by Cristina Marrone
A study has shown that women need 2.5 hours of aerobic activity per week compared to 5 for men to obtain the same cardiovascular benefits. But the research does not take into account “household activities”
Physical exercise, it is now known, is good for everyone’s health and reduces the risk of premature death. However a new study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology found that women need less exercise to get the same benefits as men. «In other words – says the author of the work Susan Cheng, director of the Institute for Research on Healthy Aging at the Smidt Heart Institute of Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles – for a given amount of time and effort dedicated to physical exercise , women have more to gain than men.” And that’s good news for women, who generally engage in less organized physical activity than men.
Women and men compared
The researchers found that women needed just under 2.5 hours of moderate to vigorous aerobic physical activity per week to get the same “survival benefit” that men get from five hours of physical activity. The risk of mortality for women who engaged in regular physical activity was reduced by 24% compared to 15% for men, researchers wrote in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Scientists analyzed health data from 1997 to 2019 of 412,413 adults in the United States. At the end of the observation period, 39,935 adults had died, of which 11,670 due to cardiovascular causes. The authors themselves underline the limitations of the work: the study is observational, and therefore it cannot be concluded with certainty that exercise is the cause of the reduction in the risk of death; furthermore, the data are self-reported and do not take into account domestic activities, which although contribute to physical activity and are more often carried out by women. Certainly the work needs confirmation.
And give
Among the women studied, those who regularly practiced aerobic exercise (those that increase the heart rate such as brisk walking, jumping rope, spinning) had a 36% lower risk of dying from cardiovascular problems compared to a reduced risk 14% for men.
Muscle strengthening activity
Researchers in the new study also looked at the gap between men and women who regularly do strength training. They found that while men achieve maximum benefit by doing three sessions of muscle-strengthening activity per week, women achieve the same degree of benefit with approximately one session per week. Among the men studied, those who regularly practiced muscle-strengthening activities were associated with an 11 percent reduction in cardiovascular risk, compared to a 30 percent risk reduction for women.
Why there are differences between men and women: possible explanations
International guidelines recommend 150 minutes per week of moderate physical activity or 75 minutes of vigorous activity with two muscle strengthening sessions. However there is no distinction between women and men. Yet, even this work, although preliminary and incomplete, indicates that there are differences. According to Paul Arciero, a sports medicine specialist and nutritionist at the University of Pittsburgh, interviewed by NBC News, it would make sense for there to be separate guidelines for men and women. “There are clear sex-based differences in response to exercise and we need to move beyond the belief that men and women respond similarly.” There research di Arciero in 2022 found that women achieved a greater decrease in blood pressure when they exercised in the morning; on the contrary, men obtained that benefit mainly with evening exercise. A 2020 review found that women’s muscles resist the fatigue resulting from high intensity better than men’s.
Scientists are less certain, however, about how the differences found may affect long-term health, but there is no doubt that at least part of the puzzle lies in physiological differences. In fact, many studies show that women are more likely to achieve faster and greater improvements in muscle strength than men. Women have more capillaries in certain sections of their muscles, and this could help more blood and oxygen flow to the heart during exercise. Women also also have higher levels of the hormone estrogen until menopause and this also improves blood flow according to Lynda Ransdell, chair of the kinesiology department at Boise State University. The scholar highlights, among other things, how women tend to be less physically active and therefore less effort may be needed to improve their health compared to baseline values. “Because women typically start at lower fitness levels, they can experience significant improvements even with less exercise,” Ransdell says. «Women are not little men, but they have a completely different physiology – she commented again Cnn Andrew Freeman, director of cardiovascular prevention and wellness at National Jewish Health in Denver. I think it’s really important to personalize treatments and therapies based on who you are dealing with.”
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February 20, 2024 (modified February 20, 2024 | 4:45 pm)
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