Onset of winters also brings along a season of marathons, runs, and public fitness and workout programs.  Every morning, I see lot of enthusiastic runners and health conscious people on streets and gardens doing their bit for their fitness. I made a passive observation that out of all those I saw exercising on gardens and streets; only 25% of them were women as compared to men who looked comfortable in exercising outdoors.

Women who exercise daily gather an advantage of reduced risk to osteoporosis, dementia, stress, depression, cardiovascular diseases and cancer. As an additional advantage, they get beautiful skin, increased immunity and work efficiency.

Indian women are reported to have 20 – 40% more psychological disorders than men. Urban lifestyle today demands a healthy free minded woman, who can excel both in her professional as well as familial responsibilities.

So I wondered why are there such less number of women in the park? Is it the time constraints or the extra responsibilities on Indian women?

Giving it a thought, and after talking to few women I came across a very strange reason which they gave me, called Self-consciousness. A state when a lady becomes conscious of herself and her body because of people around her, may be looking at her and hence feels shy to exercise publicly. It can be explained with various situations.

Like a thin girl is concerned about people observing her legs while she walks, while a fat woman is tensed about how people will comment about her body when she bends down. Elderly woman are more tensed about people commenting on her outfit. And this is not just limited to women coming to parks and gyms, but also at home, where they feel conscious due to presence of other male members at home.

Are we women not confident about our body? Why do we have to be so self-conscious? Why is someone else’s opinion about you is so important that it stops you from doing something? No matter how our body is, we need to love and take care of it by keeping it healthy. Why is this guilt of consciousness stopping us to run in parks? Or performing yoga at home?

Backing off from exercises because you think of how others will feel and think about our physical appearance, is completely unnecessary and is not doing any good to you.

Separate parks, special running tracks for women or probably special timings for women at parks and clubs for exercise can be an option but they aren’t solution. Solution is to look within us, spot the problem, gather all our determination to be fit and act on it.

It’s time to move out of home ladies with a comfortable dress, those nicely fitting shoes and most importantly a strong self confidence.

If Having “No-Time” is your Excuse – Here’s A Full Body Workout Option with Chair by Kanchi Shah, Fitness Expert