Men may need to exercise twice as much as women to achieve the same reduction in risk of coronary heart disease, according to the researchers. Recommendations for a healthy lifestyle should take into account gender differences.
Scientists analyzed the physical activity records of more than 80,000 people and found that the risk of cardiovascular disease was reduced by 30% in women who exercised for 250 minutes each week. In contrast, men needed to exercise 530 minutes, or nearly nine hours, per week to see the same effect.
The study builds on previous work that suggests women get more benefits than men from the same amount of exercise, but women tend to be less physically active and less likely to achieve recommended exercise goals.
Under NHS adviceMen and women ages 16 to 64 should engage in at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise each week, combined with muscle-strengthening activities at least twice a week.
But the latest work highlights the need for tailored advice for men and women, and highlights the significant health benefits women can get from doing just a moderate amount of exercise. Worldwide, every third woman dies from cardiovascular diseases.
“Compared with men, women obtain equivalent health benefits with only half the time spent exercising,” the authors write in Natural Cardiovascular Research. “The results could potentially encourage women to engage in physical activity,” they add.
Dr Jiajing Chen from Xiamen University in China and colleagues analyzed data from activity trackers worn by middle-aged volunteers in the study. UK Biobank Project. They first looked at 80,243 participants who did not have coronary heart disease. In this group, women who met the goal of 150 minutes of exercise per week had a 22% lower risk of developing cardiovascular disease over eight years of follow-up compared to those who did not. In men, the risk was 17% lower.
Further analysis found that women could reduce their risk of cardiovascular disease by 30% by doing 250 minutes of physical activity per week, while men achieved this result only by achieving 530 minutes of physical activity each week.
The most striking result came from data on more than 5,000 men and women who already had coronary heart disease. Here, the researchers found that the risk of death during the follow-up period was three times lower for women who met their weekly exercise goal than for equally active men.
Professor Yang Wang, the paper's senior author, said the work showed both sexes could gain “significant cardiovascular benefits” from physical activity and recommended that everyone, regardless of gender, exercise regularly.
But he added that globally, more women than men were missing physical activity targets. “We especially hope that our results may encourage physically inactive women to become more active, thereby reducing their risk of cardiovascular disease,” he said.
It's unclear why exercise might benefit women more than men, but scientists point to differences in sex hormones, muscle fiber and the ability to break down sugar for energy as potential factors.
IN accompanying articleDr. Emily Lau, a specialist in women's cardiovascular diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital, writes: “This study provides further evidence that one size truly does not fit all, and encourages us to move from talk to action. It is time to include gender-specific strategies in guidelines and develop tailored interventions to optimize cardiovascular health.” women.”
