According to the Cdc, approximately 4 out of 5 black women are obese or overweight and 36 percent meet exercise objectives as determined by the CDC. That’s when compared with 50 % of white women meeting exactly the same objectives.
A study conducted through the Center for Black Health insurance and the University of Colorado School of Medicine’s Center for Women’s Health Research finds that Black women whose hairstyle is affected by perspiration may avoid physical activity altogether. Prior research has discovered that between 29 percent and 48 percent of Black women say that their hairstyle was a factor in deciding if you should exercise. One key focus of the study ended up being to learn more about cultural barriers to physical activity among African American women – including hairstyle-related factors. Some women involved in the study who experience hairstyle barriers to physical activity explained that it can take a lot of time or money to restyle their head of hair after exercise that causes perspiration. Although hairstyle maintenance barriers were reported less frequently than the most highly regarded general barriers of “lacking self-discipline” and “lacking money”, they are important to understand to be able to inform future interventions for the substantial quantity of sedentary AA women affected by hairstyle maintenance barriers.
What researchers found is that lower rates of exercise might be related to cultural barriers, including the costs and time necessary to restyle hair after exercise that triggers perspiration. To lessen time required to restyle hair after exercise, some participants reported using “low-maintenance” hairstyles for example wearing braids or ponytails. Additionally, some women described being cautious to do “safe” physical activities that do not cause perspiration, to be able to overcome this barrier. This research discovered that 29 percent of African American ladies who didn’t exercise regularly experienced hairstyle barriers to workout. In comparison, only 7 percent of African American women who exercised regularly reported their hair was a element in deciding whether or not to exercise.
“Soon after new health diagnoses, our study participants said she’d to make a decision between her hair and her lifetime,” said Lucille Johnson Campbell, MA, director of special initiatives for that Center for African-American Health insurance and co-principal investigator for the study. “We want to find solutions so women within the African American community could possibly get with these barriers and improve their health.”
Researchers assessed the healthiness of participants after which used surveys and focus groups to recognize hairstyle-related exercise barriers and exercise motivators. The research included 51 women in the Denver metro area ranging in age from 18 to 75 years. “The lifespan perspective from women of varying ages allowed for a greater selection of discussion into understanding if hair influenced physical activity throughout generations,” said study investigator, Candace Brown, MAG, MEd, Doctoral Candidate at Virginia Commonwealth University.
The women were split into two categories “exercises” and “non-exercisers.” The “exercisers” reported a minimum of An hour of weekly activity and also the “non-exercisers” reported less than An hour. Both groups reported similar rates of diabetes, pre-diabetes, and arthritis.
“There is some exciting news out of this study,” said Amy Huebschmann, MD, associate professor at CU School of Medicine and the Center for Women’s Health Research and co-principal Investigator with this study. “Black women wish to overcome these barriers to workout, and we studied many African American women who have previously overcome these barriers by adjusting their hairstyles. The next thing is to build up and test programs to beat general barriers and hairstyle-related barriers.” Study participants suggested various activities to obtain them moving, including dance classes along with other fun group activities. Additionally they suggested other helpful strategies to overcome hairstyle-related barriers to exercise: social support using their company African American women and culturally relevant education about moisturizing hair products to combat the dry Colorado climate and “low-maintenance” hairstyles which are minimally affected by perspiration.
Huebschmann added that the recent societal culture shift also may help African American women to beat hairstyle barriers to activity. “We’d some women describe concerns of getting fired if they came to make use of a low-maintenance hairstyle for example braids or natural hair, but we heard women stating that they think there is a growing cultural acceptance of these types of low-maintenance hairstyles.”
