A recent study suggests women may benefit more from exercise than men. Just one weekly strength training session for women equals three for men in terms of longevity benefits. However, experts don’t agree with the study.
There are times when we don’t want to go to the gym, and we often procrastinate a workout. However, a new study might come as a sigh of relief for women, who, according to a new study, can reap the benefits of working out more than men.
What is the study?
The study, released in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, states that men who engaged in approximately 300 minutes of aerobic exercise each week experienced an 18% reduced risk of mortality compared to inactive men. For women, on the other hand, approximately 140 minutes of weekly exercise resulted in a similar benefit. The researchers also examined the impact of muscle-strengthening exercises, such as weight training, and found a comparable trend. For women, engaging in a single weekly session of strength training offered comparable longevity benefits to three weekly sessions for men.
According to the study, this is because women typically possess less muscle mass than men. Dr Martha Gulati, a contributing doctor in the study, explains that women typically possess less muscle mass than men, suggesting that they may derive greater benefits from smaller doses of strengthening exercises due to their initial lower muscle mass. Additionally, sex-based physiological differences, such as variations in lung and cardiopulmonary function, may also contribute to these outcomes.
How was the study done?
To arrive at their conclusions, Dr Gulati and her team analysed self-reported exercise behavior from 400,000 U.S. adults who participated in the survey spanning from 1997 to 2017.
