Gained weight but now struggling to lose it? Or shall I say struggling to motivate yourself to push for work out? Lacking motivation to make it to the gym and indulge into heavy workout? Ladies, here’s something that might motivate you to pick that unused yoga mat up or resume your gym and work out.
In a recent study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology comes with a good news for women who struggle with workout motivation. The research states that women need only half the amount of exercise as compared to men to combat diseases and achieve longevity benefits.
The Study
According to the study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 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.
According to Dr Martha Gulati, a contributing doctor in the study, women typically possess less muscle mass than men. She further suggested that they may derive greater benefits from smaller doses of strengthening exercises due to their initial lower muscle mass.
Moreover, sex-based physiological differences such as variations in lung and cardiopulmonary function may also contribute to these outcomes.
Also read: How Much Exercise Is Too Much Exercise? Dr Explain Its Side Effects On Bone Health
To arrive at their conclusions, researchers analysed self-reported exercise behaviours from over 4,00,000 US adults who participated in the National Health Interview survey spanning 20 years from 1997 to 2017, correlating this data with mortality records.
Notably, the experts who participated in the study admitted that the study had limitations, including its reliance on self-reported exercise data which might not always be accurate.
Advantage For Women
Citing this study, Dr Niranjan Hiremath, Senior Consultant - Cardiovascular and Aortic Surgery, Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, said this study comes as an advantage for women. During a panel discussion in Healthcare Hero Awards 2024, Dr Hiremath said, “Many women complain that they do not get enough time for exercise but now that this study says only 140 minutes of exercise is enough then women should take this as an advantage and start exercising from today. Only 30 minutes of exercise a day is manageable even though one has a busy schedule. Just spend 30 minutes on your body and it will help you healthwise in the long run.”
Also read: Here Are 7 Water Exercises That Can Accelerate Fat Burn And Help You Lose Weight
Why Is It Necessary For Women To Exercise?
It is important for everyone to exercise irrespective of gender. According to Dr Hiremath, people usually think that problems like heart attacks and cancer occur late in life after 40s or 50s. But an unhealthy lifestyle stores these problems and can be the major causes of heart attack. For women, premature menopause can bring these problems closer.
Talking about the rising cases of heart attacks, DR Niranjan said, “Oestrogen plays a proactive factor to prevent heart attack, but it increases 3 fold when a woman reaches her menopause, increasing the risk of heart attacks. So people think they are safe now and heart attacks will affect them in older age, but you will have to start now to prevent it later.”
Bottomline
Although the study has limitations, and the data might not be accurate, exercising is anyway a good practice to start. Exercising for 30 minutes a day will only enhance your physical health. So ladies, what more are you waiting for? Motivate yourself and practice exercise for at least 30 minutes a day to improve your health.