High proportion of Australian women suffer from mental illness
Study of 10,000 of women across Australia sheds light on state of women's health.
The Women’s Health Survey 2017 has found that approximately 40% of women have been professionally diagnosed with depression or anxiety.
Those aged between 18 and 35 reported the highest levels of anxiety, expressing "mild" levels of anxiety. However, roughly 16% of women said they'd been moderately anxious in the last two weeks.
Those who identified themselves as being overweight were more likely to report moderate levels of anxiety.
Almost two thirds (62.3%) of Australian woman perceived themselves as being either slightly overweight (41.2%) or quite overweight (21.1%).
Interestingly, older more well-educated women were more likely to rate themselves as being healthier than younger less educated women.
The study found that over half (60%) of Australian women don't get the recommended weekly amount of physical activity, roughly 2.5 hours a week.
The top three reasons cited for why people women weren't exercising were tiredness, lack of time and a difficulty in finding someone to exercise with.
Western Australia was the worst performing state for women participating in at least 2.5 hours a week of physical activity, with only 38.5%.
The ACT came out on top as the most active state or territory, with 50.3%.
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