A influência do exercício físico na autoestima de mulheres idosas

Abstract

Aging is one of the most significant demographic changes of the 21st century, according to the United Nations in Brazil in 2050 will be 2 billion people over 60, although the longevity of Brazilians grow every decade, there is an evolutionary increase of changes cognitive and pathologies of this phase of life, but through the life history it is possible to achieve biological and psychosocial benefits obtaining a routine of physical exercises, one of the factors being self-esteem. Thus, the objective of this study was to analyze the influence of physical exercise on the self-esteem of elderly women using the Rosenberg self-esteem questionnaire as an instrument. The sample consisted of 100 women aged ≥ 60 years, group 1(G1) composed of who practiced physical exercises and group 2(G2) composed women who did not practice physical exercise. The results obtained were indicated through descriptive analysis and for the comparison of self-esteem between the two groups, testT (for the variables with normal distribution) and Mann-Whitney (for the variables that do not have normal distribution) was used. The result showed that elderly women who practice physical exercise have a higher self-esteem score than the elderly women who do not exercise. We also understand that schooling can be a differential of the elderly women who exercise and that marital status and number of children influence the self-esteem of older women. There was a significant difference (p≤0.05) in G1 elderly women with complete primary education ,and a significant difference was also observed in elderly women practicing physical exercise who did not have children. However, it was concluded that physical exercise influences the improvement of the self-esteem of elderly women.