Men may need to work twice as hard as women to prevent life-threatening illnesses

Men may need to put in twice as much effort as women to fend off heart disease.

This is according to new research out of China that found that men need twice as much exercise as women to reduce their risk.

The study, published in the journal Nature Cardiovascular Research, analyzed data from more than 85,000 participants in the UK Biobank to identify gender differences with respect to physical activity and incidence of coronary heart disease (also known as coronary artery disease).

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Data were collected from wearable accelerometers, such as smartwatches, over a defined period to measure the amount of moderate to vigorous physical activity.

The participants, who did not have coronary heart disease at the start of the study, were monitored for nearly eight years to determine how many developed heart disease and how many died from it.

The mean age for the incidence study was about 61 years and 57.3% were women. The mortality study had an average age of about 66 years and 30% were women.

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After adjusting for other heart disease risk factors, such as BMI (body mass index) and smoking, the researchers found a “notable” difference between men and women.

Specifically, they found that women experienced lower risk levels with half as many minutes of activity as men.

In terms of developing heart disease, an extra 30 minutes of exercise per week was associated with a 2.9% lower risk in women and a 1.9% lower risk in men.

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Meeting the recommended 150 minutes of exercise per week reduced the risk of incidence in women by 22%, while the risk in men was reduced by 17%.

A longer training regimen of 300 minutes, or five hours, per week reduced the risk by 21% for women and only 11% for men.

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According to researchers, to reduce the risk of coronary heart disease by approximately 30%, women need about 250 minutes of exercise per week, while men need about 530 minutes.

When it came to heart disease mortality, getting 150 minutes of exercise per week reduced women’s risk by a whopping 70%, and only reduced men’s risk by 19%.

To reduce mortality from coronary heart disease by 30%, women need about 51 minutes of exercise per week and men about 85 minutes.

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The researchers commented in the study that these findings “underscore the value of gender-specific coronary heart disease prevention strategies using wearable devices, which may help close the ‘gender gap’ by motivating women to engage in physical activity.”

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Dr. Marc Siegel, senior medical analyst for News, spoke about the study on “America’s Newsroom” on Tuesday.

“I can tell you, having been married for almost 30 years, that women are better than men. There’s no doubt about it,” he said. “Physiologically and spiritually, women are superior.”

Siegel noted that men have higher levels of testosterone, which is “bad for cholesterol,” and tend to accumulate fat “in the wrong places” in the gut, causing inflammation.

“We smoke more, we drink more and we don’t exercise as much,” Siegel said of men in general. “All of that puts us at risk for heart disease.”

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According to the doctor, women “start to catch up” with increased risk after menopause, although “it takes a long time.”

“With all these risks, [men] They need exercise much more than women to compensate for it,” Siegel added.