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Among people over 50, men appear to need more than twice as much exercise as women to achieve the same reduction in heart disease risk.
A study published this Monday in Nature revealed that the men over 50 years of age require almost 9 hours per week of moderate to vigorous activity – such as brisk walking or cycling – to achieve a 30% reduction in the risk of coronary heart disease, compared with about 4 hours for women.
The team retrieved data from the UK Biobank, and compared it with participants’ health records over a period of around eight years.
As detailed by , first, the team analyzed information from 80,243 adults, with an average age of 61 years, who had no personal history of coronary heart disease. Among women, those who did at least 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise per week saw a 22% reduction in the risk of developing coronary heart disease. For men, this amount of exercise was only associated with a 17% reduction.
Achieving a 30% reduction in risk required significantly more exercise – with a notable difference between the sexes: 250 minutes for women and 530 for men.
Next, the team analyzed 5,169 participants who had already been diagnosed with coronary heart disease. They had an average age of 67, and two-thirds were men.
With 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise per week, women had 70% less likely to die in the next eight years (for whatever reason) than women who exercised less.
In contrast, the men who got 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise per week had only about 20% less likely to die than their less active counterparts.
Hormones and biological differences
Scientists suggest that the discrepancy may be explained by hormonesas higher estrogen levels can increase fat burning during exercise.
It may also be related to biological differences which may mean that women use more respiratory, metabolic and muscular strength to perform the same physical tasks as men.
