<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You\u2019ve heard it before: adults should be getting at least 150 minutes<\/a> of moderate physical activity every week, preferably spread out throughout the week. Or maybe you\u2019ve heard it should be 300 minutes. But that amounts to over 40 minutes of exercise per day!<\/p>\n\n\n\n So what\u2019s the real threshold of exercise that leads to health benefits? Interestingly, a recent study<\/a> suggests the benefits of exercise may be realized sooner in women than men.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Several organizations, including the World Health Organization (WHO<\/a>), the American Heart Association (AHA<\/a>), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC<\/a>), have specific exercise recommendations for the general public. They\u2019re broken down by age group, and for this article we\u2019ll focus on adults aged 18-64.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All three health organizations are in agreement about the basic exercise recommendations:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, keep in mind, these recommendations are not<\/em> specific to men or women, and that\u2019s where things could get interesting. Do women and men require the same kinds and amounts of exercise for similar outcomes?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Investigators working together from Tsinghua University in China and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in California wanted to know<\/a> whether the benefits of physical activity were different between men and women [1]. To answer this question, they pooled data from the National Health Interview Survey, resulting in 400,000 adults in the United States who supplied survey data about their exercise activity between 1997 and 2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Tsinghua\/Cedars-Sinai study<\/a> authors acknowledge long-established differences in how women and men respond to exercise [2]. This might be most obvious if we think about how easily men build muscle<\/a> in the gym, whereas women (even those doing the same lifts!) won\u2019t emerge with the same bulky arms. Women and men also have different thresholds of exercise tolerance, from aerobic capacity to maximum lifting ability. There was even one review that showed women\u2019s hearts adapt in a different way physiologically<\/a> after exercise than men. \u201cFemale athletes tend toward eccentric remodeling, that is, the chambers of the heart enlarge proportionally; Men are more likely to show concentric hypertrophy, meaning thicker walls of the heart,\u201d one study finds [3]. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Put simply, our bodies are different\u2014and, naturally, they respond differently, even to the same activities (like exercise!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Put simply, our bodies are different\u2014and, naturally, they respond differently, even to the same activities (like exercise!).<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n The Tsinghua\/Cedars-Sinai study focused on cardiovascular and all-cause mortality when examining the effects of exercise on men and women. In simple terms, this means they were measuring how exercise changed the likelihood of a person dying from a heart attack or stroke (cardiovascular), and dying at all (all-cause mortality). Participants who had preexisting conditions related to their heart, like history of stroke, and other conditions, like cancer, were not included in the analysis. From the remaining adults, they tracked the frequency, duration, and type of physical activity (abbreviated as \u2018PA\u2019) [1].<\/p>\n\n\n\n Spoiler: When both groups exercised the same amount, women had reduced all-cause mortality and cardiovascular mortality compared to men. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We can think of the benefits of exercise as a slowly rising curve. If you don\u2019t exercise much at all, you aren\u2019t going to gain the benefits. As you increase your exercise amount, you\u2019ll start to see noticeable changes in your health. Maybe<\/a> you\u2019ll start sleeping better, maybe you\u2019ll lose weight, maybe you\u2019ll build muscle or change your body composition [4]. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Eventually, this rising curve turns into a plateau when you have reached your maximum achievable benefit from any<\/em> amount of exercise. In other words, more exercise<\/a> (of any kind) won\u2019t give you any more benefits, and could actually begin to cause harm<\/a>, like increasing fatigue and injury risk, or even hurting your fertility<\/a> [5].<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the Tsinghua\/Cedars-Sinai study, the researchers observed that men reached their maximum achievable benefit after about 300 minutes of moderate or vigorous (heart-rate raising) exercise weekly [1]. Continued exercise didn\u2019t have any effect on all-cause mortality. However, women reached the same<\/em> benefit as men after only 140 minutes<\/em> of exercise per week. Additionally, they saw benefits that surpassed those in men, up to a maximum of 300 minutes per week. In other words, the researchers found evidence that women\u2019s bodies have a lower threshold requirement for exercise compared to men. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Researchers observed that men reached their maximum achievable benefit after about 300 minutes of moderate or vigorous (heart-rate raising) exercise weekly [1]. Continued exercise didn\u2019t have any effect on all-cause mortality. However, women reached the same<\/em> benefit as men after only 140 minutes<\/em> of exercise per week.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n What about when the researchers focused on strength training exercise? They observed that men generally strength-trained more than women, and reached their maximum mortality reduction after about 3 sessions weekly. Women had the same benefit after only one<\/em> strength-training session. And when women strength trained three times a week? They had twice as large reduction in mortality risk compared to men.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What an amazing and encouraging study for women to be more physically active!<\/p>\n\n\n\n The main takeaway from the Tsinghua\/Cedars-Sinai study is that women should be encouraged to get active! Compared to men, we see more<\/em> benefits with less<\/em> exercise. While women consistently lag behind men in exercise engagement, the researchers hoped these data would help change this. Their conclusions also suggest health organizations could benefit from sex-specific exercise recommendations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So don\u2019t let those big numbers of 300 minutes of exercise scare you, and don\u2019t fall into an all-or-nothing trap when it comes to how much exercise you should get. Any exercise<\/em> is better than none\u2014and it turns out women might not always need that maximum number to get maximum benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\nExercise recommendations for the general public<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n
Men and women respond to exercise differently<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Different ways to measure the effects of exercise<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Benefits were observed in women after less exercise compared to men<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
What this means for planning your exercise routine<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
References<\/span><\/h4>\n\n\n\n[1] Ji, H, Gulati, M, Huang, T. et al. Sex Differences in Association of Physical Activity With All-Cause and Cardiovascular Mortality. JACC. 2024 Feb, 83 (8) 783\u2013793. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.jacc.2023.12.019<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n[2] Al-Mallah MH, Juraschek SP, Whelton S, Dardari ZA, Ehrman JK, Michos ED, Blumenthal RS, Nasir K, Qureshi WT, Brawner CA, Keteyian SJ, Blaha MJ. Sex Differences in Cardiorespiratory Fitness and All-Cause Mortality: The Henry Ford Exercise Testing (FIT) Project. Mayo Clin Proc. 2016 Jun;91(6):755-62. doi: 10.1016\/j.mayocp.2016.04.002. Epub 2016 May 6. PMID: 27161032; PMCID: PMC5617114. <\/p>\n\n\n\n[3] Afaghi, S., Rahimi, F.S., Soltani, P., Kiani, A. and Abedini, A. (2024), Sex-Specific Differences in Cardiovascular Adaptations and Risks in Elite Athletes: Bridging the Gap in Sports Cardiology. Clinical Cardiology, 47: e70006. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/clc.70006<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n[4] Bea JW, Cussler EC, Going SB, Blew RM, Metcalfe LL, Lohman TG. Resistance training predicts 6-yr body composition change in postmenopausal women. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2010 Jul;42(7):1286-95. doi: 10.1249\/MSS.0b013e3181ca8115. PMID: 20019638; PMCID: PMC2892016. <\/p>\n\n\n\n[5] Soligard T, Schwellnus M, Alonso J, et alHow much is too much? (Part 1) International Olympic Committee consensus statement on load in sport and risk of injuryBritish Journal of Sports Medicine 2016;50:1030-1041. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"C'est une bonne raison de se mettre en mouvement","protected":false},"author":120,"featured_media":24319,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","csco_singular_sidebar":"","csco_page_header_type":"","csco_page_load_nextpost":"","csco_post_video_location":[],"csco_post_video_url":"","csco_post_video_bg_start_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_end_time":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5392],"tags":[6488,5433],"class_list":{"0":"post-24318","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fitness-and-nutrition","8":"tag-exercise","9":"tag-fitness-and-nutrition","10":"cs-entry","11":"cs-video-wrap"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n