Gabrielle Shaffer

American Moms Less Active? How to Make Sure You Keep Inactivity at Bay
I'm going to paint a picture for you, so get ready to go back in time. Imagine it￢ﾀﾙs the 1960￢ﾀﾙs. You're the mother of two children, ages 6 and 10. You are a stay at home mom and spend your days cleaning the house, doing laundry, and making dinner for the family. Every once in a while, when you have a spare moment, you like to sit down and enjoy a television program on one of the few channels you have (if you have a television that is). For the better part of the day though, you are up and moving.
And now, time for a reality check. It's present day. You still have two (maybe three) children, but you spend the majority of your day rushing. From getting the kids ready for school and out the door, going to work and handling a million important business projects (that you do sitting in front of a computer), to then getting home and having dinner ready for the family at a decent hour (whether it's homemade or takeout, I won't tell), before you plop on the couch to unwind after yet another long and hairy day. Because no surprise here...you're TIRED!

Moms are Becoming Less Physically Active
Compared to their counterparts in 1965, moms are becoming increasingly more inactive. Should you be surprised? Probably not. Studies have shown that mothers these days are far more physically inactive than they would be had they been in the same position over 25 years ago. You would think that it's because more women are working now instead of being stay at home moms, but that actually isn't the case. Women who work actually get a little more activity squeezed into the day over women who are stay at home moms. This could be because women who stay at home may spend a lot of time sitting on the floor or at the table doing arts and crafts or playing games with the little ones. And when they go down to nap, they're able to squeeze in a quck hour or two of catching up on shows or surfing Pinterest for that night's dinner. 
But whatever the reason, I want to get down to some statistics that a study led by Edward Archer, an exercise scientist and epidemiologist, found to be true:

Mothers who have older children (6-18) have experienced a decline in physical activity of more than 11 hours per week, going from 32 hours per week of physical activity in 1965 to 21 hours of physical activity in 2010.


Mothers with younger children (under age 5) experienced a decline of 14 hours per week, going from 44 hours in 1965 to less than 30 hours in 2010.



Mothers with older children experienced an increase of sedentary behavior by 7 hours a week, going from 18 hours in 1965 to 25 hours in 2010.


Mothers with younger children experienced an increase of sedentary behaviors by 6 hours per week. This increase went from 17 hours in 1965 to 23 hours in 2010.  


Unemployed mothers have twice the decline in physical activity and reported much more time being spent doing sedentary activities, such as watching TV and sitting on the computer. 


The more time spent at home being inactive means the more calories not being expended, which can lead to some troublesome problems for both the mother and her child.
What This Means 
With less physical activity, moms are holding onto more calories than they were previously. Archer cites this as a possible lead to obesity among middle aged women. A mom with older children will expend 177 less calories a day than she would have in 1965. That means she needs to consumes 175-225 less calories a day to maintain her weight. Mothers with younger children experienced a decline in energy expenditure by over 1,500 calories a week. If moms want to fight obesity, and still enjoy all the food they consume, they need to start getting a little more serious about becoming physically active.
For children of inactive mothers, their fate could not be so different. This study has found that children￢ﾀﾙs metabolism and body composition are often developed during pregnancy and early infancy. They believe that if a mother is sedentary and inactive during these time periods of her child￢ﾀﾙs life, she can in fact pass on those lifestyle behaviors. This leads to children having more inactive lifestyles, a greater chance of being obese, and can even contribute to an early death. The welfare of my child could be at risk because of my inactivity? That sounds like reason enough for me to make the time to step into some running shoes.  

How to Fit More Physical Activity into Your Day
If you are like most moms, it seems almost impossible to squeeze anymore physical activity into your day. But fear not, you CAN do it! Every day activities can become a little more active, and I'll tell you how (trust me, as the mother of two toddlers running a business, I've tried every trick in the book!)


While sitting on a conference call at work, do some easy at-the-desk exercises. We have many listed in our blog article, September is National Yoga Month you can check out.


You can also visit our blog article, Get Vertical..., to find out some more ways to get active while at work.


When staying at home, have fun while you cook or clean. Put music on and dance your way down the hall while vacuuming, or shimmy over to the sink to wash the veggies. You may feel a little silly at first (as I did), but adding a little more movement to these simple activities will help to burn more calories, and make even the most mundane activities a little more fun. 


Have a favorite TV show you simply MUST watch? No problem! Do some sit-ups, push-ups, or even calf raises while you watch. Then every time a commercial comes on, challenge yourself to jumping jacks or leg raises until your show comes back on.


Have some of your own tips on how to add more physical activity to your day? Please share them...I'm always looking to try new things! Just post a comment below or send me an email at emily.soltanoff@voomwell.com...I'd love to hear from you!
Sources: redOrbit
http://blog.voomwell.com/blog/bid/359947/Are-American-Moms-Suffering-from-Increasing-Physical-Inactivity