Have you ever been to the gym or out for a run and seen your male counterpart running faster, lifting heavier or sweating harder? You may be suprised to read who benefits the most.
A study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology has shown that men need to exercise for twice as long as women to gain the same long-term benefits such as heart health. The study followed men and women over two decades and whilst both genders reduced their ruse of early death by exercising, women gained more benefit per minute of exercise. This was true of all types of exercise looked at in the study. These included running, cycling and strength training. The added boost to women’s long-term health was even observed when women put in less effort than men.
To put some figures against the words – women who exercised regularly saw a 36% reduction in their risk of stroke or fatal heart attack whereas men saw a 14% reduction. Furthermore, when looking at early death of any cause the study found that women’s risk was reduced by 24% by exercising against 15% for men. For men to cut their risk of death by 18% they need to complete 5 hours of moderate aerobic activity per week whereas women need to do 2.5 hours. For more vigorous exercise such as running or spin women need 57 minutes per week to reduce the risk of death by 19% with men needing 110 minutes per week.
When it comes to strength training women showed a 30% reduced risk of heart attack and stroke whereas men showed an 11% reduction in risk. This study highlights that women can reap huge rewards from their exercise, even with a limited amount.
There isn’t a clear reason why this difference occurs, however it is thought to be linked to the anatomy and physiology differences between men and women. Men have larger hearts and larger lungs and greater muscle mass which means that force production does come more naturally. Women’s bodies need to adapt more to produce the same movement and it is this adaptation that leads to the health benefits of exercise.
This study also supports the popular opinion that exercise isn’t a one size fits all and should be tailored as the body’s response varies according to gender, due to hormones, anatomy, physiology and biomechanics. For example, women naturally have a higher body fat percentage than men so tend to use more fat as fuel in workouts which makes women naturally better at endurance exercise on the whole.
So my take away from this interesting piece of research is that we should do the exercise! It will help your longevity, reduce disease (especially of the heart) risk and on top of that we benefit doubly!
As always any questions please get in touch!
Caroline x
