Men need double the exercise women do to prevent heart disease, study finds
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Men may need to work twice as hard as women to protect themselves from heart disease.
That’s according to a new study from China, which found that men need twice as much exercise as women to reduce risk.
The study, published in the journal Nature Cardiovascular Research, analyzed data from more than 85,000 participants in the UK Biobank, identifying gender differences in physical activity and the incidence of coronary heart disease (also known as coronary artery disease).
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The data was pulled from wearable accelerometers, such as smartwatches, over a period of time to measure the amount of moderate to vigorous physical activity.
Participants who did not have coronary heart disease at the beginning of the study were followed for about eight years to determine how many developed heart disease and how many died from it.
Research shows that men need to exercise twice as much as women to prevent coronary heart disease. (iStock)
The average age of the incidence study was approximately 61 years, and 57.3% of them were female. The average age in the mortality study was approximately 66 years old, and 30% of them were women.
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After adjusting for other heart disease risk factors such as BMI (body mass index) and smoking, the researchers found a “remarkable” difference between men and women.
Specifically, they found that women experienced lower levels of risk with half a minute of activity than men.
The association between coronary heart disease risk and physical activity was consistent for both disease onset and mortality. (iStock)
Exercising an extra 30 minutes per week was associated with a 2.9% lower risk of developing heart disease in women and 1.9% in men.
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Meeting the standard recommended exercise of 150 minutes per week reduced the risk of developing it by 22% in women and by 17% in men.
A more extended exercise regimen of 300 minutes or five hours per week reduced the risk by 21% in women and only 11% in men.
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According to researchers, for an approximately 30% reduction in the risk of coronary heart disease, women need to exercise about 250 minutes per week and men need to exercise about 530 minutes.
For about a 30% reduction in the risk of coronary heart disease, women need to exercise about 250 minutes per week and men need to exercise about 530 minutes. (iStock)
When it came to death from heart disease, exercising for 150 minutes a week reduced the risk by 70 percent in women but by only 19 percent in men.
To reduce deaths from coronary heart disease by 30%, women need to exercise about 51 minutes a week and men need to exercise about 85 minutes.
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These findings “underscore the value of gender-specifically designed coronary heart disease prevention strategies using wearable devices that may help close the ‘gender gap’ by motivating women to participate in physical activity,” the researchers wrote in the study.
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Fox News senior medical analyst Dr. Marc Siegel talked about the work on “America’s Newsroom” on Tuesday.
“Having been married for almost 30 years, I can tell you that women are better than men. There’s no doubt about that,” he said. “Physiologically and spiritually, women are superior.”
To reduce deaths from coronary heart disease by 30%, women need to exercise about 51 minutes per week and men need to exercise about 85 minutes. (iStock)
Men have higher levels of testosterone, which is “bad for cholesterol,” and fat accumulates in the “wrong places” in the gut, leading to inflammation, Siegel said.
“We smoke more, we drink more, we don’t exercise as much,” Siegel said of men in general. “All of this puts us at risk for heart disease.”
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According to the doctor, women are “starting to catch up” with increased risk after menopause, although it “takes a long time.”
“With all these risks [men] “Women need exercise much more than women to compensate for this,” Siegel added.
