While the number of people who exercise regularly has risen steadily over the past nine years, middle-aged, highly educated women are the least physically active group in the nation, a recent survey from the Sports Administration found.
Sports Administration Director-General Ho Jow-fei (何卓飛) said the government defines people who exercise regularly as those who work out at least three times a week for at least 30 minutes each time. The exercise must be intense enough that people breathe hard and break a sweat, Ho added.
The survey found that the percentage of people who exercise regularly has increased from 31.6 percent last year to 33 percent this year. In 2006, regular exercisers were just 18.8 percent of the population, the agency said.
The survey found that 55.7 percent of Taiwanese met the WHO’s guideline for metabolic equivalents, which suggests spending 600 minutes per week exercising.
Taiwan ranked 11th for men and 19th or women among Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development members.
The survey showed that 42.7 percent of regular exercisers said they walk, 26 percent run and 14.4 percent cycle. People who play basketball, climb mountains or hike accounted for 13.4 percent, 9.9 percent and 8.6 percent of the respondents respectively.
National Taiwan Normal University professor Philip Cheng (程紹同) said the majority of people who exercise regularly in Europe and North America are young or middle-aged people, but regular exercisers in Taiwan are mostly teenagers and retired people.
Cheng added that fewer than 30 percent of women who responded said they exercise regularly. He said that just 19.4 percent of women in the 35-to-44 age group work out on a regular basis.
About 28 percent of women who have a doctorate exercise regularly.
“These numbers showed that middle-aged, highly educated women are the least physically active group in the nation. The administration should enhance its awareness campaigns directed toward them,” Cheng said.
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