Science Editorial, 19 February (EFE). — Men need to do nearly twice as much physical exercise as women to get the same cardiovascular benefits, according to a study from the Smidt Heart Institute in Los Angeles, reported Monday in the Journal of the American Heart Association. American College of Cardiology.
Researchers analyzed data from the United States National Health Survey on physical activity performed by 412,413 adults, 55% of whom were women, over the period 1997-2019.
The researchers examined gender-specific results regarding frequency, duration, intensity, and type of physical activity, and concluded that women get greater heart health benefits from exercise than men.
“For all adults who reported participating in any regular physical activity, compared with being inactive, the risk of death was predictably lower, although women associated with sports reduced it by 24% and men by 15%.” Gave.” One of the authors, Susan Cheng, of the Smidt Heart Institute, in a statement.
The researchers also looked at moderate to vigorous aerobic physical activity, such as brisk walking or bicycling, and found that men got their greatest heart health benefits by doing this type of exercise five hours a week, while women did the same with two hours. Achieved it. Half an hour a week.
When it came to muscle-strengthening activities like weight lifting, men achieved their maximum benefits by doing three sessions a week and women achieved similar benefits by doing about one session a week.
The more exercise, the better health
According to Cheng, if women did two and a half hours a week of moderate-to-vigorous aerobic activity, or two or more weekly sessions of muscle-strengthening activities, they got even greater benefits.
Across all types of exercise and taking into account all variables, scientists confirmed that men got the greatest survival benefit from 300 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity per week, while women got the same benefits from 140 minutes of activity. Is.
However, Cheng says, “women continue to get greater benefits up to 300 minutes per week.”
The researchers note that their findings help move the long-standing recognition of gender-specific physiology observed in the exercise laboratory to a now expanded view of gender differences in exercise-related clinical outcomes.
(c) EFE Agency