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Dr. Emily Lau, director of women’s heart health at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Heart and Vascular Institute, wrote a commentary on the findings and their implications. “Women appear to have a physical activity advantage,” she says. “Yet we see time and time again that women are less physically active and less likely to achieve the recommended physical activity targets. This highlights an opportunity for the medical community to think about how we can tailor our recommendations to women. Because what we are doing now is not quite working.” Read More: Why Strength Training Is the Best Anti-Ager The results are a starting point for additional studies to better understand why women might be deriving more benefit from exercise than men, even at lower amounts. While the study did not explore potential explanations for the findings, Chen says that scientists have some theories. First, women have higher estrogen levels than men, and before menopause, estrogen may be protecting cardiovascular health—which in part may explain why women tend to develop heart events at later ages than men. Trials also show that men who take estrogen supplements can improve their coronary heart disease since it helps to break down lipids during exercise. There are also differences in muscle makeup among men and women and in muscle metabolism.
