Attitudes towards health and exercise of overweight women

Abstract

To investigate the attitudes and beliefs held by UK Bangladeshi women on health and exercise and explore possible ways of increasing levels of physical activity in this group. A survey based on an interview-guided questionnaire, with 25 British Bangladeshi females, 30-60 years old, from the Borough of Tower Hamlets, East London, who have been referred to a gym by their general practitioner (GP) in order to improve health. Main reasons for referral were: obesity, metabolic syndrome, risk of type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure. Forty per cent of the subjects were obese (BMI > 30 kg/m2) and the remaining 60% were overweight (BMI 25-30 kg/m2). The great majority of the subjects (96%) reported that they were only willing to take up exercise if they were referred to the gym by their GP as an alternative or additional treatment for their complaints. They would not exercise voluntarily. Even though all women in our sample were either overweight or obese, 16% of the subjects reported that they did not know if they were overweight and 20% thought that they were actually of normal weight. Most women identified swimming as the type of physical activity of preference, if they had to exercise, followed by slow walking, with running being the least enjoyed activity. Bangladeshi women take little regular exercise to improve their health, predominant because of certain cultural beliefs and attitudes. More needs to be done to encourage levels and types of exercise that would be more appropriate for this ethnic group.