Women in general exercise less than menBut new research suggests it may have even greater health benefits.
A national study found that women who exercised regularly (at least 2.5 hours of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise per week) were less likely to die during the study period compared to women who did not exercise. It was found that the risk was 24% lower. In contrast, men who exercised regularly were 15% less likely to die than men who did not exercise.
Men also required more exercise than women to achieve the same health benefits. Five hours of moderate or vigorous exercise per week reduced the risk of death by 18% compared to men who did not exercise. However, just 140 minutes of exercise per week had the same effect on women.
“Women had the same benefits with lower levels of physical activity,” said study co-author Martha Gulati, director of preventive cardiology at the Smit Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles. the doctor said.
The study also found that women who exercised regularly had a 36% lower risk of dying from cardiovascular diseases such as heart attacks and strokes, while men who exercised regularly had a 14% lower risk. It turned out that.
It was discovered that Published on Monday Published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Researchers analyzed the self-reported exercise habits of more than 412,000 men and women who participated in the National Health Interview Survey from 1997 to 2017.
About a third of the women in the study regularly engaged in aerobic exercise (activities that get your heart rate up, such as brisk walking, jumping rope, or attending a spin class), compared to 43% of the men in the study. It was. Women were also less likely than men to engage in strength-building activities such as weightlifting.
Nevertheless, regular muscle strengthening (approximately one session per week on average) is associated with a 30% lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease in women and a 19% lower overall risk of death. It was related. For men, doing the same amount of exercise every week lowered their risk of dying from cardiovascular disease by 11%, and their risk of dying by the same percentage.
Gulati said one major limitation of the study was that it did not take into account how active the women were outside of their training environment.
“Our data leaves out other physical activities that we do every day, such as running after the kids, gardening, and doing housework, other than going to the gym.” she says.
Should exercise recommendations be different for men and women?
Ministry of Health and Human Services It is recommended Adults should have 150 minutes of moderate physical activity per week, including two days of strength-strengthening activity.
But Gulati said these guidelines “can be very overwhelming for people who don’t do anything.” She says many of her female patients struggle to find time to exercise.
“Women are busy. Women work. Women usually take on the lion’s share of family responsibilities, whether it’s children or elderly parents, and by the end of the day they have very little time. I will put it away,” Gulati said.
Data from the National Health Interview Survey suggests that women in 2022 were more likely than men to have received advice to increase their physical activity from a doctor or other health professional in the past year.
“Instead of talking about 150 minutes a week, you should say, ‘What can you fit in?'” Gulati said.
Paul Arciero, a professor of sports, medicine and nutrition at the University of Pittsburgh, said it makes sense to have separate exercise guidelines for men and women.
“There are clear gender differences in response to exercise,” he says. “We have to move beyond the idea that men and women react the same way.”
What accounts for the gender differences?
Many studies have shown that exercise does not affect men and women the same way.
Arciero’s the study In 2022, researchers found that women’s blood pressure decreased more when they exercised in the morning, while men’s blood pressure decreased more at night.a 2020 review They also found that women’s muscles were more resistant to fatigue from high-intensity exercise.
But scientists are less certain about how these differences affect people’s long-term health.
The new study shows that “women basically respond more effectively to exercise, especially when it comes to heart health and mortality,” said Arciero, who was not involved in the paper. .
Arciero said physiological differences may contribute to the advantage, with women having more capillaries (small blood vessels) in certain parts of their muscles than men, and therefore having more blood vessels during exercise. of blood and oxygen can flow to the heart.
Women also have higher levels of the hormone estrogen, which increases blood flow, says Linda Ransdell, chair of the kinesiology department at Boise State University.
A third factor, Ransdell noted, is that women tend to be less physically active, so they may need to put in less effort to improve their health compared to baseline.
“I like to call this the principle of diminishing returns,” Lansdell says. “Women typically start at a lower fitness level, so even small reductions in physical activity can lead to significant gains.”
But scientists still have much to learn, she added.
“While I love this research and think it’s groundbreaking and groundbreaking, I also think it’s one piece of the puzzle,” Ransdell said. “I would like to see more research using objective measures of physical activity, like pedometers or the Apple Watch.”
