A new study reveals that women gain greater heart health benefits from exercise than men.
According to research published in Nature Cardiovascular Research, women who work out about four hours a week can cut their risk of coronary heart disease by 30%, while men need nearly nine hours of exercise to achieve similar results.
What Causes Coronary Heart Disease?
Coronary heart disease, caused by narrowing or calcification of heart vessels, limits blood flow and is linked to factors like poor diet, inactivity, and smoking.
Even small amounts of exercise help: around 2.5 hours of moderate to vigorous activity weekly can lower heart disease risk by 22% in women and 17% in men.
The results surprised Germany’s former health minister, Karl Lauterbach, who described them as “unfair” in a post on X.
Exercise Helps Even Those With Existing Heart Disease
The study also showed that exercise benefits people who already have heart disease. Women who engaged in 51 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity per week had a lower risk of death, while men needed about 85 minutes for the same effect.
In other words, men must exercise roughly 1.7 times more than women to achieve comparable survival benefits.
Overall, the more frequently someone is active, the lower their risk of heart disease, regardless of gender.
Researchers suggest women’s biological advantage may stem from hormonal and muscular differences. Oestrogen supports fat metabolism and protects blood vessels, while women tend to have more endurance-oriented muscle fibres. Men, by contrast, have more power- and speed-focused fibres — a factor that may explain why women’s hearts improve with less training.
Read the original article on: Euronews
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