Sex hormones and physical activity in women: An evolutionary framework

Abstract

This chapter presents an evolutionary framework for understanding why there are bidirectional relationships between sex hormones and exercise, and how these relationships are predicted to influence women’s behavior and health. An evolutionary perspective highlights the importance of the ways physiology and behavior have been shaped by natural selection to favor mechanisms and behaviors that increase the likelihood of reproductive success. Impaired reproductive function in response to low energy availability may increase the costs and serve as a barrier to regular exercise among sedentary women. This framework also leads to theory-driven hypotheses regarding factors-such as individual condition and cues of resource scarcity-that can predictably influence individual differences in the relationships between sex hormones and exercise.