Women get bigger health lift than men from same level of exercise
【The Guardian(February 20, 2024)】
Women experience greater benefits than men when it comes to avoiding an early death from doing the same amount of regular exercise, research suggests.
According to the NHS, men and women aged 19 to 64 should clock up at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise a week, or 75 of vigorous exercise, with muscle-strengthening activities at least twice a week. Now, research suggests that men and women do not get the same gains from the same levels of physical activity.
The team found that 140 minutes of moderate exercise a week reduced women's risk of premature death from any cause by 18% compared with beinginactive. The reduction in risk increased with time spent exercising for men and women, up to about 300 minutes of moderate activity a week - when it plateaued. At this level, women had a 24% lower risk of premature death from any cause compared with being inactive.
Prof Emmanuel Stamatakis of the University of Sydney, who was not involved in the work, said the research was well conducted. "Although women seem to do less leisure-time exercise, their mortality risk is more steeply reduced for any given weekly amount or frequency of exercise," he said. Stamatakis added that it is likely women's exercise sessions reflect higher relative loads than for men. .
Dr Susan Cheng, a co-author of the research, said: "We hope that perhaps just understanding this one concept can help some women who may feel too busy or too intimidated to take on a new exercise routine. ."
A.The results reveal that a greater proportion of men undertook regular physical activity and strengthening exercises than women.
B.However, studies have shown girls and women tend to do less physical activity than boys and men.
C.Our study doesn't suggest that women should exercise less, but rather it encourages women who may not be getting enough exercise for various reasons
D.While various properties of skeletal muscle differ between men and women, it potentially explains the different responses.
E.He added that his own research using wearable devices had suggested a similar trend.
F.By contrast, men needed 300 minutes of such exercise a week for a similar gain.
G.Women should know they do not need to compare how much or how hard they are working to men or to anyone else for that matter.
