WOMEN reap the benefits of exercise more than men do, a study suggests.
Data from more than 400,000 US adults showed that women who exercise regularly have a significantly lower risk of early death compared to men – even when they do less minutes per week.
GettyExercise was found to be beneficial for both men and women[/caption]
They were 24 per cent less likely to experience death from any cause, compared to women who did not exercise, while men were 15 per cent less likely.
Women also had a 36 per cent reduced risk for a fatal heart attack, stroke, or other cardiovascular event, while men had a 14 per cent reduced risk, the researchers said.
The researchers speculate there may be a few reasons for these differences in outcomes, one of them being variations in anatomy and physiology.
For example, the team said, men generally have increased lung capacity, larger hearts, more lean-body mass, and a greater proportion of fast-twitch muscle fibres.
This together generates higher levels of force and power compared to women.
Hence, women often put in more effort to perform the same level of exercise as men.
Martha Gulati, of the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai in California, said: “The beauty of this study is learning that women can get more out of each minute of moderate to vigorous activity than men do.
“It’s an incentivising notion that we hope women will take to heart.”
Women were found to get the same health benefit from exercise as men but with less time.
The risk of death was lowered by 18 per cent for women who spent 140 minutes on moderate exercise every week. But men had to do double the amount – 300 minutes – for the same effect.
Women also reduced the risk of death by 19 per cent when performing vigorous exercise for just 57 minutes a week, compared to 110 minutes needed by men.
Those who did strength training saw a 30 per cent reduced risk of heart-related deaths, compared to 11 per cent for men.
For the study, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, the team analysed data from 412,413 adults in US’s National Health Interview Survey database from 1997 to 2019.
Exercising – whether it was moderate such as brisk walking, vigorous such as going on a spin class or jumping rope, or strength training with weights – reduced the risk of early death in both men and women.
Dr Susan Cheng, a cardiologist at the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai, said: “Even a limited amount of regular exercise can provide a major benefit, and it turns out this is especially true for women.
“Taking some regular time out for exercise, even if it’s just 20-30 minutes of vigorous exercise a few times each week, can offer a lot more gain than they may realise.”
How much exercise should you do and when?
There are guidelines issued by the NHS and the Government regarding how much exercise people should do each day.
People should be active daily, and avoid sitting for long periods of time.
The NHS recommends an adult – those aged 19 to 64 – should aim for 150 minutes of “moderate intensity activity” a week.
This works out to 21 minutes a day, or 30 minutes five days a week.
Or, they could do 75 minutes of vigorous activity per week, which could be less than 11 minutes per day or 25 minutes three days a week.
Adults should also aim to do strength exercises twice a week, at least.
Examples of moderate intensity activities include brisk walking, water aerobics, riding a bike, dancing, doubles tennis, pushing a lawn mower, hiking or rollerblading.
Examples of vigorous activities include running, swimming, riding a bike fast or on hills, walking up the stairs, sports, like football, rugby, netball and hockey, skipping, aerobics, gymnastics or martial arts.
Things like lifting heavy weights, sprinting up hills, spin classes or circuit training are considered very vigorous.
What time should you exercise?
Getting exercise into your day, no matter what time, is a good idea.
But you may want to be more selective depending on your goal.
A 2023 US study on 5,285 middle-aged adults showed exercising between 7 and 9am was the best time if you’re looking to lose weight.
Researchers found that early-bird gym goers had a lower body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference than those working out later.
A 2022 study led by Prof Paul J Arciero, Skidmore College, New York, found that the optimal time of day to get your kit on might actually differ according to your gender.
Prof Arciero said women wanting to lose fat around their belly and hips would do better to hit the gym in the morning, but those seeking to gain upper body strength or to simply improve their mood might see more results from evening exercise.
The results were opposite for men.
If you struggle to get to sleep, it’s been found that exercise in the morning may help, but exercise in the evening may help you to stay asleep.
Exercise, generally, can improve sleep quality.