Exercising regularly improves physical condition and prevents health problems at any age, although it is important to take into account the characteristics and needs of each person and the effort that each person can make. Interestingly, new research has found that women can obtain more cardiovascular benefits from exercise than men while spending much less time exercising than men.
The study, which was conducted by researchers at the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars Sinai (USA) and supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), reveals a possible solution to the classic gender gap in physical exercise. between men and women. “Women have historically and statistically lagged behind men in engaging in meaningful exercise,” said Dr. Martha Gulati, director of Preventive Cardiology in the Department of Cardiology at the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai. holder of the Anita Dann Friedman Chair in Women’s Cardiovascular Medicine and Research and co-senior author of the study.
“The wonderful thing about this study is finding that women can get more out of each minute of moderate to vigorous physical activity than men. It is a motivating concept that we hope women adopt,” she adds. The results, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC), indicate that women can spend less time exercising than men and still obtain greater cardiovascular benefits.
The researchers analyzed data from 412,413 American adults using the National Health Interview Survey database conducted between 1997 and 2019 and in which participants between the ages of 27 and 61, of whom 55% were women, provided data. about the physical activity they practiced in their free time. Gender-specific outcomes were examined in relation to frequency, duration, intensity, and type of physical activity.
In their article, the researchers explain that “women, compared to men, obtained greater benefits in reducing the risk of cardiovascular and all-cause mortality with equivalent doses of leisure-time physical activity. “These findings could improve efforts to close the ‘gender gap’ by especially motivating women to engage in any regular physical activity in their free time.”
The risk of mortality was reduced by 24% in women and 15% in men
The findings showed that, over two decades, women were 24% less likely than those who did not exercise to experience death from any cause, while men were 15% less likely. Women also had a 36% lower risk of suffering a fatal heart attack, stroke or other cardiovascular event, while men had a 14% lower risk.
“For all adults who engaged in some regular physical activity, compared with those who were inactive, the risk of mortality was, as expected, lower,” said Dr. Susan Cheng, holder of the Erika J. Glazer Chair in Cardiovascular Health. Women and Population Science, director of the Healthy Aging Research Institute in the Department of Cardiology at the Smidt Heart Institute and co-lead author of the study. “However, it is intriguing that the risk of mortality was reduced by 24% in women and 15% in men.”
The researchers studied moderate to vigorous aerobic physical activity, such as brisk walking or cycling, or vigorous exercise, such as taking spinning classes or jumping rope; and found that men achieved their maximum survival benefit by performing this level of exercise for about five hours per week, while women achieved the same degree of benefit with only about two and a half hours per week. Similarly, in muscle-strengthening activities, such as weightlifting or core exercises, men achieved their maximum benefit with three sessions per week, and women obtained the same amount of benefit with approximately one session per week.
Cheng noted that women had even greater benefits if they performed more than two and a half hours of moderate to vigorous aerobic activity per week, or two or more sessions of muscle-strengthening activities per week. The team notes that their findings help move the recognition of sex-specific physiology long observed in the exercise laboratory to a now expanded view of sex differences in exercise-related clinical outcomes.
“Men get maximum survival benefit from 300 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity per week, while women get the same benefit from 140 minutes per week.”
Taking all exercise types and variables into account, Dr. Gulati says the recommendations based on the study findings are consistent. “Men get maximum survival benefit from 300 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity per week, while women get the same benefit from 140 minutes per week,” she Gulati said. “However, women continue to gain additional benefits up to 300 minutes a week.”
Dr. Christine M. Albert, head of the Department of Cardiology at the Smidt Heart Institute and holder of the Lee and Harold Kapelovitz Distinguished Chair in Cardiology, has stressed that concrete, novel studies like this one are not done often. “I am hopeful that this pioneering research will motivate women who currently do not engage in regular physical activity to understand that they stand to reap enormous benefits for every increase in regular exercise they can invest in their long-term health,” she concludes. For her part, Cheng points out that “It is an incredibly powerful way to live healthier and longer. “On average, women tend to exercise less than men, and hopefully these findings will inspire more women to add extra movement to their lives.”
