Women get more benefits from exercise than men

Physical exercise has established itself as a fundamental pillar for maintaining a healthy and active life in modern society. However, The amount and type of exercise recommended may vary depending on age and gender.

However general guidelines generally recommend adult men and women to get at least 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity per week or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise per week, as well as muscle strengthening exercises at least twice a week. do activities like, Various research has shown that there are gender differences when it comes to exercise.

Now, a new study adds to this evidence, but is finding something unexpected: Women may exercise less than men, but they get greater cardiovascular benefits.

The study, published in Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Data from more than 412,000 adults were analyzed Using the US National Health Interview Survey database. Participants (55% of whom were women) provided survey data on leisure-time physical activity between 1997 and 2019.

Researchers at the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai examined gender-specific outcomes related to the frequency, duration, intensity and type of physical activity.

The findings revealed that Although women exercised less than men, interestingly “the risk of mortality was reduced by 24% in women and 15% in men.”Study lead author Susan Cheng, MD, MPH, director of the Healthy Aging Research Institute in the department of cardiology at the Smidt Heart Institute, said in a statement.

Although exercise was associated with a reduced risk of premature death in both sexes, the benefits were greater in women and with less effort.

Research found that Men reach their maximum advantage Stay alive by doing aerobic physical activity, such as brisk walking or bicycling, about five hours per week, while women received the same level of survival benefit from exercise Just under two and a half hours per week.

On the same lines, when it comes to muscle-strengthening activities like weight lifting or core body exercises, Men needed three sessions a week to get their maximum benefits, and women achieved the same with just one session a week.

“Our study does not suggest that women should exercise less, but rather encourages women who do not get enough exercise for various reasons to believe that even relatively small amounts of exercise can provide important benefits. “Could,” he told The Guardian Dr. Hongwei Jie, co-. The study authors are from the Affiliated Hospital of Chengdu University.

As further encouragement, Cheng said that Women get even greater benefits if they do more than two and a half hours of aerobic exercise per week, or two or more sessions of muscle-strengthening activity.

“The good thing about this study is that women can get more benefits from each minute of moderate to vigorous activity than men.” This is an exciting concept that we hope women will take seriously,” said study co-author Martha Gulati, MD, director of Preventive Cardiology in the Department of Cardiology at the Smidt Heart Institute.

The researchers aren’t sure why these differences occur, but they write: “Physiology studies have shown that women exhibit greater vascular conductance and blood flow during exercise, and that skeletal muscle copy in women is greater than in men. The density of unit capillaries is higher.” ,

The team noted as a limitation of the study that it was based on self-reported exercise and did not include physical activity associated with household activities.

Still, the authors hope the data will encourage women who don’t get enough exercise to think that even relatively small amounts may be beneficial.

,I hope that this pioneering research will inspire women who do not currently engage in regular physical activity to understand that they can reap huge benefits for each increase in regular exercise that they invest in their long-term health. Can.said Christine M. Albert, MD, MPH, chair of the department of cardiology at the Smidt Heart Institute.