Girls Make Your Move campaign
The Australian Government has just launched a $10 million campaign to warn girls that not exercising regularly can have lifelong impacts.
It’s time to get active. It’s not about ability, and it’s not about perfection – it’s about having more energy and feeling better.
The #Girls Make Your Move campaign is about inspiring, energising and empowering young women to be more active, and for sport and exercise to be a natural part of women’s lives. There are concerns that social media and TV are taking girls away from sport. The government is cleverly introducing the new campaign via these same passive past times to try and get girls up and moving.
The campaign was launched by Health Minister Sussan Ley, who said that it will help tackle a serious epidemic of diseases and chronic conditions facing the current generation if they do not exercise more.
Physical activity in teenage years lays down the muscle and bone you need for the rest of your life
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Studio Arc agrees
The Australian Government Department of Health compiled an Insight Report regarding the 2016 Physical Activity and Sport Participation Campaign.
The ‘fun’ associated with sport and physical activity was readily identified by study participants. Physical activity and sports were, for many, regarded as social activities, and the friendship and bonding that occurs through participation clearly acted as a strong incentive to get involved.
The report identified fun as one of the motivators of sport participation.
We agree with this. We clearly see that strong friendships are formed and sustained by members of our sporting teams. This is particularly so in our teams with girls in the age group being targeted by the campaign:
The research revealed
- 60% of girls aged 15 to 17 are doing little or no exercise (compared to 38% of boys) and the concern is that this can result in depression, obesity and osteoporosis.
- women are more likely to be overweight than men from their teenage years
- by the age of 25, 62.5% of Australian women are overweight.
- by the age of 45, 80% of Australian women are overweight.
- regular physical activity, even of moderate intensity, reduces the risk of diseases such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, colon cancer, obesity and injury
With these statistics, there is little doubt that teenagers should be doing more exercise, more often. The benefits are reported as
- helping prevent chronic disease
- increasing fitness
- reducing mortality risks
- increasing social interaction
- boosting mental health
- among children and adolescents, regular physical activity and exercise has been associated with improved school performance, a greater sense of personal responsibility and group cooperation, and less drug and alcohol consumption [1]
[1] Bauman A, Bellow B, Vita P, Brown W, Owen N 2002. Getting Australia Active: towards better practice for the promotion of physical activity, National Public Health Partnership, Melbourne, Australia in ABS Australian Health Survey; Physical Activity, 2011-12
