Obese Women only get 1 Hour of Exercise a Year: Study

A recent study conducted by researchers from the University of Alabama at Birmingham shows that obese women may be participating in as little as one hour of exercise each year.

As obesity is a chronic condition affecting 35.7 percent of all adults living in the United States, the condition increases the risk for several diseases, including diabetes and heart disease.

For the study, researchers examined 2,600 adults who wore accelerometers (motion sensors) that logged-in their daily physical activity. The findings showed that vigorous exercise was often defined as any physical activity that burnt fat, according to Medical Express.

Researchers found that on average, obese men typically had 3.6 more hours of vigorous exercise a year than obese women-who received just an hour.

"They're living their lives from one chair to another," said Edward Archer, a research fellow with the Nutrition Obesity Research Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, via the health organization. "We didn't realize we were that sedentary. There are some people who are vigorously active, but it's offset by the huge number of individuals who are inactive."

The CDC recommends that people get at least two hours and 30 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity per week, with two or more days of muscle strengthening exercises.

But just how can these individuals be exercising so little?

"I think they're living the typical life. They drive their children to school, they sit at a desk all day long, they may play some video games and they go to sleep," Archer said, via the news organization.

What do you think?

More information regarding the study can be found via the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings.