Research has found that workouts should be tailored to people’s sex, as men need twice as much exercise as women to help heart health. The scientists behind the study said healthy living guidelines should take sex into account to help keep people healthy. Older research found that women benefit more than men from the same amount of exercise but are less likely to be physically active.
The study looked at the exercise records of more than 80,000 people. It found that the risk of heart disease decreased 30 percent in women who exercised for 250 minutes a week. Men needed 530 minutes a week to see the same benefit. If they did get heart disease, women who exercised for 150 minutes a week were three times less likely to die than men who worked out for the same amount of time.
“We have to stop treating men and women as the same,” said Dr. Emily Lau, director of women’s heart health at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, who reviewed the study. “It’s 2025, and we are still doing the same things where we take data from men and extrapolate them to women. We see studies telling us men and women are different, yet the guidelines for them are all the same.”
One in three women dies of heart disease. While women need less exercise than men, most don’t get enough. The researchers hope their findings will encourage women to get moving more.
“Compared with male individuals, females derive equivalent health benefits with only half the exercise time,” the authors wrote. “The findings might have potential to encourage females to engage in physical activity.”
The researchers aren’t sure why exercise helps women so much more than men. But they believe it could be because women have different hormones, muscle fibers and break down sugar differently. The study didn’t look at if menopause played a role. But most women in the study were older, with an average age of 62.
In the age of personalized medicine, doctors try to tailor plans to individuals. When it comes to exercise, sex should at least be considered as a factor.
It should be noted that the medical data used in the study came from the UK Biobank. They were using data from more than 80,000 people collected over about seven years. But it may not be the most racially diverse group, and their diet and lifestyle may not be the same as those of Americans. However, with 80,000 people in the study, the information is still useful.
