TIME: To Live Longer, Women Need Half as Much Exercise as Men

TIME, ABCNews.com and CNN.com recently interviewed Martha Gulati, MD, director of Preventive Cardiology in the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai, and Susan Cheng, MD, MPH, director of the Institute for Research on Healthy Aging in the Department of Cardiology in the Smidt Heart Institute, about a recent study that found women can exercise less than men and experience the same or greater benefits.

Gulati, the study’s co-lead author, told TIME that because women usually have less muscle mass than men, the same amount of exercise can be just as or more impactful.

“For me, the news to women is: a little goes a long way,” Gulati said.

Gulati, the Anita Dann Friedman Chair in Women’s Cardiovascular Medicine and Research, told TIME that men should not feel discouraged by the study’s findings.

“Our pitch should be the same to men and women: something is better than nothing,” Gulati said. “Sit less and move more.”

In an interview with ABCNews.com, Cheng, the study’s senior author, said the results were “exciting and positive, especially for the really busy women out there who are juggling a lot of responsibilities both at work and at home.”

Cheng, who holds the Erika J. Glazer Chair in Women’s Cardiovascular Health and Population Science, told CNN.com that exercising is a choice, but the benefits can be significant. 

“The irony is that exercise is free,” Cheng said. “The catch, of course, is that exercise takes work.”

Click here to read the complete article from TIME, here to read the complete article on ABCNews.com and here to read the complete article on CNN.com.