Women need to exercise half as much to get the same cardiovascular benefits as men.
Men need to do almost twice as much exercise According to a study from the Smidt Heart Institute in Los Angeles published this Monday in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, women experience similar cardiovascular benefits.
The researchers analyzed data from the US National Health Survey from 1997 to 2019 on the physical activity of 412,413 adults, 55% of whom were women.
Researchers examined gender-specific results regarding frequency, duration, intensity And type of physical activityconcluding that women receive more cardiovascular health benefits from exercise than men.
“For all adults who reported participating in any regular physical activity, compared with inactivity, the risk of mortality was predictably lower, although lWomen reduced it by 24% by playing sports, and men by 15%.” said one of the authors, Susan Cheng, in a statement from the Smidt Heart Institute.
The researchers also looked at moderate-to-vigorous aerobic physical activity, such as brisk walking or cycling, and found that men achieved the greatest cardiovascular health benefits when doing this type of exercise five hours a week, while men the women achieved the same with two and a half hours a week.
When it came to muscle-strengthening activities such as weight lifting, men got the most benefit from doing three sessions per week, while women got the same benefit from about one session per week.
More exercise equals better health
Women saw even greater benefits if they did more than two and a half hours a week of moderate to vigorous aerobic activity or two or more sessions a week of muscle-strengthening activities, Cheng said.
Taking into account all types of exercise and all variables, scientists confirmed that men have the greatest survival benefit when performing 300 minutes of moderate activity to an energetic week, while women get the same benefit at 140 minutes.
Although, “women still receive more benefits, up to 300 minutes per week,” says Cheng.
The researchers note that their findings help extend the long-standing recognition of sex physiology observed in the exercise laboratory to a now expanded understanding of sex differences in exercise-related clinical outcomes.