this, as well as your thoughts and experiences regarding your personal difficulties with staying motivated to exercise.