Key points from article :
A large study published in Nature Cardiovascular Research has found that men may need to exercise nearly twice as much as women to gain the same heart health benefits. Led by Dr. Jiajin Chen of Xiamen University, the research analysed activity tracker data from more than 80,000 participants in the UK Biobank study. It revealed that women who exercised for 250 minutes per week had a 30% lower risk of developing coronary heart disease, while men needed around 530 minutes of activity to achieve similar protection.
The findings reinforce earlier evidence that women may derive greater cardiovascular benefits from physical activity, despite being less likely to meet exercise targets. Under current NHS guidelines, both men and women are advised to do at least 150 minutes of moderate or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise weekly. The researchers, however, suggest that public health recommendations could be refined to reflect these sex differences, as women appear to gain more heart protection from less exercise.
Notably, the study also examined over 5,000 people already diagnosed with coronary heart disease and found that women who met weekly exercise goals were three times less likely to die during the study period compared with equally active men. Professor Yan Wang, a senior author, said both sexes could achieve “substantial cardiovascular benefits” from regular exercise but emphasised that many women still fall short of activity targets worldwide.
Experts say the reasons for women’s heightened response to exercise remain unclear but may involve differences in hormones, muscle composition, and energy metabolism. In an accompanying commentary, Dr. Emily Lau from Massachusetts General Hospital wrote that the findings highlight the need for sex-specific exercise guidelines: “This study shows that one size really does not fit all—it's time to design tailored strategies to improve cardiovascular health for women.”
