Health and Anti-aging benefits of sports among women of siavonga district, Zambia.

Abstract

This article is based on the study whose focus was on women‟s perceptions of health and anti- aging benefits of sports among Women of Siavonga District in Zambia. It provides a basis for the need to intensify the promotion of women involvement in sports. The study was guided by two objectives: i) to establish the types of sporting activities women engaged into; and ii) to establish the health and anti-aging benefits of sports to women in Siavonga district of Zambia. The study used qualitative methods and collected data from 20 women. While 5 of the women lived a sporting life in their traditional community, 15 others were not involved actively in traditional sports of the community. Data was analyzed thematically according to emerging themes. Findings indicated that women played a number of games which were enjoyed by both women and men while others were single sex. Furthermore, while 75% of the sporting identified sporting activities were psychomotor, 25% were cognitive oriented. The cognitive activities included chiyato, nsolo, zindanda and draft and these were what women enjoyed. The anti-aging benefits, as perceived by women, included women‟s ability to continue looking younger than their age and accepting defeat in a game. These factors kept their blood pressure at easy and ever smiling faces. However, the women did not realize that sports made them look younger than their unsporting friends. The study concluded that sports had anti-aging properties and recommended that women should continue engaging themselves in traditional games which are cheaper to run.