The study, published Monday in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, found that exercise can reduce women’s risk of early death by up to 24%, while men who exercised for the same amount of time only reduced their risk by 15%.
Cheng and her colleagues found that women who engaged in 140 minutes of weekly physical activity reduced their risk of early death by 18%, while men had to do 300 minutes — more than double — to experience the same 18% risk reduction, compared to people who were less physically active.
Vigorous workouts like running or swimming laps reduced the risk of early death by 19% in men based on 110 minutes per week, while women reduced their risk by 19% with 57 weekly minutes (and just 13 additional vigorous minutes brought the protection to 24%).
About 55% of the survey respondents were women.
