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Women would combine increased sedentary lifestyle and physical inactivity, a combo that is harmful for their physical and psychological well-being, but also for their social life. This is revealed by a new study, which points to many inequalities between men and women in terms of physical practice, and tends to show that inflation could ultimately reinforce this phenomenon.
All the studies published since the end of the confinements seem unanimous, in France as in Europe, and even on a global scale: a sedentary lifestyle is more and more like the new evil of the century. And this, for the entire population, even if women are more affected and impacted. The latest edition of the Sport-Health barometer, initiated by the French Federation of Physical Education and Voluntary Gymnastics (FFEPGV*), in collaboration with Ipsos, reveals that one in two French people feels more sedentary than before the year 2020 , which corresponds to the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. A finding to be compared with another worrying figure: one in three women questioned declares that they do not practice any physical activity at all.
Women, more sedentary
The phenomenon is not new, and the study even shows that women are more active than last year (+42 minutes of physical activity per week), but the inequalities continue to widen compared to their counterparts masculine. In February 2022, the National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety (ANSES) already alerted on the subject, revealing that 70% of women were “below all activity levels identified for good health”. A proportion which reached “only” 42% among men.
The barometer of the FFEPGV now tells us that French women practice an average of 3.9 hours of physical activity per week, against 5.3 hours for these gentlemen. And the methods of practice are also significantly different, since 45% of women practice physical activity at home, compared to 41% of men, and only 47% of women claim to have an individual sports practice outdoors, compared to 60% of men. This observation is reminiscent of the fact that women are confronted with more constraints on a daily basis, and that they are a fortiori more impacted by this lack of physical activity.
“These differences in practice can be explained for several reasons: firstly by the lack of time or the low media coverage of women’s sport, then by gender stereotypes which contribute to reinforcing differences in the choice of disciplines between men and women.“, explains Marilyne Colombo, president of the FFEPGV.
Impact on social life
A sedentary lifestyle has an impact on women’s daily lives. The survey reveals that an overwhelming majority of respondents (86%) admit to feeling “at least one negative effect” in connection with this physical inactivity. Unsurprisingly, this primarily affects their physical well-being (61% of women, versus 56% of men), their general state of fitness (59% versus 58%) and their psychological well-being (57% versus 54%). Only the quality of sleep is more impacted in men (51% against 47% of French women). Another misdeed of a sedentary lifestyle and not the least important, women confide in the majority (52%) that it has had a negative impact on their social life. A higher proportion than last year (44%).
Already alarming, the phenomenon could be increased by the inflationary context. More than a third of respondents (34%) admit that the economic situation has already forced them to give up “at least one thing” in connection with their sports practice. And 36% say they have already given up taking out or renewing a sports subscription for the same reasons. A finding that may raise fears of an increased sedentary lifestyle in the coming months and years.
What about Europe?
The phenomenon does not only affect the French—and French women—far from it. A report presented by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), on February 17, 2023, reveals that 45% of the inhabitants of the European Union (EU) never practice exercise or sport, while one in three has an insufficient level of physical activity. Here again, women are more affected, and this from an early age. Between the ages of 15 and 24, almost three-quarters of men (73%) say they play sports or exercise at least once a week, compared to 58% of women. And teenage girls are not left out, as only 17.6% of boys and 9.6% of girls across the EU say they meet WHO recommendations for physical activity and sport.
“The WHO recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity per week, and every movement counts when it comes to improving your health. Our latest report shows that if everyone in the EU reached WHO-recommended levels of physical activity, it could prevent more than 10,000 premature deaths each year“, underlines Dr Kremlin Wickramasinghe, acting head of the WHO European Office for the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases.
The report reveals more specifically that the levels of physical activity recommended by the WHO would make it possible to prevent 11.5 million new cases of non-communicable diseases by 2050, of which mainly cases of cardiovascular diseases, depression, and type 2 diabetes. And that’s without taking into account the economic impact of a sedentary lifestyle. The WHO reports that France appears in the top three, alongside Germany and Italy, countries “where the burden of lack of physical activity weighs most heavily on health expenditure in the EU“. Expenditure that could reach one billion euros for France in purchasing power parities (PPP), just to treat diseases induced by lack of physical activity, each year between 2022 and 2050.
*The study was carried out online, between November 29 and December 9, 2022, with a sample of 2,000 people, aged 16 and over, representative of the French population.