Women Can Reap More Cardiovascular Benefits than Men with Less Exercise

Women may benefit more from regular exercise than men, according to a new study from the National Institutes of Health.

The study found that women needed two and a half hours of moderate to vigorous physical activity to achieve “maximum survival benefit,” while men needed more than twice that, according to the study.

This can be attributed to differences in “anatomy” and “physiology” between men and women, according to the press release.

Men often have “increased lung capacity”, “larger hearts”, leaner body mass and more “twitch muscle fibers” compared to women. Because of this, women have to expend more energy and strength to “perform the same movement” and allow them to reap more benefits, according to the press release.

Toned healthy woman training, lifting dumbbells in an urban industrial gym with other women exercising in the background.

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“Even a limited amount of regular exercise can provide a large benefit, and this has been shown to be especially true for women,” one of the NIH experts said in a statement. “Making time for exercise, even if it’s just 20-30 minutes of vigorous exercise a few times a week, can offer a lot more benefits than you might imagine.”

The study looked at the cardiovascular health and exercise of more than 400,000 American adults between 1997 and 2019. By the end of the study, more than 11,600 people had died of cardiovascular disease-related deaths, the leading cause of death in the US, according to the Centers for Disease Control diseases.

It is also the leading cause of death for men in the US, according to the agency. In 2021, nearly 400,000 men died of heart disease, which includes heart attack, heart failure or cardiac arrhythmia.

Healthy woman training, lifting dumbbells in an urban industrial gym with other women exercising in the background.

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The study measured how well people followed the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, which recommend two and a half to five hours of moderate-intensity exercise or one to two and a half hours of vigorous exercise each week mixed with two or more days of strength training.

However, the study’s researchers noted that there were some limitations, including the fact that their responses were based on self-reported questionnaires and did not account for variation in different household activities.

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Women who regularly engaged in aerobic exercise reduced their risk of death from cardiovascular disease by 36%, while men who did so reduced their risk by 11%, according to the study. For women and men who regularly did strength training, the risk was reduced by 30% and 11%, respectively.

“This study highlights that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to exercise,” said Eric J. Shiroma, Sc.D., program director in the Clinical Applications and Prevention Branch at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI).

He added: “A person’s physical activity needs and goals may change depending on age, health and schedule – but the value of any type of exercise is undeniable.”

Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education